Quick Takes
Apartment fire: This is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan yesterday afternoon. You can read more about the fire here, but try not to laugh too heard when you get to the line, “A pumper truck high in the sky sprayed water onto the three-storey brick building.” Maybe Mike Wilbur can teach me how to drive one them things.
Memo from the DC Chief Rubin points out harm in councilmember’s overtime cuts: I can’t tell if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but a memo to the DC Fire & EMS Department from Chief Dennis Rubin includes a link to STATter911.com. The memo has Chief Rubin explaining the error of Councilmember Phil Mendelson’s ways in cutting overtime expenditures and changing rules over who can get OT and how much they can earn. Here is the latest in the battle between the chief and the committee chairman.
Alibi-cam: Besides providing some very early video of an Austin, Texas building fire, these YouTube clips attempt to make clear that the person who found the fire had nothing to do with it starting. Check it out.
PGFD FF/PM meets man she helped save: Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Firefighter/Paramedic Kathleen Murphy meets Chris Larsen for a second time. At their last meeting in Oxon Hill Larsen didn’t look too good with a truck sitting on top of him. Murphy was recognized for her life-saving actions yesterday. Click here to watch the story.
Firefighter helps save cop: An on-duty Camden, New Jersey firefighter saw a police officer being attacked and rushed over to offer a hand. According to news reports, after hitting him in the face the man tried to grab the officer’s gun. Firefighter Gamalier Rivera helped get the situation under control. Here’s the story.
They are back and they are busy: Firefighters returning to the Flint Fire Department after lay-offs found little rest this past weekend. Watch the story.
Fascinating video from Down Under: Check out Firegeezer’s story of the video showing how a split-second reaction by a dad in Sydney saved a baby’s life.
If you don’t pay we don’t play: That’s the word from Nova Scotia’s Hubbards VFD to its neighbors across the line at Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service. Halifax says it will not triple its payment to Hubbards which runs about half of its calls in Halifax. Click here to read more.
Volunteers say no to consolidation in North Carolina: Many volunteer firefighters are trying to fight plans in New Hanover County to cut stations, have one chief and make them county volunteers. Read the story.
On the cutting edge: My co-worker James Hash lets the public in on a problem most of you already know about. Above is his report on how auto extrication has been made more difficult by tougher steel being used to make many new cars.
