Quick takes
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Fifty-years-ago today (additional material added): On August 18, 1959 a BLEVE engulfed firefighters battling a tank farm fire in Kansas City at the Kansas – Missouri state line on Southwest Boulevard. Five firefighters and a civilian were killed with many others injured. It is often cited as the first time the term BLEVE was used to describe such an incident. We have film from the fire and deadly explosion, a report into how it happened and many other links. This morning we have added an interview with the grandson of Captain Pete Sirna. Firefighter John Sirna wears badge 440 just like his grandfather. We also added a link to a series of pictures from the fire from KansasCity.com, like the one above. Click here for our coverage.
Other sad anniversaries: This is the second anniversary of the Deutsche Bank fire that killed FDNY’s Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino. If you didn’t read the July 22 Village Voice article by Wayne Barrett looking at all of the scandal surrounding the fire, it is well worth your time. Click here.
And as The Secret List points out this morning, yesterday was the anniversary of the Gulf Oil Refinery fire in Philadelphia that killed eight firefighters in 1975. Click here.
Coupling failure: Prince William County, Virginia has an alert out about the failure of a Storz coupling on a 4-inch supply line. Check it out.
Seven fires set overnight in Montgomery County, MD: All outside fires involving hay bales and mailboxes. Click here for the video and details from 9NEWS NOW.
Lawsuit coming over deadly Fort Wayne fire: We covered this one extensively after it occurred in January (here, here, here and here). A pregnant woman and her two children died in a fire where the firefighters were initially sent to the wrong location. Officials first pointed to the 911 callers as the problem, but a listen to the recordings painted a very different picture. Click here to read and watch the latest.
Long Island embezzlement charge: John Carbone has been under investigation for more than a year for a $38,000 theft from the North Bellmore Fire District in Nassau County. He has now been charged in the case. Read the story.
It’s a long way to Tipperary and it may be a long wait, too: The Irish Times reports a strike for Thursday by ambulance staff in north Tipperary. Changes in on-call arrangements will mean instead of a paramedic at the station, two will respond from home. Crews claim that will add 25-minutes to response times. Before you start pondering what a strike will do to response times, don’t worry. The strike means they will respond to emergencies but not handle other duties. Read the story.
One of the more interesting stories of the week: We have heard of cell phones being used to detonate bombs, but how about unintentionally turning on the stove top and starting a fire? Check out this one from Firegeezer.
Live from Gaithersburg, MD: Bill Delaney has all his gadgets working and is blogging and sending videos of the public education efforts of the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service at the county fair. Click here and here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndE7vpO4ZY4&hl=en&fs=1&]
A light moment inside a burning home: A helmet camera focuses on another helmet and discovers something is amiss. Don’t know where or when.
