Entries from April 2008 ↓

SIERRA MADRE - Firefighters for a second day made major progress overnight in their quest to battle the Santa Anita Fire, officials said Wednesday morning.

The burn area was 93 percent contained as of Wednesday evening, officials said.

“It’s going real good right now,” said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for Southern California Interagency Incident Management Team 3, which is coordinating the response.

There are no longer active flames within the 584-acre burn area, Judy said.

“Pretty much, the fire laid down yesterday,” he said.

Cooler temperatures were aiding in the fight.

Wednesday’s highs were only in the 70s, down from the 90s on Saturday, when the blaze began, and earlier this week. Firefighters cleared hot spots Tuesday after three days of wildfires. Wednesday, firefighters - many of whom were dropped by helicopter into the Angeles National Forest on Tuesday - attempted to join ranks on the burn area’s northern edge.

They had to traverse steep terrain, with drops as high as 50 feet in some places, Judy said.

Full containment is expected by Friday.

There were 419 firefighters working on wrapping up the blaze, down from more than 1,000 on Tuesday.

Westcoast 911 source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

On Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 5:31 AM, 23 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 6 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 2 Arson Units, 2 Urban Search and Rescue Units, 1 Rehab Unit, 2 CERT Coordinators, 1 Hazardous Materials Team, 4 EMS Battalion Captains, 7 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, 1 Division Chief Officer Command Teams, Emergency Air 1, Building and Safety, Structural Engineers, Street Maintenance, DWP, DOT and LAPD, all under the direction of Deputy Chief Mario Rueda, responded to the Major Emergency Structure Fire at 6263 W. Hollywood Bl. in the Hollywood area.

The initial call into the OCD Dispatch Center indicated a large commercial building was on fire at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. The first responding Firefighters on scene found a one story, multi occupancy commercial building with heavy smoke and fire showing from the one end of the building, known as the Basque restaurant and night club. Additional companies were requested immediately because of the size of the occupancy.

As fire companies arrived on scene, a monumental interior attack was initialed on the fire. Firefighters fought the intense blaze for approximately twenty minutes experiencing restrictive compartmentalization to the interior of the occupancy as well as other obstacles, which hindered efforts to get to the seat of the fire. The Incident Commander ordered companies to withdraw from the interior and go to a defensive attack to regain control of the fire. Continue reading →

A trench collapse in Torrance has fire department units busy working to free at least two construction workers.

Live news footage from KCAL sky 9 gives the impression that the victims are fairly accessible but are well trapped.

It is reported that the two men are waist-deep since the rescue began at 6:30 p.m. at a Shell station in Torrance.

The reported location is 190th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard.

More info to follow as we get it…

Despite facing major deficits and worker layoffs, the city of Sacramento is on the verge of approving nearly $15 million in additional pay for firefighters and paramedics over the next two years.

The proposed labor contracts – approved by the firefighters union last week – is expected to be approved without opposition at City Council this afternoon.

It is on the council’s consent calendar at 2 p.m. at council chambers, 915 I St.

Under the proposed two-year contract, firefighters will receive a 10.3 percent pay increase.

Firefighters working paramedic shifts would see a bigger pay increase – a 7.5 percent equity raise on top of the two 5 percent increases.

The annual senior-level base pay for firefighters without paramedic certification would increase from $61,986 to $68,316 over the course of the agreement.

The senior-level base pay for firefighters working paramedic shifts would jump from $67,968 to $80,784.

Officials set the cost of the wage increases at $14.9 million.

Despite the city’s mounting debt, the two leading candidates for mayor – Mayor Heather Fargo and developer Kevin Johnson – gave the pay hikes their blessing.

The city is facing a $30 million shortfall this year and a projected $58 million deficit in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Assistant City Manager Gus Vina said the city had planned for and budgeted for the increase, and, as a result, the contract “doesn’t add a problem to the budget.”

The two 5 percent hikes would keep firefighters on pace with city police officers, Vina said. If approved, both contracts would expire in 2010.

City officials initially called the 5 percent raises a “cost of living” increase, but later conceded the 5 percent increases would exceed the rate at which the consumer price index is expected to grow.

Vina added that the boost for paramedics was needed. Firefighter paramedics working in ambulances respond to the bulk of response calls.”We are 22 percent behind the other jurisdictions in the region,” he said.

About 100 of the city’s 582 firefighter positions are full-time paramedics. He added that while there are no vacancies now, in the past the city had problems recruiting and retaining paramedics.

Fargo said she supports the increase.

“I can see why it may not make sense to some people,” she said. “I do think it’s fair and I do think it’s affordable. We budgeted a 5 percent (annual) increase.”

She said that, if there are cuts to be made, the pain should be shared by all departments, not just the one whose contract expired during a difficult financial period.

Johnson said the proposed increase is “great news for city firefighters.”

He said firefighters had faced uncertain times when they went months without a contract in 2004 and early 2005. “This correction is long overdue,” Johnson said in an e-mail to The Bee.

That dispute went to an arbitrator. The result of the 2004 arbitration was firefighters were awarded 5 percent raises in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Rich Schmiedt, president of Sacramento Area Fire Fighters Local 522, said the unit was “happy with the agreement, considering the economic times.”

The wage package was criticized by a local taxpayers group.

“That just sounds like its way too much money in today’s situation,” said Bob Blymer, executive director of the Sacramento County Taxpayers League. “I don’t know how the City Council can pass something like that. While they are laying off people in other departments, the firefighters are getting a 5 percent raise two years in a row.”

Blymer noted that it is tough for politicians to rein in public safety budgets.

In today’s public safety survey of seven mayoral candidates, six listed it either as the No. 1 or No. 2 priority. Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, for instance, said he would lay off 800 city employees across the board – except for police and fire – to address the city budget deficit.

WestCoast 911 source: Written by Ed Fletcher / Sacramento Bee

As displaced hillside residents began trickling back to their homes Tuesday, fast and significant progress by firefighters battling the Santa Anita Fire seemed to mark the beginning of the end of the 580-plus-acre blaze.

Cooler temperatures and high humidity overnight Monday into Tuesday allowed more than 1,000 firefighters from departments throughout the San Gabriel Valley and the state to nearly triple the containment area - from 21 percent to 57 percent - in just 12 hours.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the wildfire had burned a total of 584 acres. And while the fire was 81 percent contained by then, officials were predicting full containment by Friday, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Ed Gililland.

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the flames. One small, outlying structure was destroyed, officials said.

As firefighters gained the upper hand Tuesday, officials lifted mandatory evacuations throughout the area. Sierra Madre residents living east of Baldwin Avenue were allowed to return home overnight Monday, while those living west of Baldwin and in the two Pasadena streets evacuated - Park Vista and Skycrest drives - were allowed to return at noon Tuesday.

The area north of Fairview and Carter avenues between Baldwin and Michillinda Avenue remained open only to residents Tuesday, although the general public will be allowed access by 6 a.m. today.

At its height, the Santa Anita Fire displaced upwards of 1,100 people.

It began about 3 p.m. Saturday on the northern end of Santa Anita Avenue and quickly spread, thanks to the weekend’s high temperatures and winds and some areas of brush that had not burned in about 40 years.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation Tuesday, Sierra Madre spokeswoman Michelle Keith said. She would not speculate as to whether the blaze started naturally or from human activity.

Tuesday, the sky above Sierra Madre was clear and blue, with no hint of smoke. Out of sight, far into the Angeles National Forest, crews continued to battle to contain the fire’s northern edge.

Directly above Sierra Madre’s main thoroughfare, Baldwin Avenue, the hulking mountainside was an ugly, raw brown - stripped almost entirely bare of vegetation. Large sections of the mountains bore the reddish stains of fire retardant drops.

With temperatures expected to continue dropping and humidity likely to increase through the rest of this week, crews were moving on to the real dirty work of mopping up, said Monterey Park Fire Department Capt. Rick Burroughs.

“This is the unglamorous part of the job,” said Burroughs, who dug up roots still smoldering below ground.

“When you don’t see smoke or flames, it is still hard work, because we have to dig to find the hot spots.”The fire had progressed so far up the mountain by Tuesday, crews could no longer use bulldozers to overturn vegetation and soil and were forced to dig for hot spots by hand.

Three firefighters and their captain from Azusa-based U.S. Forest Service Engine No. 22 ate lunch Tuesday behind a Sierra Madre Canyon home, where flames had come just a few feet from the structure Sunday night.

The acrid scent of smoke filled the air.

“We love that smell,” rookie firefighter Steve Huddleston joked.

The four were working a large swath of the steep hillside, checking to make sure nothing was about to ignite again.

“Right now the ground is still fairly warm,” senior firefighter Robert Ethridge said. “But the area has been gridded to make sure there’s nothing to burn, that there’s no smoke and nothing that can start to smoke.”

At the southwestern edge of the burn area, Tulare County-based fire Capt. Peter Billing of the California Department of Forestry was taking a break as the 30 inmates he supervises hiked out of sight, beyond the ridgeline. Billing’s two crews were on a 24-hour shift that began at 6 a.m. They would spend the night on the mountain.

“If there’s an active fire, no, there’s no sleeping,” he said.

The crews were working their way north toward eight other crews that had been dropped at one of three helicopter pads deep in the Angeles National Forest. The hope was that they could draw a containment line around the fire’s northern edge, Billing said.

Sierra Madre Director of Public Works Bruce Inman was assessing damage throughout the city on Tuesday, starting with two city water reservoirs that appeared to have been saved.

“There’s a potential for a good deal more damage just from the mud,” Inman said. “It’s really too early to tell exactly what we’ll be faced with.”

Inman said he had spoken to county public works officials about plans to educate local homeowners about preventing mudslide damage next winter.

Southern California Edison crews were on standby to help firefighters working near the utility’s high-voltage transmission towers deep in the mountains.

“We have contingency plans in place if fires affect those transmission corridors,” said Edison spokesman Steven Conroy, adding the utility had cut power to 700 evacuated homes in Sierra Madre at the request of firefighters before restoring electricity late Monday.

Power was restored Tuesday, officials said.

“We could take our transmission lines out of service and reroute power without creating problems for our customers,” Conroy said.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District continued Tuesday to recommend that residents in the east San Gabriel Valley, Walnut/Pomona and San Bernardino areas limit outdoor activities because of poor air quality caused by the fires.

Staff Writer Robert Hong contributed to this story / Pasadena Star News

Fire started in the rear yard behind 429 Galveston and was blown by high winds to the house and then extended northward to house at 433 Galveston. What started the fire was not determined. Yard had several air compressor tanks in it which exploded during the fire, which is normal when a pressurized tank is exposed to high heat. The explosion people heard was not necessarily what started the fire.

Fire went to a second alarm to keep thefire from spreading further. A gas meter caught fire and was kept under control
until Southwest Gas arrived on scene. American Red Cross assisted. No injuries reported. Very heavy smoke could be seen nearly 20 miles away.

Cause of fire: Undetermined. Started behind one house in the yard, high winds blew into the next yard and started both houses on fire.

Damage estimate: $500,000

Written by Tim Szmanski, PIO / and submitted by Firefighter Caswell, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue

Flames tore through a detached garage, several outbuildings, and at least one vehicle during an early morning fire in San Jose’s Burbank district on April 20, 2008. Just after 6:00 am units of the San Jose Fire Department responded to multiple calls reporting fire to the rear of 108 Cleveland Avenue.
While en route first-due Engine Company 4 reported a large column of smoke from several blocks away prompting the dispatch of a full-first
structure alarm.

Upon their arrival firefighters discovered heavy fire consuming several small storage buildings and threatening at least two exposures. With water supply established and additional resources on scene, firefighters under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Gary Weekley (B10A) and Kevin Conant (B1A) pressed an offensive attack and stopped the fire from spreading to adjacent residential structures.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation and there were no injuries.

Story and photos submitted by Craig Allyn Rose - Emergency Photo

Nearly six years after an explosion ignited a nine-alarm blaze at a power station in South Boston, the first responders who fought the fire are suffering from chronic respiratory, sinus and digestive troubles, the Herald has learned.

In interviews with the Herald, Boston firefighters who were saturated with lubricating oil while battling the Oct. 1, 2002, fire inside the massive Sithe New Boston Station described surgeries and hospitalizations to clear sinuses, remove tonsils and adenoids, and drain fluids in their lungs.

They also described persistent acid reflux, headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, runny noses, fatigue, nasal polyps and allergies.

We felt like the ducks and seagulls from the Exxon Valdez,” said firefighter Kevin F. McNiff, 47, who spent hours fighting the fire inside the Summer Street plant with his company from Ladder 18.“I wanted to know why I was getting these symptoms and why the other guys were getting them and what the long-term effects are,” said McNiff, a father of three from Braintree. “I just know I was never the same after that. I’m still not the same, but I do my job.”

The firefighters’ plight is the subject of civil litigation against the plant operators, Sithe Energies Inc., Exelon New Boston LLC and Exelon New England Power Services Inc., court records show.

In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court, attorneys for 10 Hub firefighters claim that the oil and thick oily smoke let off by the fire quickly rendered useless the Scott Air-Paks that the firefighters use to breathe. The firefighters said they had to remove the masks.

“We had masks on at first and then with all the oil seeping into the regulator and into the seams it was sliding off our face,” said firefighter John F. Nee, 36, who was with Engine 39. “We were drinking (oil) through the regulator. I took the mask off because I couldn’t breathe. It was useless.”

west coast 911 news source: Boston Herald / Read Entire Article

Thirteen people were hospitalized today after a vehicle left running in a covered garage of a Lake City apartment building left several people sick.

Seattle Fire Department Lt. Sue Stangl said that seven people from the building and six firefighters have been taken to local hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning. She said that none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.

The fire department has set up large fans to ventilate the building, Stangl said.

A large response of fire crews were called to the apartment building in the 12500 block of 35th Avenue Northeast at 11:15 a.m. A carpet cleaning truck was left running idle in the garage of the Shorecrest Apartments, fumes from the truck spread through a portion of the building, Stangl said.

Seattle police say they are directing traffic away from the area.

West coast 911 news source: The Seattle Times

A second Columbus firefighter has filed an U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the city, alleging gender discrimination.

Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services Capt. Mary Simonton said she filed the complaint late last week.

Simonton, a 30-year employee with the department, was one of five people to apply for a deputy chief’s position late last year that went to former Fire Marshal Greg Lang.

One of Simonton’s major concerns was that “the interview process was unprofessional, inappropriate and insensitive.” Simonton, 51, was interviewed by Chief Jeff Meyer and Assistant Chief Jerry Fountain after a leadership class at the department’s training center. The interview was conducted outside while Fountain and Meyer smoked cigarettes and the smoke blew in her face, Simonton wrote in her complaint.

The city’s Human Resources Department investigated Simonton’s complaint and concluded on Jan. 16 there was no merit to her allegations, but did express concerns about the manner in which the selection process was conducted.

“People think I am filing this because I didn’t get the job,” Simonton said Monday. “I am filing this because I didn’t get a fair process. That’s what this is about.”

Meyer said he has not seen the complaint.

“I am not aware of a complaint as of yet,” Meyer said.

Sgt. John Thomas filed a complaint earlier this month with the EEOC. Thomas was passed over last fall for a fire inspector/lieutenant promotion despite having the highest score in the interview process. When Thomas threatened to file a grievance with the city because he had been told by one of the interviewers the job would go to the highest scoring of the five applicants, Meyer offered Thomas a newly created fire recruiter job that had not been approved by Columbus Council and did not exist in the city budget.

Thomas worked in the recruited position for nearly four months without a pay raise or a promotion to sergeant. He filed a grievance in March. Two weeks later, City Manager Isaiah Hugley temporarily approved the new recruiting position until council can incorporate it in the 2009 fiscal budget next month. Thomas was also granted more than $1,600 in back pay.

Mayor Jim Wetherington, the city’s Public Safety director, said Meyer’s actions in Thomas’ case are “not acceptable.”

Simonton declined to comments on the specifics of her complaint. The EEOC’s practice is to investigate such complaints.

Among the conclusion in the city’s investigation of Simonton’s complaint:

– Lang, as did Simonton, met the minimum requirements for the appointment having been promoted to captain in 1996 and subsequently appointed division chief/fire marshal in 2004.

– The deputy chief appointment was at the discretion of the chief.

– Meyer believes he selected the applicant with the best leadership skills and the best ability to increase the effectiveness of the department. The chief also noted that the successful candidate has demonstrated his leadership while effectively managing the Fire Prevention Division and in his new position remains responsible for the overall management of the Fire Prevention Division along with new responsibilities for the Training Division.

The Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services is currently under investigation by the Columbus Police Department Office of Professional Standards for the handling of a firefighter’s positive drug test while operating an emergency vehicle. That investigation, which was launched in December after the Ledger-Enquirer reported Firefighter Zachary Allen wrecked a truck during a 2006 emergency run and tested positive for cocaine in a post-accident drug test, is expected to completed this week, a spokesperson for the mayor said.

West Coast 911 news source: ledger-enquirer.com / written by Chuck Williams