Quick takes
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiuC86cDfqw&hl=en&fs=1]
Video of the day: In the middle of the death and destruction from Australia’s wildfires, Firefighter David Tree pauses a moment to help one of the non-human victims. Click here to read more about the saving of the koala. For the rest of the news from Australia, with few happy endings, click here.
New PGFD chief hits the ground running: We expect to hear more later today, but a variety of sources tell STATter911.com that Eugene Jones is making some significant personnel changes almost immediately after taking over as acting chief of Maryland’s Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department. We are told to expect high level retirements and that there is already shuffling of command staff responsibilities. With a much leaner budget expected, figuring out ways to do more with less will be at the top of Chief Jones’ agenda. Stay tuned.
Going from bad to worse? Not just yet: Despite the frankness from the fire chief and his staff at the start of brownouts in Sacramento, California, the economic crisis appeared to be winning the battle. The clear warning that response times would be affected came true, adding more than 90-seconds to the average since rotating closures began last July. Still, Chief Ray Jones fully expected city officials to double up their bet on what many call firehouse roulette, and increase the number of closed companies. The chief was pleasantly surprised when that didn’t happen during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Click here and here for the latest. Earlier coverage is here.
Bucking the trend. Big pay raise in Houston: Saying they need to retain firefighters by fairly compensating them and bringing pay closer to that in other cities, Houston’s mayor is giving firefighters a 10-percent raise over the next two years. The contract has to be ratified by the City Council and there are already critics of the agreement. Click here.
OT in the news: In tight budget times fire department overtime is becoming a bigger issue than normal. It is on the agenda in Pittsburgh. It has also made news in New York after an article in the New York Post about OT for those on light duty who are getting close to retirement. Click here for the update on the FDNY story and new plans to curtail discretionary administrative overtime. You will likely note in the article that the mayor isn’t as outraged as the Post.
Fires in Australia too much for alerting system: A new paging system to call out firefighters for the Country Fire Authority apparently was a bit overwhelmed by the conflagrations of recent days. Read more.
Hot air balloon + power lines = ?: Looking at the video of this incident in Indiana over the weekend it is pretty surprising everyone survived. Check it out.
Latest from Omaha: Darren Bates, who had been the IAFF local president in Omaha, NE, and is a Council Bluffs, IA council member, is laying low after being caught up in a prostitution sting. Click here for the latest.
This sure tops drunk dialing: Police say Navajo Nation firefighter Nathan Guy took a wild ride in the department’s 2008 International fire engine on February 6. Officers first became aware of the problem when Guy got on the radio to the Dilkon Police District asking if there were any calls for him. At one point in the radio conversation he admitted he was “f—– up”. Read more from the Independent.
FEMA director update: The latest on the Obama administration’s search for David Paulison’s replacement. Click here.
SC church fire (above): Investigators says a malfunction in the HVAC system sparked a fire that destroyed a church in Anderson County. The picture above is by Paul Brown from GreenvilleOnline.com. Click here for some raw video.
