At 18:45 on 1/22/10, Friendswood, TX VFD and EMS was dispatched to a major accident on one of our main thoroughfares at the county line. Here is what happened, per our observations and the PD investigation: A DWI driver in a white Chevy cargo van had stopped to turn left into a business. A lady in a 2008 Mercedes CL63 hit the back of the van at a high rate of speed, causing the van to flip onto its passenger side. The driver of the van was assisted out by a witness and then fled the scene on foot. The female driver was treated at the scene and released.
Engine 24 was the first pumper on scene, with a crew of five. Two secured hazards on the van, and myself and another FF secured hazards on the Mercedes. I used a pair of bolt cutters to cut atleast five cables around the battery, but the flashers on the vehicle were still working. One of the medics on scene said they had had a wreck with a similar car and found the cables in the rocker panel on the passenger side. We ended up popping the trunk and we found a ground wire sticking up on the right side of the trunk. Snipped it, and the lights stopped flashing.

 

We responded to a odor of fuel oil in this residential structure. The first picture shows a typical door way. Check out the second picture !!! No staircase to the basement…. The pictures aren’t that great (took them with my Blackberry) but if you look closely you can see that a firefighter could be seriously injured just investigating a “routine” alarm.

Recently we had a crew of firefighters on State Street working to wash the bridge down. In preparation for this operation, they tagged a hydrant nearby. Once the rig was set up the hydrant was opened. A very short time later firefighters looked down the block to see water freely running out of the other 2.5” connection! After shutting the hydrant down they inspected and found the end of the cap had completely broken off. That end was found down the block.  No one was injured.

We always teach our new people to stand behind the hydrant once they wrap it to keep away from moving or bursting hose, traffic, and other obstacles. This is another one of those reasons why it is best to stand at the back to open the hydrant.
 

I was literally holding your article and reading it when an alarm of structure fire came in. It was a small fire but during a 360 S/U I found that the chimney was ready to slough off. A working fire at night might have had a different outcome. Not as dramatic as Defiance, OH, but lesson learned nonetheless. Our safety empowerment program has been extended to include first crew 360. There is always time...ya neva know.

As we all know, with post frame construction, the void space between the supporting posts is not load bearing and can be just about any material can be used between these supports. This enterprising builder apparently had an abundance of let over metal entry doors and used them to build the walls for this 80 by 190 foot building. Not a single door visible in any of the attached pictures actually opens! All are welded together to form a series of solid walls with no windows. The unusual construction is reason enough to adopt a 'defensive only' posture, but the current occupant repairs furniture and makes counter tops. The fire load includes large quantities of flammable / combustible materials and adhesives, so any fire here will be intense and spread quickly. This building should serve as a reminder that it is vital for fire fighters to know the buildings in their response area as well as the businesses that occupy them. 

While we were out doing inspections, we an HVAC unit over the top of a stair well.by two pipes. Just remember it is always a good idea to be aware of your surroundings and what is above you. This could pose many threats to us if the supports would fail

A Reno, Nev., company is promoting the idea of shrink-wrapping vacant homes in South Florida, according to a story on The Real Deal Miami.

Fast Wrap promotes shrink-wrapping as protection and weatherization for such things as boats, motor homes, furniture and shipping containers.

The process could protect unfinished South Florida construction projects from molding wood and rusting metal in the subtropical climate, according to the story, which said Fast Wrap recently opened a branch in Dania Beach, "conveniently close to a slew of foreclosed homes."



"It has the same shape of a house -- we have heat inhibitors, UV inhibitors -- it looks like a plastic house," Fast Wrap's Mike Enos said in the story. "Once it's wrapped, not only do we keep the neighborhood out of it, we keep any undesirables out of it as well -- an uninhabited residence attracts a lot of nuisances."

Enos told The Real Deal that his company has wrapped three homes in the past several months and is working with a group in Pennsylvania to begin wrapping 240 homes in the Northeast.

As for the appearance issue, Enos asserted a wrapped house would look better than a deteriorating, abandoned one, and most of those wrapped would be incomplete homes in construction developments.

Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal's Developments blog.

-- Honda Motor Co. said on Friday that it is recalling another 440,000 vehicles -- including some of its best-selling Accord and Civic models -- for a potentially lethal airbag defect.
 
Honda said that the airbag inflators in some of its top-selling sedans can rupture because of too much air pressure causing metal fragments to shoot through the airbag and strike vehicle occupants.
One fatality and a number of injuries have been linked to the defect, Honda spokesman Sage Marie said.
The recall covers certain 2001 and 2002 Accords, 2001 Civics and some 2002 and 2003 model Acura TL sedans. The driver's side airbag is the defective component on the affected vehicles.
Honda said owners of those models can check to see if their vehicle is covered by the recall by checking the automaker's Web site at www.owners.honda.com/recalls.
The Japanese automaker said it was encouraging owners to wait until they received a recall notice to go to a dealership and have the inflator for the steering-wheel airbag replaced.
Honda had originally announced that it would recall some 2001 Accord and Civic sedans for the defect last November.
The notice issued on Friday added another 440,000 vehicles to the recall.

Not even under fire conditions and look at the shape of this lightweight construction.

The Building is your enemy - Know your enemy - Francis Brannigan

No Building is worth the life of a firefighter - Vincent Dunn

Under the headng of 'you can't make this up' a FF snapped these priceless pictures. This guy filled this 55 gallon drum with gasoline in his van. (Notice the secure rope holding the drum in place). Next time you pull up to a vehicle incident of any kind, remember these pics. (gasoline produces 126,000 BTU's/gallon!!!!) Thanks to Dave W at SUNY Dutchess for these.

Our Fire Dept. responded to a call of a possible house explosion. The residents in the area all stated that there was a loud explosion and they thought for sure that it was a house explosion. After driving up and down the roads for what seemed to be 15 minutes, an ambulance crew from came across something unusual and asked us to take a look at it. We had a State Trooper with us, both he and I figured out that it was firework related and we called separate contacts on bomb teams. His contact told him about the use of sparklers to make bombs. We used the Trooper's cell phone to go online and look it up on Google. Sure enough it is exactly what we had. I have included several photos for your viewing. This one was fairly harmless since it was lit in a open field. They had placed it in a plastic bag of packing peanuts and lit it off, and it blew the debris over a 20'+ diameter, but remember the sound was extremely loud. I would encourage you to Google sparkler bombs and view some of these videos. Some of them have included placing the bomb in a washer machine and blowing it to pieces.  They take sparklers and wrap them tightly with tape and then use one sparkler for a fuse. The more sparklers they use the more damage it creates. I thought it might be helpful to share my experience with everyone.

STUTTGART, GERMANY - In addition to the PRE-SAFE crash detection system on the Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 S400 Hybrid experimental safety vehicle and the car's "inflatable metal" structure, there's also a full range of bags and bolsters to protect passengers in the event of a crash.

Among the more interesting ones highlighted in the video below: the ESF's "braking bag."

The braking bag is exactly what it sounds like: a specially designed airbag that lives on the underside of the vehicle and deploys when the PRE-SAFE system determines that a collision is imminent. Located just forward of the front axle, the braking bag serves a couple of important functions--namely:

*    Providing friction to slow the vehicle even further.
*    Stabilizing the vehicle by providing more contact with the road.
*    Minimizing the car's "dive" as it brakes, which, according to Daimler, "improves geometrical compatibility with the other party in an accident."

According to Daimler, it'll be a while before the braking bag becomes available to the public, but from what we've seen in the video it's pretty promising technology indeed.

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One new trend is that is being seen according to the Wall Street Journal is that people are using DNA purchased via the Internet to do home development of new organisms for everything from cancer cures to Bio Fuels. Specifically it mentions using an Iguana heater and other equipment purchased on Ebay to build hot boxes. Besides the source of ignition, what are the potential health hazards here. If you go in on a medical or service call even. I have not heard of a "Close Call" involving one of these, yet. Maybe my email should have gone there instead of to you. It may not be a huge hazard but increasing awareness may help alleviate the fear when a company or unit comes upon one of these. I am old enough to have gone through the AIDS scares and emergency personnel's reactions to the unexpected from it's beginning. I hope you understand my concern and desire to raise this issue.

The attached announcement may be of interest to our folks doing inspections, preplanning etc.  The highest concentration of sales of this product was in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and states west of the Mississippi River according to the manufacturer’s web site. 

If engineered lumber weren’t enough of an exposure, now we have to watch our overhead when operating beneath a deck while entering the grade level on the C side of a split level!!