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News and related Updates
(Also check the most current issue of THE SECRET LIST for related News and Updates-Click Here)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - (The Post and Courier)Embattled Charleston Fire Chief Rusty Thomas announced his retirement Wednesday, saying that last year’s Sofa Super Store fire had changed him forever and that stepping down is the best way to help the department move forward.
Thomas is scheduled to speak at a news conference at 4 p.m. today. The announcement comes on the eve of a highly anticipated report expected to be critical of the fire department’s handling of the June 18 blaze that killed nine of Thomas’ firefi... Full Story  | | The Charleston 9-R.I.P. |
|  | | Chief Thomas & Mayor Riley |
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 | | FF Tyler Casey, R.I.P. |
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - Tyler Casey, a volunteer Seneca area firefighter, was called out to go storm spotting with other firefighters in Newton County on Saturday evening. Casey was spotting near the intersection of Highway 43 and Iris Road. Some spotters say Casey may have been the first spotter in Newton County to see, and relay, his report of a large tornado headed east-southeast. At this point, the tornado was an EF-4 tornado. He was a trained storm spotter.
FF Casey is reported to have warned-and saved-at l... Full Story |
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Monday, May 12, 2008 - We have been advised that Firefighter Tyler Casey, 21, of Seneca, Missouri has succumbed to his injuries and has died in the Line of Duty. Firefighter Casey was critically injured while heroically assisting his community during the storms and subsequent tornadoes in Newton County on Saturday evening.
The Seneca Area Fire Protection District volunteer firefighter died at 1400 hours Monday due to injuries he received while trying to warn Newton County residents of the devastating tornado he s... Full Story  | | MIKE RANSDELL/Kansas City Star |
|  | | MIKE RANSDELL/Kansas City Star |
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Sunday, May 11, 2008 - UPDATE: FF FOOT TRAPPED IN AERIAL-MARION, IN. Last week, a Marion (IN) FF was critically injured when his foot became trapped between the rungs of an extending aerial ladder during a public demo.
We have been advised that the Marion Fire and PD were to "perform" at a public event called First Friday in downtown Marion. The skit was practiced for two days prior. When arriving downtown on the Friday, a crane had been dropped off in the same spot they chose to perform the skit, causing the fir... Full Story |
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Sunday, May 11, 2008 - Three members of the Eelde Volunteer Fire Brigade were killed in the Drentse De, area near the City Groningen yesterday. Initial reports are that they were ages 29, 38 and 49 years old and were operating in a warehouse type building used for ship working-when they were lost in heavy fire and smoke conditions. One report is that the speed of the fire spread overtook the crews with little warning. We will have more details and will post them on our home page. Our condolences to all affected. |
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Sunday, May 11, 2008 - Seneca (MO) Firefighter Tyler Casey, age 21, was critically injured last night while assigned to "storm spotter duties" in the Seneca area when he was caught in the path of a horrific killer tornado. As of early this morning FF Casey was on life support. Our prayers to his family and the members of his FD.
We have been advised that some FD’s send their members out looking for signs of tornados....WTF !?!
Unless we are missing something, we can think of few more predictable ways of F... Full Story |
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 | | MFD's Dr. BEAN, R.I.P. |
Sunday, May 11, 2008 - ONALASKA, Wis. -- 3 people died when a University of Wisconsin Med Flight helicopter went missing after dropping off a patient in La Crosse and taking off to return to Madison. The families of the victims -- a nurse, a doctor and the pilot -- have been notified. The crash victims have been identified as:
Dr. Darren Bean, M.D.-MADISON FD EMS DIRECTOR
Mark Coyne, R.N.
Steve Lipperer
The crash occurred at 10:48 p.m. Saturday about three miles from La Crosse, Federal Aviation Administrati... Full Story |
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Saturday, May 10, 2008 - In light of this weeks URGENT NIOSH SAFETY ADVISORY (link below) related to AERIAL WATERWAYS, there has been another aerial ladder waterway failure. While the Fairfax City (VA) FD was performing Driver/Operator training with the ladder truck, the nozzle, fly section of the waterway and associated metal structure separated from the aerial ladder and fell 70 to 80 feet to the ground. Fortunately, no one was in the vicinity and all of these components landed in a wooded area.
Their prelimina... Full Story |
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Friday, May 9, 2008 - Improper Set-up of Aerial Ladders with a Locking Waterway May Put Fire Fighters at Risk. Yesterday, NIOSH released another excellent SAFETY BULLETIN related to potential waterway failures. This report was prompted by the horrific LODD of Lawrence Park (PA) Asst Chief Mike Crotty-who recently gave his life when a waterway literally flew off the end of an aerial ladder that was flowing at a working fire. Here is that NIOSH WARNING: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/SafetyAdvisory05052008.html
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Friday, May 9, 2008 - (Courtesy Post & Courier) Firefighters who battled the Sofa Super Store blaze lacked enough water and proper equipment to effectively do their jobs, and were undermined by a series of tactical errors that allowed the fire to spiral into an inferno that killed nine men, according to a draft federal report the city released Thursday.
Charleston firefighters battling the Sofa Super Store blaze used a variety of hoses. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said in its draf... Full Story |
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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - In a surprising (whadya expect?!) move this evening, the Mayor of Charleston decided to release the DRAFT version of the NIOSH report on the Super Store Fire where those 9 CFD Firefighters gave their lives. As we said, it’s kinda hard to keep score as far as what will happen next from Charleston City Hall ...and the past week has more than proven that.
In almost every case, the NIOSH DRAFT report of any LODD is sent to the agency having jurisdiction and in many cases, the Union local... Full Story |
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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - One street, one hour, two incidents. Buffalo (NY) Firefighters put out a fire, but before they could return to their station, they almost had a more serious problem. Those firefighters were called to a house fire at 63 Howlett Street around 2:40 a.m. Thursday. A vacant house caught fire, and the crews put it out without much trouble. The fire also caused about $5,000 damage to a house at 65 Howlett.
Within an hour, firefighters prepared to leave the scene of the fire but they didn’... Full Story |
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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - Onondaga County (N.Y.) is claiming negligence by two volunteer fire departments and their chiefs led to the deaths of two firefighters in a Pompey house fire six years ago. (Scroll down for the specific charges)
The county leveled the accusations against the Pompey Hill and Manlius fire departments in papers filed recently in its defense against a $10 million lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ widows against the county and former county Fire Coordinator Mike Waters.
The county h... Full Story  | | R.I.P. |
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - Albert Headrick will have his hands full as he settles into his new job as chief of the Yellowknife fire department. Headrick comes from Swift Current, Sask., population 16,000, located on the Trans-Canada Highway between Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat. (SEE ORIGINAL LODD STORY BELOW)
While Swift Current is close to the same size as Yellowknife (population approximately 19,000), it is a very different place when it comes to its fire department. Swift Current department firefighters number 18, ... Full Story  | | KEVIN OLSON R.I.P. |
|  | | CYRIL FYFE R.I.P. |
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - In the April print edition of MRT, contributing writer Lynnette Luna reported on some of the problems fire departments across the country are having with digital radios. A common complaint concerned the inability of the digital vocoder to distinguish between a voice transmission and background noise typically found on the fireground, such as sprayed water, chain saws and personal alarms.
Apparently, this article caused quite a stir, primarily due to comments attributed to ICOM America Vic... Full Story |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - One Firefighter remains in the hospital in good condition this morning after an Orfordville tanker truck rolled Monday about 5 miles west of Beloit on the way to a fire. The passenger in the apparatus, FF Chad Cleasby, 31, Orfordville, was in good condition at Rockford Memorial Hospital. The driver, FF Michael Ponkauskas, 54, Orfordville, was treated and released today at Beloit Memorial Hospital.
According to the Rock County Sheriff’s Department:
The firefighters were dispatched at 1:3... Full Story |
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 | | WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? |
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - Onondaga County, N.Y. is claiming negligence by two volunteer fire departments and their chiefs led to the deaths of two firefighters in a Pompey house fire six years ago. The county leveled the accusations against the Pompey Hill and Manlius fire departments in papers filed recently in its defense against a $10 million lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ widows against the county and former County Fire Coordinator Mike Waters.
The county has long maintained it and Waters were not ... Full Story |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - MASSILLON: The coincidences are many and tragic. A hard-working custodian driving his grandson to school in his van collided with a Massillon firetruck driven by a distant cousin that was responding to car fire. Ronald Anderson, 72, died at the scene Tuesday morning along with Javarre Tate, 4. They were just a block from the child’s school and the home of relatives. nderson’s distant cousin, Susan Toles, was driving the ladder truck that struck Anderson’s van and was one of ... Full Story |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - A Lexington Fire Officers actions during a blaze last year in the city’s Hays Boulevard area caused the injuries that left him hospitalized for weeks, according to a report released Friday on an internal investigation of the fire.
Lt. Richard Carlin suffered thermal burns to his arms, legs, hands and abdomen during the fire Oct. 8 at 4529 Parsons Lane.
The report evaluates a number of mistakes made by Carlin and others who responded to the blaze, and it offers several training reco... Full Story |
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - A fire apparatus responding to a car accident on today ran off the road, slammed into a guardrail and flipped, injuring three firefighters, a fire official said. As the fire truck ran off the road northwest of downtown Tulsa, it severed a power pole and crashed into a parked pickup truck before coming to rest on its side, fire Capt. Larry Bowles said.
The three firefighters, one of whom was knocked unconscious, were transported to a Tulsa hospital. "None of the injuries appear right now to... Full Story |
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