Fire Fighters's topics - tribe.net

Wierd siren question

Doctor_Who — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:46:04 GMT

So I'm watching COPS tonight and they where with Pierce County Sheriffs Dept. (Washington State) and I noticed that all of the cops have some sort of siren that puts some sort of weird ringing/oscilationg tone about every 6 seconds during what sounds like a typical wail. Does anyone know what kind of siren that is?

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Seeking Fire Fighters

Jade Elizabeth — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:12:33 GMT

Our gorgeous, fearless, talented moderator has left indefinitely. In her absence. Of almost 600 FDHBD (Foul, Drunk, Hostile Belly Dancers)
Some have decided to start a fire and are now in need of Fire Fighters. Please help! Men and Women Fire Fighters welcome. ;)
http://tribes.tribe.net/fdhb/thread/adbdd0f4-60c3-499a-8eac-230c734b3dad
<wide smile>
Jade

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Radio Jargon

Doctor_Who — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:45:59 GMT

Do you have a list of the radio jargon in your area? I tried to find someihing on wiki but all I found was stuff for CB's. I'm trying to compile a list. this is handy for when I'm warscanning (freequing or just plain on scanning) while I'm on road trips listening in on different areas. Any help is appreciated.

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Chain of Command vs. independant thinkers

flashgirl — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:04:51 GMT

Most of us have prob. been on both sides of this one---I am sure we can all agree that Chain of Command is essential to complete our missions--but what about when you are working for idiots, how do you maike sure you and your crew come home safe? How about being the "in Command" and having dissenttion in the ranks....

posted in Fire Fighters - 5 replies

U.S. Forest Service Cited

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:44:38 GMT

It really bugs me that we always try to find someone to blame anytime a firefighter is killed on the job. It's a risky job where death comes easy. I think it's disrespectful to try and find fault instead of honoring the people that gave their life for the community.

Just my opinion though

LOS ANGELES --

The U.S. Forest Service committed safety violations that contributed to the deaths of five of its firefighters in a Southern California blaze last year, workplace safety regulators said Thursday.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the Forest Service for nine safety violations, including failing to provide the firefighters with maps and crucial information about potentially hazardous weather conditions.

OSHA ordered the Forest Service to fix the unsafe working conditions within 15 days.

Asked whether the agency believed the violations led to the firefighters' deaths, Department of Labor spokesman Roger Gayman said, "By implication, yes."

A man is charged with starting the blaze and five counts of first-degree murder.

Messages left at the office of San Bernardino National Forest Supervisor Jeanne Wade Evans and the Forest Service's Washington, D.C., office were not immediately returned.

A 90-foot wall of flame overran the members of San Bernardino National Forest Engine 57 as they tried to protect an unoccupied vacation home last October in Twin Pines, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The blaze eventually charred more than 60 square miles.

The tragedy could have been avoided if the firefighters had not been on a steep slope blanketed with highly combustible vegetation, according to OSHA, which issued the Forest Service a Notice of Unsafe or Unhealthful Working Conditions. The firefighters and their supervisors also failed to ensure a safe exit from the scene, the agency said.

OSHA's conclusions followed a May report that blamed risky decisions, failure to fully plan an escape and pressure to ignore hazards in the firefighter's deaths. That investigation was conducted by the Forest Service and the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Jim Wilkins, a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service for 35 years who worked the fire, criticized OSHA's findings and said it's easy to find fault once the fire is out.

"What we do is inherently dangerous," he said. "You can't make it a sterile, safe environment. You can't make it into a video game ... What do they want people to do? Completely disengage from the fire?"

A narrative of what led to the firefighters' deaths will be incorporated into future wildfire training materials, according to a U.S. Forest Service plan released last month.

And an internal document, signed by Chief Forester Gail Kimbell and obtained by The Associated Press last month, calls for seven changes in agency policy when fighting wildfires, particularly in areas where suburbs and wilderness converge.

Firefighters Jason McKay, 27; Jess McLean, 27; Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20; Mark Loutzenhiser, 43; and Pablo Cerda, 23, died in the fire.

Raymond Lee Oyler, a 36-year-old auto mechanic, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, multiple counts of arson and using an incendiary device to start fires between May 16 and Oct. 26, 2006.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

Our revised list of Approved PPE for PG County Maryland

Doctor_Who — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:10:44 GMT

PGFRA Safety Committee
Revised 11-7-07

Remember Safety is everyone’s job!
The only approved helmets other than standard issue from Logistics are:
1. Morning Pride Ben-2 plus Fire Helmet.
2. Cairns Sam Houston. Model N6A1, leather with shell liner an
approved eye protection.
3. Cairns Classic 1000.
4. Cairns Classic 1010.
5. Cairns 1044 w/ESS Innerzone 2 Goggles, Standard

Kevlar or fiberglass composite version of the Sam Houston.
The only approved footwear other than standard issue from Logistics is:
6. Pro Boot, by the Warrington Group.
7. Black Diamonds.
The only approved gloves other than standard issue from Logistics are:
8. American Firewear Gloves “Sleevemate” Formerly Morning
Pride.
Hoods: Logistics is issuing only one type of firefighting hood.
9. Other hoods are NOT approved at this time

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

families encouraged by life GIVING stemcells!

lmbfreespirit — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:02:52 GMT

At the Beike Clinic in Hangzhou, China, a modern-day Silk Road brings in people from across the globe for stem cell treatment that is unavailable in many countries, including the United States.

Some who have made the journey have seen groundbreaking results. For others, the improvements have been more subtle. But for three Utah families, it was a trip worth taking.

Tim and Maria Schmanski weren't expecting a miracle at the Beike Clinic, and they didn't get one. But the improvements in their daughter Tori are clearly visible.

Two years ago, a car wreck and near drowning left the Orem teen with an anoxic brain injury. Since then she has not been able walk, talk or eat by herself.

In January, Tori's parents brought her to the Beike Clinic, where she underwent a month of treatment that included injections of more than 50 million stem cells. After half a year -- doctors say the full results take four to six months to show -- the changes are sometimes small, but they are there.

Tim said Tori, now 16, can swallow and eat more easily, and is able to eat on her own depending on the food. She is also more aware of her surroundings than before. Several weeks ago, she spotted a jet and followed it across the sky with her eyes.

"It sounds like a little thing, but when ... she sees a jet and follows it, it's a good sign," Tim said.

Tim said he saw many patients at the Beike Clinic who experienced dramatic improvements in conditions such as multiple sclerosis and ataxia. Tori's condition, however, may be too severe for that. Tim said it was one of the more severe cases that the clinic had seen.

"You've got to go with low expectations. There's no guarantees it helps them. Some others it doesn't help as much," he said. "We would've liked to have seen a miracle, but we didn't go over expecting it."

Missy and Jed Ashton weren't expecting a miracle either, but the results of their son's stem cell treatment have been significant. Their son Travis was in a car wreck seven years ago that left him with a traumatic brain injury. After a couple years he was able to stop using the wheelchair he was confined to, but he was still unable to talk and did not have the full function of many of his muscles.

The Ashtons, of Highland, went to Hangzhou in June and returned about a month ago. Travis, who turned 18 during the trip, seems to have improved by leaps and bounds since then.

Though he still can't talk -- he communicates mostly through hand gestures -- he has been able to move his tongue and lips more. His vision has improved, as has the hearing in his right ear. His right arm, which had been drawn up in an unnatural position since the wreck, sits more relaxed. He can even drink water, which he was not able to do before because of its thin consistency.

"That may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but ... he's thrilled that he can drink water," Missy said.

The family is optimistic about the future. Travis hopes to be able to speak again someday, and, like most teenagers, wants to drive too. He exercises frequently, and will soon begin an intensive physical therapy program that is similar to the one offered at the Beike Clinic, which Missy said is hard to find in the United States.

Missy expects Travis to continue to show improvement while the treatment's full effects emerge, and Travis hopes to fully exploit the possibilities during that four- to six-month window.

"He gained some improvement, so I feel like it kind of has opened the doors," Missy said. "Since the stem cells will grow for about six months, we're going to hopefully take advantage of this time and hopefully do as much therapy as possible."

Before she was in a bus crash in Egypt two years ago, Dena Gennerman was a commercial airline pilot. But since that crash left her with brain damage, she has been much like Tori, unable to walk, talk or eat on her own.

Gennerman's parents took her to the Beike Clinic in early May and stayed for about eight weeks. Bob Brehm, her father, said the effects of the treatment are showing.

The 39-year-old woman's left side had always been "quite strong," Brehm said, but the right side was weak. Now the right side has gained strength and she can walk, albeit with the help of a physical therapist. She is more alert than before, and Brehm expects to see more improvements as time goes on.

"They're minor improvements, but they're big improvements at our end of the scale," said Brehm, a Park City resident. "I'm pleased with it, and I'm anticipating we'll see more improvement."

Brehm is already planning to take his daughter back to Hangzhou late this year or early next year. He said doctors told him that patients often see more dramatic improvements after a second round of stem cell treatment. The Ashtons are also thinking about making another trip if Travis continues to show improvements. Tim Schmanski said he is taking a wait-and-see approach to a second stint at the Beike Clinic, but he and Maria are open to the possibility.

Tim keeps in touch with Brehm and the Ashtons, and all three families communicate frequently with others across the country who are in similar situations. Each time a family takes a first trip to Hangzhou, they become a bank of information for people looking to go themselves. Just as Tim advised Brehm and the Ashtons on what to expect, they continue to spread the word to others.

And the word has been pretty encouraging so far.

For more information about the three cases, go to pray4tori.com, travisashton.com and caringbridge.org/ut/dena.

Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@....

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.
www.heraldextra.com/content/...232969/3/

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

I KNOW you all will support this!

lmbfreespirit — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:28:02 GMT

http://tribes.tribe.net/stemcellsarelife
I received a TBI: TramaticBrainInjury, 8 yrs ago , from a CRASH with a drunk driver! I was a K teacher at the time! In a coma for about 4 mos, I did not walk again for 5-6 yrs!~it's all fuzzy ;)*
Firefighters helped to save my life!~THANK*YOU ;)*

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

New Tribe

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:46:16 GMT

I started a new tribe about wildland fire. Since i'm sure some of you city guys in here don't care about the wildland stuff i thought i would make a new tribe for it so i don't flood this tribe with unwanted info.

Open invite to everyone,

http://tribes.tribe.net/wildlandfire

Be safe!

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Anybody still out there?

Rick — Thu, 24 May 2007 02:46:34 GMT

Has anybody been here since 2005? I just found out about this group and, as a retired/disabled firefighter, am interested in networking with other firefighters. Paid, volunteer, active, retired, disabled or just plain quit...I enjoy intelligent conversation about the firehouse with anyone.
Who wants to try it?

posted in Fire Fighters - 12 replies

Need advice on EMT-B program, thanks in advance!!!!!

Mr. X — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:44:56 GMT

Hi Everyone,
I live in the Bay Area, more specifically Oakland and I am attempting to become a firefighter. I am currently enrolled in the First Response (CPR & basic first aid) at Chabot college in Hayward. From everyone I have spoken with, including a few SF firefighters, becoming a Paramedic will greatly increase my chances of getting hired. Therefore I have made this my secondary goal. I will complete the First Response course at the end of the year and will need to go to a school for EMT-B. My problem is this: My goal is to attend the CCSF paramedic program which will begin in October of 2007. If I attend a community college for EMT-B, the semester will end in May of 2007. This leaves at most 5 months to obtain the NREMT certification, California registry, all of the other necessary paperwork and gain EMT-B field experience which CCSF requires 3- 6 months of before being accepted. I spoke with a HR representative from AMR and she stated that getting hired on average, takes about a month. So that cuts on the job experience down to 4 months. This isn’t even accounting for job availability which ebbs & flows throughout the year.
My other option is to go to NCTI in Livermore (which is almost a hours drive from me) to drop $1,700 on a 2 month program. Needless to say I would like to not have to spend that much money and I am somewhat worried about “cramming” such important material. But it does give me two months of breathing room to gain job experience.

Ok, so I am really sorry for the long winded e-mail. I know you all have more valuable things to do with your time than answer some strangers questions, but I really do appreciate any advice you might be able to give as to which program to attend. Either NCTI’s two month $1700 program, or Chabots $300 5 month program. Keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is the CCSF paramedic program in October of 2007.
Thank you so much,
Stefan

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Need tribe assistance

Rob — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:42:39 GMT

Need people to reply to my blog - please help me out.
Rob

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

wannabe fireman/paramedic w/?'s

sian — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:29:37 GMT

Aloha from Hawaii. I'm 37 and have been in Hawaii for 5 years. I recently tried unsuccessfully to get into the FD here. I'm not sure if it's my age and/or not being 'local' that thwarted me. Is 37 to old to start a career w/an FD. If not, should I move back to the mainland and enroll in a community college fire academy or something like that? Any suggestions and/or advice will be greatly apreciated.

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Names of Deceased and Injured from the Esperanza fire in Cal

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:10:47 GMT

Forest Service Releases Names of Deceased and Injured
Four fatalities and one injured while fighting wildfire

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. – It is with great sadness that we confirm the names of the Forest Service firefighters who tragically lost their lives while in the line of duty yesterday. The deceased are Mark Loutzenhiser, Jess McLean, Jason McKay, and Daniel Hoover-Najera. Critically injured is Pablo Cerda.

Mark Loutzenhiser, Engine Captain, was 44 years old and had 21 years of service. He was a certified Emergency Management Technician (EMT). He had worked previously as a hotshot crewman for the Vista Grande Hot Shots and also as a volunteer firefighter for Riverside County. He majored in fire science at Mt. San Jacinto College. He was a longtime resident of Idyllwild, Calif. where he was a great supporter and coach for the youth sports program.

Jess McLean, Fire Engine Operator, was 27 years old and had seven years of service. He had been a hotshot for three years with Vista Grande. He graduated from Banning High School in 1997 and attended fire science classes at Crafton Hills College. He was a resident of Beaumont, Calif.

Jason McKay, Assistant Fire Engine Operator, was 27 years old and had five years of Forest Service experience and four years as a volunteer firefighter in Adelanto. He also served on the Mojave Greens Type II crew. He was a certified EMT and earned an associate’s degree in Fire Science. He was a resident of Phelan, Calif.

Daniel Hoover-Najera, Firefighter, was 20 years old and was in his second season of firefighting. He worked on the Tahquitz Type II crew in 2005 and was a seasonal employee in 2006. He graduated from San Jacinto Mountain View High School in 2004. He was a resident of San Jacinto, Calif.

Pablo Cerda, who remains in critical condition, is a 23-year-old Firefighter in his second season with the Forest Service. He was previously of the Tahquitz Type II crew. He graduated from Los Amigos High School in Santa Ana in 2001 and attended Fire Academy of Riverside Community College. He is a resident of Fountain Valley, Calif.

The five Forest Service employees were on Engine Crew 57 on the San Jacinto Ranger District. They were dispatched early Thursday morning to assist on a state managed wildfire, the Esperanza Incident. They were engaging in structure protection and firefighting activities when they where overrun by flames. The accident investigation is ongoing.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

WWW.HOOAH.COM

juste — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:41:58 GMT

I am a soldier in Switzerland and just found out about this website (WWW.HOOAH.COM) which is especially for american families, friends and soldiers. It's really awesome, they do really support your troops, you should check it out. Take care

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

San Francisco Lovefest needs medical volunteers!

joseph — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 04:06:29 GMT

San Francisco Lovefest needs medical volunteers!

San Francisco Lovefest (formerly called Loveparade San Francisco) is in its fabulous third year celebration of electronic music and dance involving 25 floats in a parade down Market St., 200 DJs playing at Civic Center plaza, and over 50,000 people dancing in the streets with many hundreds of volunteers that make it all happen. Similar to Burning Man camps, the floats in San Francisco Lovefest are produced and paid for by local and national collectives to showcase the creative spirit of the electronic dance music community.

San Francisco Lovefest is a non-profit organization based on community, and a community needs help keeping safe and healthy when things just go a little south of right. In that spirit, SF Lovefest is seeking medical volunteers to help with first aid, first response, and taking care of our own. Medical volunteers will be out working with the crowds, so you'll still have plenty of time to wander and listen to some great music while being there, just in case.

So what does it take to be a volunteer? You need to be a currently certified and practicing EMT, Paramedic, Nurse, or Doctor with at least one year experience and a willingness to volunteer some of your time. Volunteers will be working side by side with Lovefest's allied partners for advanced life support and clinical care, so you'll have extra helping hands when you need it. Oh, and did we mention that you'll get a neat tee shirt to top it all off? We look forward to hearing form you!

To volunteer or for more information, email medical(at)sflovefest.org

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

informational rally

balloonhedz — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:56:18 GMT

by members of Local I-26, IAFF in Manhattan yesterday.
The Local represents the members of the Uniformed Fire Patrolmans Assn (the Patrolmen of the NYFire Patrol...the oldest fire service organization in the US and last insurance company funded fire insurance salvage corps as well) are in danger of unemployment by the end of the year.
Here are some photos that were shot at the rally. The one guy brought his handsome devil of a son in kiddie sized fire gear and his pop's helmet.

www.fpny123.net/rally.html

The full story of whats being perpetrated on a 203 year old not for profit is available here
www.fpny123.net

posted in Fire Fighters - 6 replies

Oxygen Regulator Fires

Doctor_Who — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 23:51:51 GMT

FDA AND NIOSH Public Health Notification: Oxygen Regulator Fires Resulting from Incorrect Use of CGA 870 Seals

Updated: June 19, 2006

Dear Colleagues:

We are updating the Public Health Notification of April 24, 2006 alerting you to the danger of fires at the interface of oxygen regulators and cylinder valves because of incorrect use of CGA 870 seals, and to point out an important precaution you can take to avoid such fires.

This update clarifies the FDA and NIOSH recommendation on the use of sealing- type washers (reusable, metal-bound rubber seal) and crush-type gaskets (single use, not reusable, usually Nylon Â®) with oxygen regulators. We believe that this new language will alleviate concerns around the proper use of both types of seals.
Background

FDA has received 12 reports in which regulators used with oxygen cylinders have burned or exploded, in some cases injuring personnel. Some of the incidents occurred during emergency medical use or during routine equipment checks. FDA and NIOSH believe that improper use of gaskets/washers in these regulators was a major factor in both the ignition and severity of the fires, although there are likely other contributing factors.

Two types of washers, referred to as CGA 870 seals, are commonly used to create the seal at the cylinder valve / regulator interface: The type recommended by many regulator manufacturers is a metal-bound elastomeric sealing washer that is designed for multiple use applications. The other common type, often supplied free-of-charge with refilled oxygen cylinders, is a plastic (usually Nylon Â®) crush gasket suitable for single use applications.
When used more than once, the Nylon Â® crush gaskets require higher torque than the elastomeric sealing washers in order to seal the cylinder valve / regulator interface, and if they are used again, they require more torque with each successive use. The cylinder valve / regulator connection is designed to be hand-tightened. If the crush gaskets are re-used, the need for increased torque may require using a wrench or other hand tool, which can deform the crush gasket and damage the cylinder valve and regulator. This can result in leakage of oxygen past the cylinder valve seat and across the nylon crush gasket. According to a forensic analysis supported by FDA and NIOSH, â€œflow frictionâ€ caused by this leakage of compressed oxygen across the surface of the crush gasket may produce enough thermal energy to spontaneously ignite the nylon gasket material.
Recommendations

FDA and NIOSH recommend that plastic crush gaskets never be reused, as they may require additional torque to obtain the necessary seal with each subsequent use. This can deform the gasket, increasing the likelihood that oxygen will leak around the seal and ignite.

The following general safety precautions should also be taken to avoid explosions, tank ruptures and fires from oxygen regulators.

* Always â€œcrackâ€ cylinder valves (open the valve just enough to allow gas to escape for a very short time) before attaching regulators in order to expel foreign matter from the outlet port of the valve.

* Always follow the regulator manufacturerâ€™s instructions for attaching the regulator to an oxygen cylinder.

* Always use the sealing gasket specified by the regulator manufacturer.

* Always inspect the regulator and CGA 870 seal before attaching it to the valve to ensure that the regulator is equipped with only one clean, sealing- type washer (reusable metal-bound rubber seal) or a new crush-type gasket (single use, not reusable, typically Nylon Â®) that is in good condition.

* Always be certain the valve, regulator and gasket are free from oil or grease. Oil or grease contamination is widely known to contribute to ignition in oxygen systems.
Â
* Tighten the T-handle firmly by hand, but do not use wrenches or other hand tools that may over-torque the handle.

* Open the post valve slowly. If gas escapes at the juncture of the regulator and valve, quickly close the valve. Verify the regulator is properly attached and the gasket is properly placed and in good condition. If you have any questions or concerns contact your supplier.

Reporting to FDA

FDA requires hospitals and other user facilities to report deaths and serious injuries associated with the use of medical devices. If you suspect that a reportable adverse event was related to the use of medical gas equipment, you should follow the reporting procedure established by your facility.

We also encourage you to report adverse events related to medical gas equipment that do not meet the requirements for mandatory reporting. You can report these directly to the device manufacturer. You can also report to MedWatch, the FDAâ€™s voluntary reporting program. You may submit reports to MedWatch by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088; by FAX at 1-800-FDA-0178; by mail to MedWatch, Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787; or online at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.
Getting More Information

If you have questions about this notification, please contact the Office of Surveillance and Biometrics (HFZ-510), 1350 Piccard Drive, Rockville, Maryland, 20850, Fax at 240-276-3356, or by e-mail at phann@cdrh.fda.gov.Â Â You may also leave a voice mail message at 240-276-3357 and we will return your call as soon as possible.
FDA medical device Public Health Notifications are available on the Internet at www.fda.gov/cdrh/safety.html. You can also be notified through e-mail each time a new Public Health Notification is added to our web page.Â Â To subscribe to this service, visit: service.govdelivery.com/servic...be.html
Â

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Schultz, MD
Director
Center for Devices and Radiological Health
Food and Drug Administration

Nancy Stout, Ed.D.
Director, Division of Safety Research
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
posted by:

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

Anything for a margarita...

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:38:38 GMT

*NOTE: this was posted in the female firefighters tribe which seems to have become a platform for this most amazing fella. So... it wasn't the idea generator I had hoped but this forum seems more professional.

The ladies in my FD are trying to form a ladies group. There used to be a Caucus in our Union but that faded under pressing matters that concerned the department as a whole, lack of intrest, etc. We decided to start it informally (over margaritas, talking about our kids, movies, being girls in the FS). We make up less that 1% of a 3800 member department. There is no outward problems against the women as a 'women' in our FD but there is just some of the usual problems.

What are some of the techniques y'all used to maintain a coalition of like-minded (we are not exclusionary; we are for feminist boys, too. lol), get your message out to the other people, and rope in the resistant factions?

I am intrested and we can post on this forum or PM me whichever.

Looking for good ideas!

Kim

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Brother vs. Brother

Doctor_Who — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:55:40 GMT

This is a [long but] well written article about my county. Finally someone took the time to acknowledge how things really are instead of putting a biased slant about how much more valuable the career folks are than the volunteers. Little known fact, but the volunteers respond to more working fires than career folks, but thats only because the career guys maintain bankers hours 7a-3p, no nights, no weekends, no holidays. Oh and my house being a superhouse, we have millions of dollars worth of apparatus and equipment that is funded by donations and fundraising not tax dollars. Not to mention the savings in salary/overtime. One day the county will succeed in getting rid of the volunteers, I just hope they can get more money from the state before they succeed, because they are already whining about operational and other associated costs although almost all of the apparatus in the county is owned by the volunteers as are the majority of non-billable person hours.

enjoy,
the dr.

Michael J. Ward, MIFireE Fire, Science Program Head, Northern Virginia Community College

Jan 1, 2003 12:00 PM

Protesters in Washington, D.C., are a common sight, but it's unusual when they're card-carrying IAFF members protesting a union resolution.

On June 14, about 35 people picketed the International Association of Fire Fighters headquarters to protest Resolution 43, which had been submitted by the Prince George's County (Md.) Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association, Local 1619, at the 2000 IAFF convention. Prince George's County is just east of Washington, D.C.

Resolution 43 identified 38 individual Prince George's County volunteer fire department corporations as “rival organizations,” a term from the IAFF constitution and bylaws. The resolution further called for charges to be placed against IAFF members who belong to these rival organizations, charging that “these individuals continue to belong to volunteer organizations that make decisions which impair the rights and sometimes safety of members of Local 1619.”

The affected IAFF union members have a choice: They can either quit volunteering or quit the union. The protesters want to continue to both volunteer and maintain their IAFF memberships without harassment.
County breakdown

Gary Steen organized the protest march. A District of Columbia career firefighter and member of IAFF Local 36, Steen is also a deputy fire chief of the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department. Six years ago, Prince George's County removed the career staff from Kentland Fire Station 33 as part of a countywide redeployment. Most of their volunteers are off-duty career firefighters from Washington, D.C., and surrounding Maryland and Virginia departments.

Prince George's County features complex, varsity-level firefighting. The 38 fiercely independent volunteer corporations and the county provide fire and ambulance service through 47 stations over 487 square miles to more than 800,000 residents. At the heart of the Baltimore — Washington corridor, the county is a diverse community with 27 municipalities, pockets of wealth, expanding upper-middle class communities and acres of urban blight. Prince George's Fire Department is the busiest of the Washington metro-area jurisdictions, handling about 340 incidents each day.

In March 1966, Prince George's established the position of paid firefighters under the merit classification system. At that time, the county also absorbed the individuals hired by the volunteer fire department corporations. With the assistance of the District of Columbia Local 36, Local 1619 received its charter that same year.

By FY 2001, there were 792 county-budgeted firefighter positions. With the exception of command, administrative staff and 15 EMS transport units, career employees work at a fire station and not on a specific response unit. County staffing at each of the 45 volunteer stations is arrived at after negotiation between the county and each volunteer fire department's leadership.
How the system works

Career staff are assigned to stations rather than individual fire units to preserve and encourage volunteer participation. For example, four county employees work weekdays at a volunteer station that runs an ambulance, engine and aerial. County dispatch assumes the station can get only one suppression unit on the road immediately, so the station needs volunteers to provide minimum staffing for a second unit.

If the ambulance is out of the station on a run with two county firefighters when a structural fire dispatch comes in, then the station will need one volunteer to supplement the two remaining county firefighters to meet the minimum staffing for the engine. Two volunteers are needed to meet the minimum staffing for the aerial, and five volunteers are needed for both the engine and aerial to respond.

The county had between 1,200 to 1,400 volunteers within the county in 2002. That number includes active, administrative, life and associate members. An accurate countywide figure of volunteers qualified to provide service as a firefighter, ambulance technician, fire company officer or command officer was unavailable, but the best guess is that 600 to 800 volunteers are qualified to ride fire trucks and ambulances, with 150 to 500 of them riding a unit at least twice a month.

Resolution 43 is the latest in a 30-year effort by Local 1619 to discourage IAFF members from volunteering in Prince George's County. In the 1970s, District of Columbia IAFF Local 36 members were asked not to participate as volunteer command or unit officers in the county. It was a one-on-one effort with mixed results. Today, the county has between 150 and 200 “two-hatters,” active volunteers in the county who are also IAFF members from other jurisdictions.
Why career firefighters volunteer

So why would people who work 40 to 56 hours per week as career firefighters want to spend even more time in a fire station as a Prince George's County volunteer? Seven factors seem to drive this activity:

1.They started as a volunteer. It's hard to walk away from the organization that you joined as a teenager. Local 1619 President Tom McEachin was a Kentland volunteer. Some two-hatters were riding as volunteer fire unit officers when they were still in high school.

In addition, most of the fire stations have only daytime career staff, with volunteers handling evening and weekend incidents. The need for volunteers will increase in 2003, as Prince George's Fire Department Chief Ronald D. Blackwell removed daytime county staff from three volunteer fire stations on July 31 and has proposed other cutbacks as part of fiscal reorganization.

2.The volunteer fire department is part of the family tradition. For example, Kentland Deputy Chief Gary Steen is a fourth-generation volunteer — from his mother's side. He is a third-generation volunteer from his father's side. Steen has almost 18 years as a Kentland volunteer, but less than two years as a Washington, D.C., career firefighter.

3. The volunteer fire station fights more fires than the department where they receive a paycheck. It's hard to practice your firefighting craft when your paid job is spent resetting alarm bells or riding an ambulance. Many of the firefighters who work as career staff in northern Virginia or in federal and institutional fire departments mentioned that they catch more structural fires as a volunteer than as a career firefighter.

4. It's easier to obtain advanced training as a volunteer. Different funding sources and less paperwork are two big reasons why so many young career firefighters attend conferences and special training as members of their volunteer departments. Tight budgets mean little chance for a metro firefighter to attend an out-of-town training class or conference. Ironically, the employer benefits from firefighters participating in volunteer-funded certification and specialty training.

This behavior showed up in surveys of 75 to 200 firefighters conducted during the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Fire-Rescue International conferences from 1994-1999. Between 12% and 20% of the company officer program attendees were career firefighters who were also active at a volunteer department. In most cases, the volunteer organization paid for the conference trip and the class registration.

This professional development path isn't new. Many of the Washington, D.C., Local 36 members who were asked in the 1970s to stop volunteering refused. At the time, they were twenty-something firefighters or “wagon drivers” in their career departments and chief officers in their volunteer departments. Now they're fifty-something career command officers and life members in their volunteer organization. They did well in their career promotional exams because of their volunteer experience.

5. Rapid advancement. Volunteer fire departments are unencumbered by civil service regulations. They can ignore time-in-grade restrictions, civil service promotional exams, probationary periods, annual performance evaluations and affirmative-action requirements. Some volunteers can rapidly advance to command ranks while still under 30. Many of today's two-hatters are firefighters in their paid job and command officers as volunteers.

6.Volunteer work is more fun than the paid job. For instance, each of the 38 corporations is a freestanding entity operating from a single fire station. Five of the corporations run two stations and one has three stations. That means a small group, a short chain of command and more control over what goes on in the station. The volunteer departments are like mom-and-pop stores that enjoy some autonomy.

In contrast, D.C. firefighters are in a large city agency with 33 fire stations and almost 2,000 employees. There's a deep chain of command, many layers of management, and dozens of rules and regulations that dictate how to do things. The city is a monolithic bureaucracy where one firefighter is a small cog in a big machine.

A volunteer department also allows a higher level of control over tasks and assignments. For example, the Kentland 33, Ritchie 37 and West Lanham Hills 28 stations no longer provide ambulance transportation service. They're still EMS first responders, but the transport unit must come from another station. The stations that don't provide ambulance transport have higher volunteer turnout than their neighbors, possibly because “real firefighters do not ride ambulances,” according to an Internet message posting. (See sidebar at left.)

7.Take-home toys. Each of the 38 independent volunteer fire companies has at least three command-level officers, and one or two of these chiefs have take-home vehicles. About half of the more than 70 volunteer take-home vehicles resemble unmarked police cars or suvs, with no markings on the outside but full emergency response packages. Critics speculate that the unmarked response vehicles make it easier for the command officers to commute to their day jobs outside of the county, especially if their day job is as a paid firefighter in another jurisdiction.

Challenges for the chief

Disputes between paid firefighters and volunteers can involve sharp words and strong feelings. (See sidebar below.) It requires strong and clear leadership to maintain a non-hostile work environment in a fire station with such stark contrasts. If you are the fire chief, county coordinator or agency head, here are some suggestions:

1.Maintain a zero-tolerance policy on violence. Both career and volunteer organizations must respond immediately to any fights or confrontations. Because the fire station is a workplace, the perception of threat of violence is in the eye of the person complaining, not in the evaluation of the chief officer. A chief should use the same approach as in a response to a sexual harassment complaint, including checking with the department's attorney. Failure to acknowledge a complaint could be expensive for the jurisdiction and career-ending for the chief.

Prince George's County has had some experience in this issue. For example, two career and six volunteer firefighters were suspended in 1995 after fighting over who would take in the first hose to fight a kitchen fire in Seat Pleasant. A brawl in a Landover townhouse in 2000 did more damage than the fire; another brawl that year involved a career employee working at Bladensburg and a Kentland volunteer captain.

2.Enact a zero-tolerance policy on vandalism. Document, take pictures and fill out the property-loss paperwork in these situations.

3.Clarify unacceptable fire station behavior. Equal-employment opportunity case law shows that certain words are “actionable” under racial and sexual harassment regulations. An organization must take immediate corrective action to address improper workplace behavior. Failing to act means the organization approves of the action, statement or behavior. In this case, the phrase “paid maid” or “tick” may be construed as a hostile statement, even when not prefaced by expletives.

Sometimes the combatants need a time-out. During a 1992 career — volunteer conflict, Prince George's Fire Department moved a dozen employees out of both Oxon Hill fire stations and established a temporary county fire station in a nearby industrial park. The conflict came to this after a career station commander called a volunteer “incompetent.”

4. Concentrate on providing emergency services to the citizens. Prince George's Fire Chief Ronald D. Blackwell and the international office of the IAFF have stated that Resolution 43 should remain an internal matter between Local 1619 and the surrounding locals.

Death and disability concerns

There are larger issues you may want to consider. Brian Collins and Phillip Dean were career firefighters in Fort Worth, Texas, and members of the all-volunteer River Oaks Volunteer Fire Department. Both responded to a Lake Worth, Texas, church fire in February 1999. The roof of the burning church collapsed, killing Collins, Dean and Gary Sanders, a Samson Park Volunteer Fire Department member.

This tragedy worsened when the Fort Worth City retirement board ruled that neither Collins nor Dean were eligible for line-of-duty death benefits because they weren't working as city firefighters when the roof collapsed. The difference worked out to $1,600 a month per family. Neither the city of Lake Worth nor the city of River Oaks would assume the $456,000 obligation to cover the line-of-duty benefits for Collins and Dean.

Their widows took the retirement board to court and lost the first two rounds. In April 2001, they were preparing an appeal to the state supreme court when Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr was able to convince the city to pay the full line-of-duty death benefits.

To avoid such a scenario, a fire chief, county coordinator or agency head should have a clear written policy on what the employer will do when an employee is injured, disabled or killed while donating his or her services as a member of a volunteer organization.

Chiefs should also look at the impact of volunteering on occupational disability regulations. Some fire departments specifically prohibit their employees from working as part-time firefighters or per diem paramedics because the second job may jeopardize the cancer, heart-lung or infectious disease presumptions written into the state industrial commission or workers' compensation regulations.

The concern is that a disability claim could be refused, with risk management ruling that the condition came from the employee's off-the-job activity as a volunteer firefighter/paramedic. If the employer prohibits working as a per-diem paramedic on a private ambulance, why can the off-duty employee ride as a paramedic with a volunteer department?

Career — volunteer relations have always required varsity-level management skill. After the dust settles, Resolution 43 is still a matter between the Washington-area IAFF locals and the estimated 200 two-hatters who volunteer in Prince George's County. The questions raised will affect other communities that have two-hatters.

A recurring plea from both sides is the need for respect by the other side. Unfortunately, that may be as elusive as peace in the Middle East.

Michael J. Ward is the fire science program head at Northern Virginia Community College. He has been riding fire trucks since 1971, including a year as a Sackroom member at the College Park Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George's County. Ward spent 25 years with Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue, working in communications, Advanced Life Support, training, suppression, prevention and administration. When he retired, he was the acting EMS Division administrator.
Ambulance duty drives away volunteers

There is speculation that one of the reasons certain stations in Prince George's County enjoy robust volunteer turnout is that those members avoid ambulance duty. As a volunteer stated on a Web-based discussion forum, “Real firefighters do not ride ambulances.”

Older volunteers recall the shift of members when stations agreed to pick up ambulance duty. For example, when an ambulance moved from Brentwood 4 to neighboring Mount Rainer 3, membership swelled in the ambulance-less Brentwood and fell in Mount Rainer. Brentwood has no county employees staffing fire trucks, but it does have Medic 4, a county-staffed 24-hour paramedic ambulance.

In general, the volunteers hate ambulance duty, and there's a pattern of crews refusing to respond in the ambulance. West Lanham Hills 28 stopped running an ambulance in 1991 during a dispute with Kentland over sending an ambulance into Station 33's area. Riverdale Heights 13 refused to send an ambulance into the West Lanham Hills district in early 1997 because of comments made by the crew from Station 28. Tower 33 was out of service for extensive repairs. Prince George's Fire Department offered the use of a county-owned reserve truck, if Kentland also placed an ambulance at Station 33. Tower 33 remained out of service for 105 days.

The following is an extreme example of the varsity-level conflict resolution. The Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department Company 7 was involved in a two-front battle with the county fire department and the Town of Riverdale Park when the volunteers decided to stop providing ambulance service.

On Nov. 26, 1999, Riverdale Chief Charles A. Ryan III sent the following letter to then — Prince George's Chief Ron Siarnicki: “As a result of a reduction in membership, we feel that we can no longer provide the quality of a consistent and reliable response with the ambulance.”

The county chief asked the volunteer department to continue to provide ambulance service, but the volunteers refused to respond to ambulance calls. They hid the volunteer department — purchased ambulance from the county fire department and the Town of Riverdale Park.

The relationships are complex. The town owns the building, Company 7 owns the ambulance, and the county fire chief approves volunteer command officer appointments. After the ambulance went missing, Siarnicki demoted Ryan and Asst. Chief Robert Cease to captains and assigned a reserve county ambulance to Station 7 with a daytime career crew. After a seven-day impasse, the town evicted the volunteer fire department from the building and obtained a restraining order that prohibited the volunteers from entering the station or interfering with career firefighters who took over operations. The volunteer corporation was also ordered to produce the missing ambulance. Today, the Riverdale ambulance continues to respond from Station 7.

As the years go by, the county fire department continues to handle more EMS duties. In addition to staffing daytime ambulances, the county operates three 24-hour EMT-level ambulances and twelve 24-hour paramedic ambulances. It isn't enough. Even with mutual aid, some critical patients do not receive paramedic-level service.

The need for paramedic service is so critical that Siarnicki established the Emergency Response Technician for cross-trained firefighter/paramedics. County employees hired since 1999 are under the ERT classification and are required to obtain National Registry EMT-Paramedic certification within the first four years of employment or be subject to dismissal.
Gripes about two-hatters go national

Firefighters are compassionate, competitive and enthusiastic practitioners of a highly physical, very technical craft that relies on small group teamwork. They are action-oriented and tend to see issues in stark contrast: dead or alive, right or wrong. The two-hat issue cuts to core beliefs on both sides. The issues in Prince George's County provide an extreme example of the situation that exists in almost every combination fire station.

For the members of Local 1619, the two-hatters are disrespectful of the efforts of the union brothers who fought the labor battles from years gone by. “They are like the able-bodied guy that uses a handicapped parking permit. Just because he can does not mean that he should.” The two-hatters are disregarding IAFF Rule 15, Section 2, and Resolution 43. Six months after Local 1619 President Tom McEachin made the formal complaint, D.C. Local 36 is pressing charges against 41 of their members for violating Resolution 43. One reason for the delay is the cost Local 36 will incur when they formally bring a member up on charges. They will spend thousands of dollars in legal fees and use hundreds of staff hours if they formally prosecute all 41 members.

The volunteer with an IAFF membership card feels that he can do what he wants to do during his off-duty time. Volunteering in Prince George's County meets a personal and professional need. Shortly after McEachin's letters went to the presidents of the neighboring IAFF locals, volunteer organizations started a vigorous opposition to Local 1619's action.

The opposition expanded a local issue into a national crisis. Local 1619 leaders were accused of trying to eliminate all volunteers in the county or increase career positions by forcing two-hatters to resign. Former volunteer fire chief and Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon made a statement on the floor of the House of Representatives on Feb. 27, asking, “Does this mean that those career firefighters from other departments that went to New York City would lose their union cards if this were enforced because they were volunteering to help their brother firefighters in a time of need?” That is not the objective of Resolution 43, which objects to concurrent memberships in the IAFF and a volunteer department.

The Maryland General Assembly drafted Joint Resolution 39 as a response to IAFF Resolution 43. The goal of the resolution was to “… preserve the rights of firefighters who are members of a union to serve their communities and hone their skills by serving in volunteer fire departments.”

During the March 2002 committee hearings on Joint Resolution 39 in the Maryland state house, Kevin O'Connor, special assistant to the IAFF general president, provided the labor perspective. “Off-duty firefighters from surrounding jurisdictions volunteer their services in Montgomery and Prince George's. In that capacity, many of these two-hatters demean, insult and intimidate career firefighters in the county. More importantly, they undermine the level of service by consistently thwarting attempts to institute a unified command structure and use their position as volunteer officers to undermine the work of career officers who have completed and earned promotion through a merit system process.”

There is a nuclear red-hot button issue when the volunteer chief is also an IAFF member. O'Connor expanded on this issue in his testimony. “These two-hatter volunteer chiefs relegate career firefighters — their union brothers — to menial duties. They force them to spend their days confined to certain rooms in the firehouse. They even deny career firefighters — who are infinitely better trained and equipped to respond to an emergency and whom your tax dollars pay for — the right to respond on certain calls. It's abhorrent. From our perspective, these two-hatters are not union brothers. They are an anathema.”

The joint resolution died in committee, but the International Association of Fire Chiefs weighed in on the issue in a November press release: “While the IAFC disagrees with this particular IAFF membership rule, we must respect and defend each organization's ability to independently set its own rules and requirements through its own democratic governing process. We encourage the IAFF to internally engage in discussions to address this issue and work to find a solution that is acceptable to both the IAFF and the volunteer fire service.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

hola a todos! hi everyone!

boris — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 00:09:19 GMT

soy capitan de bomberos. deseo conocer bomberos y bomberas del mundo para ser amigos.
I am a captain firefighter. I want to know female and male firefighters around the world.
saludos.
boris

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Suicide Prevention Walkathon in SF July, looking for donations

sacredgoddess — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 04:06:31 GMT

Hi
I am taking part in the SF AFSP walk athon and will be needing donation sponsorship in order to participate. Donations are tax deductable and secure on line or you can mail them.
Go directly to
http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10003637
and post your donations or go to
www.theovernight.org and go to participant site name
Sandra Weeks
Thanks ahead of time!!!!

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Good report writing slideshow. Make the rookies read this!

Doctor_Who — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:46:36 GMT

This is a short online slide show about report writing for EMS personnel. I highly reccomend it for anyone who has to write reports. While I have developed my own system that encompasses this method, it is good for people who want to improve their report writing or develop their on method, so that all bases are covered.

http://www.laurelrescue.org/files/training/EMSREP_C_files/frame.htm

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

speachless

Doctor_Who — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:27:10 GMT

I'm dumbfounded. I dont know what to think. I am constantly being reminded to be vigilant when it comes to dangerous situations. But I have to wonder exactly what I am suppossed to think. Where is the line between police and rescue drawn? Is it not enough that I have to be responsible for the lives of my crew and my patient, but I am also to be vigilant in the duties of law enforcement?

I feel very adimantly that fire and rescue personnell should never ever be drawn into the sitution that follows. All names and other descriptive factors have been altered for obvious reasons.

All Personnel:

Today, January 01,2010 Station 55 and Medic 55 personnel had a "near miss" incident involving crew safety and potentially endangered receiving hospital staff. This is not to say they did anything wrong. The officer and personnel took normal, appropriate actions.

The call was for a reported shooting at 0950 in the morning on the sixth floor of an apartment building. The OIC employed good safety/survival tactics and staged the units away from the scene advising PSC of their status until police units advised the scene was safe/secure. Upon clearance, the units reported to the sixth floor hallway finding a conscious, ambulatory patient with a head wound. There was a parka-type coat on the floor in the hallway nearby. The OIC advised the crew to leave the jacket where it lay as it was evidence. Unbeknownst to the OIC, in the process of moving the patient to the medic unit, the patient retrieved his jacket and brought it out to the medic unit with him.

Once the patient was in the medic unit, he was adamant about asking the crews to take his jacket and place it in his truck nearby. The medic was astute enough to ask why he wanted his jacket so badly and that Mayberry Police would secure it (fortunately, it was not in his immediate possession at this point, but it was inside the unit). The patient stated, ..."because he wanted his gun out of the jacket as he felt that the shooters would come back after him" (at the hospital). Concurrently, while treatment was in progress and his shoes were being removed, a large bundle of money fell from his pants leg. Once he made this statement, another alert crew member quickly removed the jacket from the unit and turned it over to Mayberry Police. A search of the jacket produced a loaded .25 or .32 caliber handgun and a large amount of CDS.

B/C Lisa Simpson issued a similar warning within the last few weeks in the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident on Pennsylvania Avenue where a loaded handgun was found under the driver's seat. A rollover accident on Suitland Road in the middle of the night during the summer left a handgun in the roadway along with the rest of the owner's personal effects. All personnel are reminded to be even more vigilant when it comes to YOUR SAFETY and that of your crew. Conducting a thorough secondary survey (checking all body parts and extremities) in the interest of good patient care will help reveal these potential problems. Carefully and quietly checking around drivers' seats for any potential hazards when operating at MVA's should be thoughtfully considered.

Homer B. Simpson
Supreme Commander
69th Battalion, B-Shift

The fire/rescue service must never be confused with that of the law enforcement side of public safety. WE are far too vulnerable and the police are ONLY their to protect themselves. Their is no brother/sisterhood of public safety when it comes to that. I do not want to loose the trust of the public, especially to those dangerous individuals capable of hurting us.

Please be safe people, you can only save one person at a time and thats yourself, you cant help anyone if your dead!

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

New Tribe for Hippy Fire Fighters

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 22:17:38 GMT

check it out at http://tribes.tribe.net/hippyfirefighter

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Best Wishes

Doctor_Who — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:33:19 GMT

My best wishes to everyone on the New Year.

May your celebration be fun and safe and filled with friends and family.

May your heart be filled with joy and may you find happiness and keep it as a constant companion.

For those of you who must work, my thoughts are with you. I have been there so many times before.

Folks please dont drive under the influence of anything. Being in jail or worse, injured or dead, by your own or someone elses carelessness is a horrible way to start the year.

If your in DC, MD or VA PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take advantage of the free cab rides that are being offerred. My volunteer firehouse just recently lost a member due to someones poor judgement.

WRAP's 2005 Holiday SoberRide service will be offered from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am from Friday, December 9, 2005 through Sunday, January 1, 2006. To receive a free cab ride home (up to a $50.00 fare), please call 800-200-8294 (TAXI) or #8294 (TAXI) on your Cingular telephone. Please refer to the SoberRide information listed below for important details concerning this program. You must be 21 or older to use the SoberRide service.

Please note: At this time the SoberRide line is only able to accept calls from cell phones with a DC, Maryland, or Virginia area code number and any local landline or pay phone.

General SoberRide Information

WRAP's SoberRide, called one of the nation's most successful free cab ride programs for would-be impaired drivers (WTOP-AM, 12/30/00), has helped to ensure greater Washington, DC residents have a safe way home on high-risk holidays.

Currently, SoberRide operates during the December/January holiday
season, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day and Halloween.

WRAP's SoberRide provides a free cab ride home up to a $50 fare.
Callers are financially responsible for anything over $50.

You must be 21 or older to use the SoberRide service. All calls must originate in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; the Cities of Rockville, Bowie, College Park, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt and Takoma Park in Maryland; the District of Columbia; Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Eastern Loudoun Counties in Virginia; and the Cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park in Virginia.

You cannot reserve a SoberRide or schedule a pickup in advance. To receive a ride, you must call 1-800-200-8294 (TAXI) or #8294 (TAXI) on your Cingular telephone during the program hours. A SoberRide call operator will direct your request to the correct participating cab company. Please note: At this time the SoberRide line is only able to accept calls from cell phones with a DC, Maryland, or Virginia area code number and any local landline or pay phone.

Participating Taxi Companies:
Alexandria Yellow Cab (Alexandria)
Barwood, Inc. (Montgomery County)
Fairfax Yellow Cab (Fairfax County)
Loudoun Yellow Cab (Eastern Loudoun County)
Manassas Cab Company (Prince William County)
Red Top Cab Company (Arlington County)
Silver Cab of Prince George's County (Prince George's County)
Taxi Transportation Services (DC) includes:

* District Cab
* Liberty Cab
* Consolidated Cab
* American Cab
* Premium Cab
* Washington Cab
* Independent Cab
* Comfort Cab

Yellow Cab of Prince William County (Prince William County)

When waiting for a SoberRide, please watch for a cab from the participating taxi company in the area from which you are calling.

WRAP
1420 Spring Hill Road, Suite 250, McLean, VA 22102
TEL. 703.893.0461 FAX 703.893.0465
Email: wrap@wrap.org

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

Ice Water Rescue (Some Good Writeups)

Doctor_Who — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:16:09 GMT

My company had a good rescue over the weekend. Here is the writeup from my companies website and the second due rescue squads site.

http://www.gdvfd18.com/

First Due Crash = Ice Water Rescue

On December 10th 2005 at 0131 hrs, Squad 18 and Ambulance 188 were dispatched to M.L.K. Hwy and Business Pkwy. for a reported crash. As units marked up Communications gave two updates. The first assignment was going to be upgraded due to reports of persons trapped, adding Rescue Engine 33, Medic 18, EMS 1 and Batt.Chief 2 to the call. Then the second update advised of a vehicle submerged under water with one trapped adding Water Rescue's 47 and 49, Tactical Rescue 22 and the Duty Chief. SQ18 and A188 arrived confirming one overturned with the passenger compartment completely submerged under water. The Squad crew quickly went to work getting 2 of its members into Ice Water Rescue Suits. The crew had no time to wait for the Tactical Teams and had to immediately make entry into the water to access the car where screams from the victim could be heard. While they made way to the car RE33 set up to pull the car out of the water with the winch if needed. The 2 entry members with only a haligan bar broke through the 2" Ice and forced the door of the car open and pulled the victim to the shore. SQ18's Driver along with assistance from RE33's carried the victim to the awaiting Medic crew. The Victim was transported to P.G. Trauma Center for Mechanism and Hypothermia. Ambulance 488 was used to assess the 2 rescuers and get them warm afterwards. If not for the Quick actions of all on scene this could have been a recovery rather then a rescue!! Chief 28 (Alter) had Command. Batt. Chief 2 (C-48A Ray) had Operations.

http://www.kentland33.com/fullstory.php?23363&PHPSESSID=3caa7077cd8dd653dd3829e916fa15a5

RESCUE ENGINE 33 ON WATER RESCUE IN WEST GLENN DALE

Saturday, December 10, 2005
At 0136 hours, Rescue Squad 18 and Ambulance 188 responded alone to Martin Luther King Highway and Business Parkway (in their first due) for the motor vehicle accident. When they arrived on the scene, more than just your everyday vehicle accident was found. A single vehicle had left the roadway at the reported intersection and overturned into a 10-foot deep body of water. Their was also a person trapped and unable to free themselves. The Rescue Engine from Kentland was alerted to the run. As they arrived, it was witnessed that two members from Co. 18 had put their own lives in danger and went under to remove the victim. Seeing this the volunteers from Kentland immediatly went to assist. The two members of Glenn Dale successfully removed the patient from certain death and all members brought the patient to awaiting EMS personnel. Without the proffesionalism of both volunteer crews, the patient would not have survived.

Kentland 33 Home of the second busiest engine in the country, Still Doin The Deed.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

New tribe

belisama — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 07:45:54 GMT

This tribe is intended to be supplementary, not contradictory.

All are invited!

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

published

photo61 — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 22:40:34 GMT

Got my photos published and made the cover

www.firefighting.com/ftn/ftn062905.pdf

posted in Fire Fighters - 4 replies

What is the difference?

ohsoverysassy1 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:30:48 GMT

Between a Hogger and a Hoser?

posted in Fire Fighters - 15 replies

What is the craziest damned thing...

ohsoverysassy1 — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 23:18:53 GMT

a woman has ever done in the name of a Fireman Fetish?

(it's book research....i swear)

posted in Fire Fighters - 7 replies

Hey

samcastanon — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 07:49:53 GMT

Just wanted to say "hey"

been in this tribe, usually just read the posts.

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Katrina 2 EMTS report

Doctor_Who — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 07:29:04 GMT

This email was forwarded to me, it is a first hand account by 2 EMTs who where down in New Orleans proper (namely the French Quarter) for a convention:

Two friends of mine--paramedics attending a conference--were trapped in
New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. This is their eyewitness report. PG

Hurricane Katrina-Our Experiences by Larry Bradshaw, Lorrie Beth Slonsky

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store
at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy
display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours
without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and
cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and
managers had locked up the food, water, pampers, and prescriptions and
fled the City. Outside Walgreen's windows, residents and tourists grew
increasingly thirsty and hungry.

The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the
windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters. There was an alternative.
The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts,
fruit juices, and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But
they did not. Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily
chasing away the looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home
yesterday (Saturday). We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at
a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or
front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the
Walgreen's in the French Quarter.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of
the National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the
"victims" of the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed,
were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the
working class of New Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift
to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and
kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick
extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we
had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took
over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually
forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep them alive.
Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators.

Refinery workers who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue
their neighbors clinging to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who
helped hot-wire any car that could be found to ferry people out of the
City. And the food service workers who scoured the commercial kitchens
improvising communal meals for hundreds of those stranded. Most of these
workers had lost their homes, and had not heard from members of their
families, yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the 20%
of New Orleans that was not under water.

On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the
French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees
like ourselves, and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and
shelter from Katrina. Some of us had cell phone contact with family and
friends outside of New Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of
resources including the National Guard and scores of buses were pouring in
to the City. The buses and the other resources must have been invisible
because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up
with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who
did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those
who did have extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending
the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and
clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly
and new born babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent"
arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the
minute the arrived at the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was
dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street
crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and
locked their doors, telling us that the "officials" told us to report to
the convention center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of
the City, we finally encountered the National Guard. The Guards told us we
would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's primary shelter had
descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. The guards further told
us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention Center, was also
descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not allowing
anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only 2
shelters in the City, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that
that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us.
This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and
hostile "law enforcement".

We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and
were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not
have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass
meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police
command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would
constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The
police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in
and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the
street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk
to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge
where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowd
cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the
commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information
and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned
to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are
there."

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great
excitement and hope. As we marched past the convention center, many locals
saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We
told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few
belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies
in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping
walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the
freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down
rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across
the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began
firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in
various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us
inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation.
We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the
commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses
waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there
was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West
Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes
in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you
are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New
Orleans.

Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the
rain under an overpass. We debated our options and in the end decided to
build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway on the
center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we
would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an
elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet to
be seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same
trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned
away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be
verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented
and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot.

Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and
disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers
stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could
be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery New
Orleans had become.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery
truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so
down the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a
tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts. Now
secure with the two necessities, food and water; cooperation, community,
and creativity flowered. We organized a clean up and hung garbage bags
from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We
designated a storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an elaborate
enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other scraps.
We even organized a food recycling system where individuals could swap out
parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When
individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for
yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids
or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to
look out for each other, working together and constructing a community.

If the relief organizations had saturated the City with food and water in
the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the frustration and the ugliness
would not have set in. Flush with the necessities, we offered food and
water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join
us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people. From a woman with a battery
powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full
view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their
way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do
about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded
they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling.
"Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was
correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of
his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the
fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades
to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up
his truck with our food and water. Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced
off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when
we congregated or congealed into groups of 20 or more. In every
congregation of "victims" they saw "mob" or "riot". We felt safety in
numbers. Our "we must stay together" was impossible because the agencies
would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered
once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought
refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We
were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we
were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew
and shoot-to-kill policies.

The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the day, made contact with
New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban
search and rescue team. We were dropped off near the airport and managed
to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen
apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They
explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant
they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were
assigned.

We arrived at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The
airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were caught in a press of
humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush
landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a
coast guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort
continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we
were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses did not have
air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were forced to share two
filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with
any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) we were
subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.

Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been
confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal
detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children,
elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened"
to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt
reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker
give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street
offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the
official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist. There was more
suffering than need be. Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

Katrina Relief

Doctor_Who — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 07:19:48 GMT

Well 2nite we had a little sending off party for 2 of our members at the firehouse who are going to volunteer with the relief effort for "upto 120 days".

Nothing so dramatic as anything operational, from what they can gather its going to be strictly administrative stuff. But its something, just to get down there and help out.

I'd love to go down and help out myself. But its just not possible considering my current situation. Besides I have have a real serious temper and it really flares up with beauracrazy. {sic} I'm more of a hands on rescue, get involved sweaty type.

So I'll do what I can from here. We had a boot drive over the weekend. Managed to pull in just under $2k. We are gonna send those funds down to an organization that will help other firefighters and other emergency services personnel that have been affected by this crisis.

I'm really upset with the way things are going in the relief effort. FEMA not only dropped the ball here, but they where in the wrong game. I dont understand how the feds are suppossed to be supporting us, the local emergency service providers if they are so deep with these stupid rules of engagement. On top of everything I cannot believe they have the gall to turn away large donations from corporations of food and water.

It still hasnt changed. I'm reading direct reports of folks who are unable to truck in relief supplies on their own because of military and police 'checkpoints'. WTF is up with that? You shouldnt have to have a press pass just to sneak relief supplies in. The only success I've heard is of a former soldier who took his surplus duece and a half down to the affected area dressed in his retired uniform and was able to get some supplies out to some areas that normal land based vehicles couldnt access.

I have zero confidence in our govt. Throwing money at the problem hasnt fixed anything. Homeland Security cant handle the logistics of act of god disaster, how could they ever hope to handle something as complicated as a dirty bomb?

I hate to say it, but things have changed since 9/11. The govt is more interested in maintaining the appearance of order at any cost, than they are about actually maintaining order.

I know from being an emergency service provider that you can never anticipate every kind of emergency and you may not always have exactly what you need at hand. But part of doing what we do is being able to take what resources we have, to achieve the objective. Oh yeah and its usually something you have to do quickly. Adapt and overcome, because if you move slowly ppl will die. I want my govt to have the same kind of accountabilty that I have.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Neat old photos

belisama — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:09:58 GMT

Came across this on the web, thought I'd share...

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/photos/firetruck_graveyard/

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

New Tribe - Hello Babylon

ohsoverysassy1 — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:04:45 GMT

New tribe of budding author "Marissa Stone" aka Beth (that would be me!).

tribes.tribe.net/hellobabylon

I plan to compile some 30 chapters for my first book to be written in the next year. Would love to have your feedback, commentary, support and good cheer along the way.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

dating a fireman

squeeky — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:01:27 GMT

not to say that i ever have, but it's good to have ambitions. ;)

i like hanging out with firemen. i get to work with them sometimes. and in the hoggers vs. hosers game i know whose team i'll root for.

it was just funny that i met this guy last night. and bonus he was a fireman. he agreed, it did get chix. i seemed to think that the reason i like them, i mean besides the hunkiness, was that they were genuinely good people. but he wasn't so sure about that part. ;)

too bad i live in a different city. ;)

posted in Fire Fighters - 6 replies

thanks california professional firefighters association!

creativecommunications — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 19:25:07 GMT

they had made a donation to an event, it was great, and just wanted to say thanks!

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

London Bombing

Doctor_Who — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 07:03:21 GMT

So the day after the London bombings we got a general alert across the printer, notifying every station that there where secondary bomb devices located at each of the sites.

The message also told us to be carefull when we deal with these types of explosive situations?!

I love it. How the hell are we suppossed to anticipate a secondary device? The department hasnt come up with an official policy on how we are suppossed to handle these bombing situations yet. More or less a couple thick stacks of "guidelines" which really arent worth the paper they are printed on.

Anyways I havent really tuned into the news recently, but can anyone else confirm if any secondary devices where found or not?

If so, what the hell are we as public safety personnel suppossed to do about this kind of stuff. I'm racking my brain trying to come up with a solution, but I think ultimatly no one is going to come up with anything until some of us get blown up trying to help victims.

posted in Fire Fighters - 7 replies

The End

gdogfunk — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 19:34:31 GMT

Well I have made a very tough choice in the last few weeks. After 21 years of faithful service to my community I have decided to turn it in in the next month or 2.....Why? Im just tired....alot of things have happend in my department. They say a rat jumps off a sinking ship....well the ship is sinking and I am getting off before I drown....

posted in Fire Fighters - 12 replies

Ladder 49

Doctor_Who — Fri, 08 Oct 2004 06:05:57 GMT

So I havent seen this flick yet, but I havent heard any grumbles from the folks who have seen it so I'll probably go see it this friday.

On a quasi-related note. I think Firehouse.com and Nextel are sponsoring a promotion where if you goto to certain nextel stores and show them your firefighter ID then you can get a free ticket to go see the movie.

As far as I am aware not all Nextel stores are in on the promotion, so i guess you either need to goto the ladder 49 website or the Nextel public safety website or the firehouse.com website (good luck finding info there) and see if the nextel store near you is in on this promotion.

fire is hot, (duh!) be safe!

posted in Fire Fighters - 9 replies

networking and resources

creativecommunications — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:47:53 GMT

CAREER:

I'm looking for a job and thinking about what I can do.

Support? Like dispatch? I know there is quarterly or so test that you take and then you can apply for jobs.

Many companies would have an Environmental Health and Safety dept, which address chemical flammability.

Fire safety technician. I know some of the fire performance artists need an onsite 'watcher'.

Permiting? I know that getting permits for entertainment events can be tricky. I also work as a building permit expiditor so know that could be an angle.

ORGANIZATIONS:

redcross.volunteermatch.org I know the red cross has volunteers that do inspections to help families out after a fire.

Local community involvement programs like SF NERT: Neighborhood Emergency Response Team

Burningman www.burningman.com/participate/emergency.html

www.firemensfund.com Personal insurance

www.sffcu.org San Francisco Fire Credit Union

SOCIALLY:
Sometimes I work with firemen and I like them a bit better than the police officers I work for. (Although they are great too.) I've heard of events like Pigs vs. Hosers baseball games.

Then there are the old fashioned firemen's balls.

I've also heard of fit firemen contests.

www.fireenginetours.com Fire engine tours and adventures.

Any other ideas?

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Greetings from Baghdad

Doc — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 10:10:09 GMT

Thought I'd join this house, and drop a hello from the Baghdad FD in the Green Zone, Downtown Baghdad, Iraq. I'm a FF/Tactical Medic over here and was just tunred onto this tribe thing recently. My photos page has a couple of our trucks, and pics fom our Palace fire this summer. Drop a line...

posted in Fire Fighters - 4 replies

fire photos

photo61 — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 05:45:37 GMT

look on my profile for some cool new stuff
chris

posted in Fire Fighters - 6 replies

Goodfellow AFB Firedogs

Matt — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 21:18:13 GMT

Hey just joined this tribe, 19 yr old AirForce fire fighter in training at the best FF training school in the world down at Goodfellow AFB TX

posted in Fire Fighters - 21 replies

Helping the NTSB...

dafydd — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 06:03:58 GMT

As I was surfing the NTSB site for information on the NYC airplane crash of 11/01, I found this:

http://ntsb.gov/family/LEO_brochure.pdf

It's information on how to respond to an aircraft incident/accident in ways that will minimize the subsequent NTSB investigation.

Good stuff to know.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

My company

Doctor_Who — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 07:28:39 GMT

So I just thought about this but I havent shared my fire companys website with y'all.

So here it is. It's kinda hockey, it wont win any design awards but you can look at our nice new fire truck that will be arriving any month now.

http://glenndalevfd18.tripod.com/

Oh yeah, one of our members had a real seriuos accident. he fell from a tree way high up. We did everything we could even flew him to the best shock/trauma hospital in the state...shit happens I guess. So I'm taking a little time off from the firehouse for a while. For ppl that deal with death all the time, it really hits the house hard for a real long time when members that are well liked die especially in such tragic situations....we all live so close to the firehouse, we pray that we never have to come for one of our own...but I dont think any of us would want anyone but us taking care of them.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

Street Justice

Doctor_Who — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 08:07:37 GMT

I hate to say it, becuase I dont like coming off as a cold asshole, but I do believe there is such a thing as "street justice", or "karma" or "getting whats due".

Outside of the public safety realm, I think when we tell the kind of story that I am about to, that if we laugh or joke or make comments or show a general lack of emotion about certain things that it is misunderstood as being cold, callous and insensitive. I am none of those things, so to any "observers" that may be on this tribe please understand that.

When I am not volunteering at the firehouse or at home lifting weights and playing with the dog I have this thing I goto called a job. A mere necessesity to keep food in my stomach and bill collectors off my fone. Well tonight I was at my job (I'm a master technician, I work in a state run community theatre) tonight we had a boring drivle of a teen presentation of a kids show. I didnt pay much attention to it, and spent most of my time in the office dozing. Intermission came and I woke up in time to move a few flats around.

Then all hell broke loose. My stage manager came back stage hauling azz and mumbling something about a kid being hit by a car out front of the theatre. My heart didnt have time to drop I cant let it. I need to be focused and think what equipment I have at hand to deal with the situation. It figures that I had taken my hard case of BLS supplies that I keep in my car out just earlier that day, removed it because I needed to get to the spare while the tire was in patch, didnt bother to replace it because I was in a bit of a rush earlier.

After a quick inventory in my mind I realized that the only thing I had, was a pair of nitrile gloves and a rescue mask in my car on the other side of the building. *GREAT* never fails.

I arrived at my patient shortly thereafter. Approx. 18 year old male, face down on the pavement, a small pool of blood leaving his face. I didnt even have my flashlight, which I am normally never out of arms reach of. My initially assesment was that the scene was secure enough. A car near the intersection had blocked the lane of traffic where the victim was, and the gawkers that where outside for intermission where blocking everything else.

Initially I was told that it was pedestrian vs. motorvehicle, but it was shortly thereafter I found out it was medium sized dirtbike vs. car. *raises eyebrow* Thats right a friggin dirtbik e with knobby mud tires on it. No headlight, no marker lights, no helmet. The lady this kid hit didnt even see him coming. But he saw her, the 50' long skid mark he left is evidence of that.
In short the kid was wide open throttle, I doubt he dropped any speed considering the tires he was riding on arent rated for pavement.

Well when I arrived to my patient he was out cold, I'm pretty sure he knocked the wind out of himself, because he was making those noises when he regained partial consciousness. Consciousness is a blessing and a curse, its a real good indicator that my patient is still alive, but it also marks the period of time that my patient begins to go into shock.

I hate shock, I hate everything about it from the lack of pain that a patient initially feels, to the combative way that they act when they have head trauma. Nothing more glorious then trying to convince an injured person that they need to lie completly still until we strap on all sorts of uncomfortable devices.

I noticed a flash of white strobe light coming around me, but I didnt feel the initial wave of heat and diesel exhaust fumes that I expected. Well it turns out about the time my patient is starting to gain consciousness, some jerk who came outside during intermission just happened to be news media and he brought his camera. Now I'm not one for censorship (in fact I hate censorship), nor restricting the freedom of the press, *BUT* when it comes to cameras or my patients privacy.

Well I dont remember my exact quote, but I will try to reproduce it as verbatim as I can remember:

me: what the fuk are you doing.
media guy: I'm taking fotos.
me: no shit shirlock, get that fukin camera out of here.
media guy: I can be here I'm media.
me: well I'm a professional firefighter and I'm ordering you to step back onto the curb with your camera and flash.
media guy: *slightly pissed look but not really wanting to see if the look of 210lbs headed his way about to give him a proctol exam with his camera would do it*
me: somebody help me here
*civilian steps up and mumbles something to media guy who puts camera away*

Note: this is the first time I have ever given a direct order to a citizen or media person. Normally I dont bother with it; Correction I never give orders to civilians. But for some reason it really bothered me tonight. I have the authority to back up any order I give, but thats more like being a cop, and it was distracting me from my patient care.

.....

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Rescuer Airbag Injuries

Doctor_Who — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 18:17:12 GMT

So does anyone know if the automobile manufacturers are going to come up with a universal way to disarm airbag systemns after a crash and perhaps come up with some sort of easily reconizable symbol or color for where these hidden compartements of compressed gas are.

the reason I'm asking about if there is any standardization for disarming these things, and no just unhooking the battery does not garruntee that the systemn is disarmed, many of these new systemns are equipped with internal backup power.

Last night for sh*ts and giggles we decided that we would rupture one of these 'stored gas type' cylinders used in the new side curtain airbags found in some of the newer vehicles, we rigged the Hurst tool up so that it was steady on and set it up in a situation that if an operator wasnt aware that it was there it would rupture the cylinder. Of course we did this remotly because we figured it would do some kind of damage. (we turned the pump on and released it from dump)

It only took a few seconds before we heard an incredible shot. We turned the pump off to investigate. When the cylinder burst it exploded like a grenade, it sent shrapnel all over the car and as best as our [quasi-] forensic examination could tell it would have killed our patient, and probably maimed or killed the rescuer as well. We did manage to make a hole in the hydraulic line, but it was sacrificial, put out of service due to age.

A little worried to say the least. When we get onscene our objective is to get the patient out as quick as possible. No one has time to sit looking at some book trying to figure out where all the air bag components are and we certainly cant pussyfoot around trying to avoid airbag paths in case they decide to deploy. So whats it gonna take to get some kind of consensus on how to disarm these systemns and to make sure the the components are clearly marked so that rescuers or patients are not hurt by accidental deployment?

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

CPAT training

Doctor_Who — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 01:09:16 GMT

(ok this is a cross post, just trying to maximize the reach of my query.)

Has anyone here trained for CPAT before and if so can you let me know which muscle groups I need to focus on.

I'm now starting to intensify my cardio workout and I've got until Sep. 25 to be in best shape. I'm aiming for best score so any help is appreciated.

The closest CPAT facility that I have access to is 1.25 hours away, so I'm only going there twice a month to benchmark myself. Besides my home gym (treadmill, stationary bike, total gym, chinup bar and some free weights) I have a machine at the firehouse I can do lat pulldowns on although its kinda useless as I'm pulling the whole stack now with little effect other than fatigue after a whole bunch of reps.

Anyways I appreciate any help I can get and any advice from anyone who is experienced in the course. In my current shape I could pass the course, but I want to dominate it

posted in Fire Fighters - 10 replies

Radio DJ Stunt Misfires

Doctor_Who — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 08:51:46 GMT

It started out as a stunt, but ended up with a fireworks injury.

Fire department spokesmen said employees from radio station 99.5 went to the home of a station manager this morning. The home is in the 12000 block of Pineapple Grove Drive in North Potomac, Md.

Authorities said a disc jockey who goes by the moniker Teapot Tim was covered with foam padding that had fireworks stuck on top.

The stunt was billed as being wrapped in fireworks in order to make a big bang. But something went wrong and one person received minor burns.

Fireworks are illegal in Montgomery County. Fire officials said everyone involved will be charged with posession and discharge of fireworks.

http://www.nbc4.com/news/3486097/detail.html# <--crappy slideshow
---------------------------------------------------------------

First I guess its kind of entertaining that dj's would do something this stupid. Honestly you could just simulate the sound of firecrackers on a soundtrack or something. Unfortunatly no video. Basically one of the dj's from the morning show was running around in a giant foam coat (as in petreoleum rubber foam) covered with some 30,000 firecrackers and various whizbangpoppers and running around the front of his house like an idiot. A neighbor thought the guys was on fire or something and called the firedept. They fire dept was not amused, especially since its a bunch of paid guys on during the mornings.

This didnt happen in my county but I know guys up in the area. They are going to get a serious fine for this. Anyways tis the season for stupid ppl to remove themselves from the gene pool.

Have a safe and happy holiday. I will. I get to be near the action and watch the show. Hopefully nobody gets hurt bad this year so I can watch it instead of transporting to the hospital.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

jacobs ladder

Doctor_Who — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 09:26:51 GMT

Christ its been a slow week down here in maryland. We havent had anything going on in so long I forgot what is like to not sleep through the night.

Tonight we kinda had a little excitement, nothing more than a tree branch that fell on a high tension wire. The exciting part is when we got there the 13,000 volt 3rd leg off these poles was pumping some serious juice into this tree limb. I saw colors coming off this fire that I havent seen in a long time.

The scene was the backyard of a single story rancher with and extended paved lot in the backyard, a large storage barn/house and a couple junk cars where in the back.

When we arrived on the scene in our 4x4 brush truck (not worth bringing anything else for the babysitting job) the anxious homeowner and kids where asking us when we planned on putting the fire out. *raises eyebrow* You know these are the kind of ppl that never fail to amaze me with some of the injuries that they commit to themselves. I've been practicing my community relations and explained to her that you should never put water on electricity. (duh!)

There was some overgrowth near the power line right of way, nothing too severe and in my opinion probably could have survived another season without a trim. The problem was a diseased canopy branches of a maple tree that gave up the ghost during the thunderstorm and took out a trunk line with a branch none the less!

Initially I was hoping that the high tension line would burn through the branch that was hung up on it. That would have made simple work of the thing and I could go back to the station make my report and return to my nap in progress. Of course I started to realize that when hot aluminum comes down from a fire it sparks a little bit before it burns out....heh great it was only a matter of time that this wire became a victim of the very electricity it was carrying.

I ordered my driver to pull his truck back for the impending wire failure and I walked back down the driveway to the street to setup flares at the mouth of the driveway so that my engine company could find me in a hurry in case the pig on a pole decided to frag. A little dramatic perhaps, but whenever i dont take precautions I wind up wishing I did. Well no sooner than I got to the end of the driveway did I hear a terrific boom and a fantastic semi-apocoliptic flash in the dusk sky.

The house the trees and all the other wonderfull things about suburbia totally obstructed me from my driver and truck, I'm praying silently that he moved the rig in time and safe enough back.....its those times when your busting ass trying to run in turnout gear, too far away to make a difference but hoping that you can do something that you either realize or wonder why exactly you do this "utlrahazardous job".....I mean I love it, but is scares the absolute shite out of me in not the best ways.

Luckily the driver did take my order and act on it fast enough. He wasnt in any immediate danger where he was previously considering the branch deflected the cable downward instead of that nasty snap that cables normally take when they break. But I'm a little superstitious too, maybe if he hadnt moved I would be at the hospital pacing now, instead of typing this.

The rest of the incident was pretty uneventfull. We sat around and watched the cable make all sorts of patriotic colors and sparks shapes and letters. Kinda like the 4th of july, dangerous and pretty. I saw alot of Vs and W's, like 8 foot long 4 foot high W's of high power electricity. I even saw a pretty cool jacobs ladder by the way the cable felled and lay over a couple of trees below the right of way.

I've never seen electrical fire this pretty or had so long a time to observe it. Striking similaraties of how electrical fire acts the same way as conventional fire. Fire is alive and I would almost say its intelligent if I didnt know better.

Luckily the brush and trees the electricity scorched where totally drenched, 0% chance of fire even after 45 mins of several thousand degrees direct exposure. Wet leaves are like sponges. Alot of steam and smoldering but no fire. The only thing that did catch was a carpet that someone thoughtfully dumped in the woods. But that wasnt until the very end and the guy from BGE (local power util.) showed up and yanked a couple fuses for us. A squirt with the 1" booster and that was all the excitement for the night.

I went back to the firehouse and spotted a QT EMS chica, first time I've seen her but shes somebodies sister, she was giving me the eye but its too bad she related to one of my brothers. #2 rule with me is never date someone from the same firehouse. Christ I'll never get any privacy. I think theres a little too much inbreeding at the firehouse. I mean we all marry each other because you really do have to be in the service to have any kind of chance of having a marraige that the firehouse doesnt kill. But christ I'm gonna hold out, I dont need any problems right now or worse rumours and teasing.

Well thats as exciting as things are here in suburbia. I'm going home to spend some time with my dog, they'll probably run "the big one" tonight, we havent heard anything from that arsonist recently....he's still on the run ya know.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

Book recommendations

Doctor_Who — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 21:15:58 GMT

Ok I'm looking for some good fire reading. I'm about halfway through "Report from Engine Co. 82" it's a good read. Gives me some insight on how the old school guys fought fires. A tough lot those old guys.

I read Farenheit 451 a few years ago, although it might be worth a revisit considering how our current regime is acting. I know its not exactly firefighting the way we do it, but I'm really looking for some good reccomendations. I'm not a big fan of fiction, but I'll read it if its good. I prefer true life stories, much more exciting to me.

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

21st Century Firehouse

Doctor_Who — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 22:02:11 GMT

It's kinda funny sitting in the monthly meetings at the firehouse. I dare say there is a slight rift between the olde timers and the younger generation of firefighters.

hell within the past 20 years in my area alone we have seen fire technology improve by leaps and bounds. yet all the technology in the world wont save you if your training is bad or if your one of these new generation "no fear" fools. i really dont like getting burned, but my body is full of burn marks/scars. none of them was from some false sense of bravado, but shite happens. I cant say the same for some of my brothers.....but thats a different topic.

Our company has finally taken the leap into the 21st century, we now have a computer (which I am using to type this out) that is connected to the internet. As well we have decided as a company to invest in a pre-alert systemn that will tie directly into communications dispatch center.

if you are not familiar with a pre-alert systemn let me explain it to you. currently every station in the county is equipped with a printer, typically [but not always] speaking the order of actions taken by the communications center is as follows. A dispatch aide answers the phone when you call 911. This dispatch aide classifies the call as police or fire or ambulance (bls/als), depending on if the aide is fire board or police determines wether on not they route the call to the "other side of the house". The call is entered into the dispatching systemn with the best known address and the systemn determines which "assignment" is 1st due and available for that address. From there the call appears on the dispatchers screen, the dispatcher then chooses the information sent up by the dxp'er aide and sends it out to the appropriate firehouse printer.

Typically the dispatchers allow between 10-15 seconds for the printer to respond and spit out the paper, then the dispatcher aide rings the "red phone" in the station to give voice verification that the station is available and recieved the printout info. Also during this time the regular station alert is sounded. depending on what station your in it can range from traditional alarm bells, to sirens to submarine/boat "battlestations" type alarms.

where the pre-alert systemn fits in is that an ip enabled connection is routed into the communications dxp systemn as that such when a signal would be sent to the printer with information it is also sent to these multi-color dot matrix graphic displays that we have in station in many places. This information is also used to power our garage doors in the engine bay opening the door to the correct piece of apparratus. *geek laugh*

We figure once the systemn is up and fully operational it will give an awake crew upto 15 seconds jump on the call before it comes out on the air, and for the overworked live-in crew responding to yet another [false] alarm bells at 3am enough time to wake up, curse the alert and get out of the door by 2 mins.

Its kind of a matter of pride in our station that we put the fire out before the 2nd due engine arrives. Well that is except when a truck company gets the jump on the call and is inside doing interior operations with no water and generally getting in the damned way....buts that another topic.

I'm really excited about this pre-alert systemn it has all sorts of bells and whistles. We will be able to send personalized or group pages to members nextel phones or compatible alpha-numeric pages.

so my next project is going to be to hookup a barcode scanner to a laptop and station computer so we can keep track of our hours served and also for the chief so he can do Personnel Accountability Tracking using a computer. I'm looking for a program that can keep track of in and out times so we can have a backup plan for personnel accountability and better RIC team intervention times. I forgot to note that all of our PAT tags have barcodes on them already...., but the county was too cheap to buy the licenses for the accountability software and well the laptops and scanners to run it.

anyways thats whats a brewin' here at Co. 18
Engine, Engine/Rescue, Heavy Rescue Squad, Tower, Brush, Ambulance and Medics.

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

cicadas

Doctor_Who — Thu, 27 May 2004 04:36:38 GMT

ok I dont know if any of you are unfortunate enough to live in an area that has been infested with these 17 year cicadas, but let me tell you there is no bug as large or as buggy red eyed foul as a cicada.

from a distance you could mistake some of the larger specimens to be small hummingbirds....ech! I'm not really afraid of bugs and in a pinch [as in end of the world no food left or stranded someplace with nothing else to eat] I could probably eat bugs to survive. however since I am not on fear factor or survivor my penchant for having contact with anything with more than 4 legs is severly restricted.

We [i live in MD] are in the middle of our 17 year cicada infestation. They are everywhere, it is soooo bad now that I cannot cruise in my car at low speeds with the windows down and not have at least 2 or 3 smacking into me and I do mean smack.

So here i am in the kitchen [at the firehouse] chowing down on some fresh hot papa johns pizza when one of my fellow ff/emt's comes in with a bag of a dozen of these creepy red eyed mutants freshly picked from probably the walls of the firehouse. With the intention of putting them in the freezer and cooking them.

I dont know if I made it clear but ECH! for fuks sake we are not in france. so ff/emt russ proceeds to chill these things in the freezer to a state that I will presume is dead, he then sprinkles them with 'old bay' [a local seafood seasoning here in MD, typically used to steam crabs and cook other seafood] and throws them in the oven.

Now dont get me wrong I'm no sissy boy, I'll run into a burning building and drag my ass through three levels of hell before you will find me eating anything with red eyes and wings. finally again ech!

i'm all about male bonding and being able to trust my fellow fire brother. but if I'm gonna eat bugs there better be some prize money involved.

alright this is kindaof a senseless post. but i hope you got a little enjoyment out of it. The stuff we do for entertainment around here inbetween calls. Christ nothing doing all day.....well except for that stupid hazmat call that turned out to be nothing. christ i hate hazmat.

Anyways 4 out of 10 of us ate some of these bugs. i cant say I would feel any closer to any of them if I had eaten the bugs. but we still have a few left over sitting on the baking pan. i think I'm gonna go sneak into the female bunk area and leave a surprise for some of my sisters when they turn in for the night.

cheers.

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

unpaid professional

Doctor_Who — Thu, 27 May 2004 04:56:14 GMT

ok I'm kinda curious how other parts of the country do it. My county (Prince Georges) in MD has a volunteer service. What this means for a majority of the stations is that paid personnel do the job from 0700-1600M-F and the volunteers pickup the rest of the hours. Volunteers also cover all the federal holidays and any additional county holidays (for instance the friday before a holiday monday).

by all means we are county employees but we do have civilians in our support organizations. After 20 years of service we are entitled to a small retirement package.

my company is incorporated as a non-profit organization, we own all of our apparatus and tools. the county pays for our training and turnout gear (most ppl by leathers to replace the plastic and rubber shite they issue), we take care of everything else.

The purchase of our equipment is directly through donations and other fundraising activities. Currently we run an engine company, engine/rescue/water rescue, heavy rescue squad, tower, brushtruck and a ambulance unit. Within the last two years the county installed a paid medic unit in our facilty as well.

anyways there is a 'litte big' rift between the paid personnel and the volunteers. basically it amounts to a power struggle. hopefully it doesnt get any worse. The volunteers in my county run a majority of the calls that happen in the county, and we provide the tax payers with a great benefit in tax dollars saved and level of service. Besides that it is a tradition in this country to have volunteer fire fighters, ppl who live in your neighborhood, who care about you to respond.

We dont run as many calls as a urban unit would, but nonetheless we still run a nice quantity. I'm curious to hear if other volunteer units in the country are having similar power struggles.

posted in Fire Fighters - 1 reply

leather or plastic

balloonhedz — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:01:36 GMT

what kinda helmet are you wearing? be specific...model etc...

and why.

Ben Franklin 2

cuz my neck couldnt take the weight of the N5A anymore...and I was a jerk for subjecting myself to the results in the interest of looks.

posted in Fire Fighters - 18 replies

O cutters

Doctor_Who — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 16:47:26 GMT

you know I just realized how much more muscle I need to put on, last night we did a rescue squad drill, rollover stabilization/extrication (rooftop and side)x 2. After about 20 mins on the O cutters my forearms where so tense I could barely lift them above chest level while working with the tool. Thats not good, after the drill we had a couple MVA calls, no serious extrication involved, but it definetly has motivated me to get back in the gym and work on upper body strength.

I was on B column and rear door removal and it took me a solid 35 mins. to get both removed. I"m seriously motivated now to get pumped up. anyone have any reccomendations for increasing forearm strength?

posted in Fire Fighters - 6 replies

New moderator?

joseph — Thu, 06 May 2004 19:28:57 GMT

Anyone want to take over as moderator of the Fire Fighter tribe?

posted in Fire Fighters - 14 replies

boots

balloonhedz — Thu, 06 May 2004 16:26:28 GMT

after a recent slip/fall injury I checked the treads on my rangers

gone man gone!~

time for new boots.

just got back from FDNY Qtrmaster with a pair of Warrington 4000s....yup...leather. Im thinking worth every penny of the 265 bux I dropped on em.

god bless uniform allowance

posted in Fire Fighters - 0 replies

SCBA's

gdogfunk — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 17:36:44 GMT

What kinda SCBA's is everyone using......we just got new Scott packs with all the bells and whistles.....Love them....

posted in Fire Fighters - 4 replies

On Arson's Scorched Trail

Doctor_Who — Mon, 08 Mar 2004 19:31:59 GMT

Stolen from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36831-2004Mar6.html

One death and dozens of fires set while victims slept bring a year of fear and a frustrating investigation.

By Susan Levine, David A. Fahrenthold and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 7, 2004; Page C01

At first, it was just a fire. An isolated, unfortunate fire. It was discovered shortly before dawn near the back basement door of a District rowhouse.

Investigators considered the situation suspicious from the start -- something obviously had been set aflame -- but they had no reason to think much more was involved. They concluded their work. The neighborhood returned to normal.

And then, a couple of miles away in the city, there was a similar fire. And then, over the line in Prince George's County, another one.

And another.

And another.

Those early incidents now seem frightening portents of the serial arsonist who authorities believe has been burning his way across the Washington region for the past year. Between the March 8, 2003, rowhouse fire in Southeast and a blaze three weeks ago in a Silver Spring apartment building, as many as 35 arsons might be his handiwork.

Fourteen of the fires have been "conclusively linked," including eight that occurred from September to January. Officials labeled the remaining fires "similar in nature." Virtually every one began during furtive hours of darkness, ignited on porches, by doors, in stairwells that many victims needed for escape.

The toll so far: one death, 86-year-old Lou Edna Jones; nearly a dozen injuries; property damage that could reach a half-million dollars.

Every day that goes by without a new arson is a day of relief for the task force assembled from among a host of fire and police agencies, in concert with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Together, they staff a command post round-the-clock. Every morning begins with an 8 o'clock briefing.

"There are people who are living and breathing this," said Maj. Victor Stagnaro, a veteran of the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department, which is heading the investigation.

Though confidence in a quick conclusion faded months back, officials said frustration has not yet set in. "It's just a matter of time" until an arrest, Stagnaro said.

Yet after a year, time risks more fires, more deaths. Every day that goes by is also a day spent on edge: The perpetrator is still unknown -- and still out there.

Clues Go Up in Smoke

Officials have no prime suspect.

This despite intense publicity and house-to-house canvassing in affected neighborhoods. Despite a composite sketch from the only known eyewitnesses, who in September saw a man prowling around a home in Northeast Washington and found a container left behind with fuel.

Despite personal appeals to the arsonist himself and a psychological profile that portrays with painful specificity the likely dimensions of his life, despite a reward fund that has more than quadrupled to $35,000 and the assistance of top investigators.

The task force has had suspects under surveillance at times, but those names have been eliminated as new fires broke out while they were being watched.

"I thought we would have been done by now, but arson cases are difficult to resolve because of the nature of the crime," Prince George's Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell said Friday. "Ultimately, in my view, we will need someone to come forward."

From its restricted-access headquarters at the Prince George's Cranford/Graves Fire Services Building in Landover Hills -- where it occupies two offices cramped with thick binders of paperwork, partitioned desks and blaring police and fire radios -- the group has pored over the most minute tidbits of evidence and fielded the most far-fetched of tips. No one there needs to be reminded of the usual odds: that fewer than 20 percent of arsons get solved.

Calls continue to come at all hours. A Metro rider claims to have seen a man who looked just like the composite. A resident worries that the arsonist might be his neighbor. "Armchair investigators" offer advice about how the force should do its job.

With the list of nearly three dozen fires -- 18 in the District, in three of the city's four quadrants; 14 in Prince George's, primarily down a long stretch of its western border with the city; and one each in Alexandria and Montgomery and Fairfax counties -- Stagnaro and his colleagues quickly pursue the more legitimate-sounding information. The amateur private eyes get a polite thank-you and goodbye.

The investigation has analyzed every detail of the fires: when they were set, where and how. An accelerant propelled all but a few. Stagnaro would not identify the substance last week but characterized it as "readily available."

Other evidence, fingerprints and the like, is scanty. That's the problem with flames: They destroy all. "It's not like a bullet or a shell casing [in a homicide case], where there is evidence like markings that conclusively connect it to a weapon," Stagnaro said matter-of-factly.

Investigators have searched for clues among the houses targeted. Were they all brick? All on dead-end streets? Distinctly distinguishable from their neighbors? They decided no. The only clear similarity was chilling: Even in neighborhoods with vacant houses, the arsonist chose occupied buildings.

The task force also has puzzled over the calendar. Fourteen fires in June, one in early July and then nothing for two months. A shorter hiatus occurred between Nov. 16 and Dec. 20.

"Was this person in jail at the time?" Stagnaro wondered. "Did he go away?" Or did the stresses that triggered his behavior subside and then return?

According to the psychological profile offered the public, the man is a skilled liar who leads a secretive life, a "chameleon personality" who can be charming and caring one moment, angry and indifferent another. He has difficulty in relationships. He blames others, maybe society, for his problems. He likely has been in trouble with the law. He might drink heavily.

Arson may be, as psychiatrist Jeffrey Geller puts it, "the perfect vehicle" for him. It allows him to avoid confrontation, even conversation. He doesn't have to stick around -- and yet what an impact he can have.

Geller, of the University of Massachusetts medical school, has interviewed and treated many serial arsonists. "The likely suspects often are some of the least likely suspects," he cautioned. "They're the Mr. Peepers type."

If the searching and strategizing seem to parallel the way law enforcement tracked the Washington area snipers in 2002, it's by design. Several investigators key to that case are involved now. They have advised on what details the task force should release and where it should hold back.

"For one thing . . . steering away from anything becoming our white box truck," Stagnaro explained, referring to the generic, omnipresent vehicle that repeatedly, and erroneously, was reported as the snipers' getaway car. "We are very guarded about that."

He and the others are routinely working 12-hour shifts, missing family functions, sacrificing vacation time. "We know people's lives are at risk, so we are doing everything we can to catch this person," he stressed. "Saying there has only been one fatality . . . is really irrelevant. That puts no more or less priority on it."

The Damage Lingers

Anita Kyler has yet to go home.

She had lived in the brown-brick rowhouse on D Street SE since the 1950s, in a row of identical houses several blocks west of the city armory. But in the year since thick, dark smoke filled her home, since a family friend staying with her that night ran into the street and chanced upon two utility workers who rescued Kyler from a second-floor bedroom, the elderly woman has refused to return.

She remains scared, as do other victims, who have been roused from deep slumber by smoke detectors, breaking glass, frantic pets. Some have had nightmares. Some admit to ongoing anxiety -- akin to post-traumatic stress, which is what a doctor diagnosed in a District Heights woman whose small white house was torched in June. The arsonist set fire to her front door, within feet of the toys on the front porch.

"He had to know there were children in here," she said recently, still disbelieving and fearful enough that she would speak only if her name were not used. "So why did he set this house on fire?"

"Why me?" Kyler also asked Wednesday, two days before her 93rd birthday. She has rotated among her children's homes and for now is at a daughter's address in Capitol Heights.

From Kyler's back alley, the trauma of a year ago is not visible. Excepting a pair of boarded-up windows that front Blair Road in Silver Spring, the same is true from the street of the arsonist's latest score.

But step inside the front door of the three-story apartment building there: The center stairwell going up looks like the inside of a massive, crumbling chimney, its walls blackened and peeling. A stale, burnt smell hangs in the air.

The stairwell spooks Bettie Palmer, who lives one flight up, just beyond the mid-flight landing where the arsonist struck. When her smoke alarm went off sometime after 4 a.m. Feb. 14, she opened her front door and saw . . . nothing. The hallway was impenetrably black. Choking, she slammed the door shut and huddled in a back bedroom with her daughter until help came.

"That was our only way out," she said last week.

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Non-fire fighters in this tribe?

joseph — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:50:01 GMT

Hey all, I am just curious, I initially made this tribe moderated to keep out non-fire fighters from the tribe given that there are so many Burners, pyros, and generally fire obsessed folks on tribe.net (just do a tribe search with the key word "fire").

Whats your take on it? Should this be an open tribe, or should we keep it to brothers and sisters only?

posted in Fire Fighters - 15 replies

Payback

Doctor_Who — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:07:01 GMT

I was down at the firehouse. Watching tv in a daze halfway between waiting for another call and going to sleep. One of our senior members is in the room next to me going over vehicle specs. for the new fire truck we are ordering. Next thing I know he's on the house horn calling for medics to respond to the kitchen for a trouble breathing.

I run into the kitchen to find we have a walk-in patient. An old-timer from D.C. Fire/EMS 20 something years of service. He has difficulty breathing and he keep reaching for his chest complaining of tightness. Let me tell you that EVERY fire and EMS person in the house was running around grabbing the o2 the aed, pulse ox., aide bag and drug box. You would have thought we were on the set of E.R. and we had something much more serious.

Our patient kept apologizing for waking us up and causing so much trouble. Trust me we where not upset. I guess after the third time he apologized one of our senior members told him that he didnt have anything to worry about and that he should just relax and let us do our jobs. After all its time for him to recieve a little payback for so many years of service.

Our patient almost cried after the senior member said that. Man that was a diamond in the rough....it totally took the monatony out of the routine and made me remember why I do this stuff....anyways I thought I'd share that w/yall.

posted in Fire Fighters - 2 replies

Nothing like the smell of.....

Doctor_Who — Tue, 09 Mar 2004 21:25:20 GMT

Nothing like the smell of a mattress fire in the evening. Responded to a 2 story colonial for report of a mattress on fire.....seems the matress spontaniously combusted *hehehe* right. found an ashtray on the floor next to the bed.

More smoke and water damage than anything. No extension beyond the immediate bedroom.

We dont run very many fire calls. so it's always good to get a real call to break up the monotony of being a bus service.

posted in Fire Fighters - 3 replies

Baltimore 5 Alarm

Doctor_Who — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:19:26 GMT

This is a linke to a five alarm wharehouse fire in baltimore. It rekindled last night. WBAL used to have fotos of the fire up, but the links have been killed. Anyways. Enjoy.

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=27057

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drops his bunker pants and cookware in the corner