Fire crews stretched a ladder across a swollen creek bed to rescue seven picnickers who were stranded Saturday by a flash flood in the San Bernardino National Forest, a fire official said.
Authorities received a 911 call about 3:30 p.m. notifying them that a group was stranded by the thunderstorm at a picnic area at Mill Creek Wash in Forest Falls, said Tom Barnes, dispatch supervisor for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
A stream wrapping around the recreational area that is normally 6 to 8 inches deep quickly rose to 3 feet, making it impossible to cross, Barnes said. Rocks, logs and other debris were being washed away, he said.
Fire officials waited until the rainfall grew lighter and the waters receded to help the group crawl over the creek on the rescue ladder, Barnes said. No one was injured.
Thunderstorms in parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties prompted flash flood warnings Saturday afternoon. Weather officials said rainfall was likely to die down later Saturday evening. Slow-moving storms over southwestern San Bernardino County and western Riverside County were expected to dump as much as 1.5 inches of rain, making flash floods likely in sparsely-populated desert and mountain areas, said Stefanie Sullivan of the National Weather Service.
In San Bernardino County, flood warnings were issued for the high desert areas of Apple Valley, Hesperia and Lucerne Valley, and mountain areas to the north and east of Forest Falls. In Riverside County, flood warnings were issued between Idyllwild and Lake Hemet.
In San Bernardino County, there were reports of flooded roadways, but no major highways were affected, Barnes said.
Sullivan cautioned drivers to stay aware of their surroundings and not to attempt driving through deep water.
A flash flood watch has been in effect for mountains and deserts in San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties since Friday night.
A block-long covered walkway next to a construction scaffold collapsed on Thursday, trapping and injuring 16 pedestrians, three critically.
About 25 people were on the walkway when its wooden walls and roof fell in, authorities said. Some scaffolding along the 3-story building also fell.
“The walls started moving, then the bang. Everything started coming down. Everyone started screaming,” said Abigail Reckermann, 50, who went to the hospital with a swollen ankle.
Ariel Medina, 34, was uninjured but saw a board fall onto the back of a man she was talking with.
“It was a living nightmare,” Medina said. “The whole thing just caved in. People were trapped.”
Three people suffered life-threatening injuries, including head trauma, when they were hit by falling debris, authorities said.
Father Joe Carroll, president of St. Vincent de Paul Village, said many of the injured had just eaten lunch or were living at the homeless shelter he runs across the street. The shelter had served lunch to about 1,000 people.
Carroll said his staff recognized some of the shelter clients as they sat on a nearby curb with neck braces. Others were bleeding lightly as they waited for an ambulance.
“They either had a meal here or live here and were walking to the trolley,” he said.
Fire spokesman Daniel Calderon said investigators did not know what caused the collapse.
Julie Hattler, chief financial officer for Affirmed Housing Group, the building’s developer, said her company hadn’t determined the cause of the collapse.
“There’s not much to say other than we have to find out what happened,” she said.
The collapse occurred in downtown’s East Village, the site of numerous construction and redevelopment projects.
A fire at a tire-recycling company Saturday evening forced the evacuation of several dozen neighbors and created a plume of thick, black smoke visible from downtown Akron, south to Fawcett Stadium in Canton and west to Norton.
Though no one was hurt, crews from eight fire departments worked to contain the blaze at Puritan Systems Inc., 1161 Holiday Drive, and keep it from getting to tanks of liquid nitrogen.
As a precaution, about 80 residents of condominiums just north of the building were evacuated, Brimfield Police Chief David Blough said.
”We just don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” he said. ”The best way to do that is to keep people away.”
The fire was reported before 7:15 p.m. at the building just north of Interstate 76 and west of state Route 43.
Two hours later, firefighters said it was contained, even as a glow from flames was still visible inside and three trucks continued to pour water into the roof.
Blough said tanker trucks had to bring the water in, as the area doesn’t have hydrants.
On its Web site, Puritan Systems describes itself is ”a cryogenic grinder of rubber and plastics,” grinding crumb rubber from scrap tires for recycled use.
The cryogenic grinding process uses liquid nitrogen to freeze the material, reducing heat generated during grinding. The nitrogen is stored in pressurized tanks that could explode if heated.
Fire crews from Brimfield, Suffield, Edinburg and Rootstown townships and Streetsboro, Ravenna, Kent and Tallmadge assisted, Blough said.
Pursuant of a formal request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the Los Angeles Fire Department is deploying 28 members of the LAFD staffed FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team, California Task Force 1 (CA-TF 1) to Houston, Texas as part of FEMA’s mobilization to the Gulf States in preparation for Hurricane Gustav.
These specially trained, certified and equipped members of the Los Angeles Fire Department will be traveling 1500+ miles by ground to the Houston area, where they are expected to arrive within 36 hours.
The men and women of the LAFD ask motorists to remain watchful for these and other convoys of emergency apparatus being deployed in advance of the storm, and to be mindful of the space necessary for them to safely maneuver on local roads and highways.
Pursuant of protocol, official public and media information regarding these LAFD USAR personnel *during deployment* will be provided by or through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and their designated representatives.
West Coast 911 story source - Brian Humphrey, Spokesman, Los Angeles Fire Department Media Release
Two homes were destroyed Friday during a three-alarm blaze in north Sacramento.
The fire was reported shortly after 5 p.m. in the area of Renondo Avenue and Edgewater Road.
Fire crews faced a tough job battling the flames as temperatures hovered just over 100 degrees.
One firefighter suffered a minor injury. Another person suffered from what appeared to be heat exhaustion
A Call was received from North Las Vegas airport that an aircraft was in trouble and trying to reach the airport. At least two people called and reported that they could see fire from the aircraft. The
aircraft crashed in between two houses at 2832 and 2828 N. Jones Blvd and caught fire. Ten people live in the 2-story house at 2832 N. Jones, 3 adults and 2 children where home when the crash occurred. They ran out the front door and left the area. The mother suffered minor smoke inhalation and was taken to UMC in a private ambulance where she is expected to be treated and released.
In the 1-story house at 2828 N. Jones, a Dad and his teenage daughter were home. They said the lights went out in the house and then they heard a loud thump outside their kitchen. When they went outside to investigate, they found intense flames and ran from the area. Neither family was aware a plane had crashed.
The aircraft flew across Jones Blvd, over a construction crew working on the road. The plane snagged three 7200 volt Nevada Power lines and then hit the ground, striking a car parked in the driveway of the house at 2832 (completely destroying it, a propeller is sitting inside the car) and then coming to rest on a concrete block wall between the two house bursting into flames. A water tanker used by the construction company was parked in front of 2832 N. Jones, one of the workers turned on the water and started shooting water onto the plane immediately. Severe damage occurred to wiring. Nevada Power will be worked all night on Jones Boulevard repairing the wires. Embarq, Southwest Gas, and Cox Cable also had numerous utility vehicles in the area to repair damage to their utilities, they were there most of the night.
Here is footage of another plane crash in Las Vegas on Aug. 22, 2008
The twin engine Piper Navajo aircraft was completely destroyed by the fire. The pilot was found inside the wreckage shortly after 6:00 PM by investigators from Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, Metro Police, FAA and the Coroner’s Office. The FAA is now the lead agency on the investigation until the NTSB arrives. Continue reading →
SAN RAMON — If cats do have nine lives, then Balls, a long-haired black feline, owes at least one of those to the city’s fire and police departments.
Three days after being pulled from a house fire, resuscitated by firefighters and rushed to a veterinary clinic in a police car, Balls was released from the Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center on Thursday.
“They weren’t just doing their job,” said Leslie Nadig, Balls’ owner.
“They were unbelievably sympathetic and caring. It wasn’t like ‘Oh, it’s just an animal.’ They really showed love and care.”
But San Ramon fire Chief Craig Bowen said he and his staff were just doing their job.
Firefighters responded to a fire at Nadig’s San Ramon home Monday that started in an overheated dryer and engulfed the garage.
The crew not only worked to extinguish the blaze and ventilate the roof, but they also removed some of the Nadig’s personal belongings, including a China cabinet complete with dishes.
They weren’t finished, though, and went back in the home to search for Nadig’s two cats.
Battling thick, black smoke, firefighters found Balls first and then Pumpkin.
Once retrieved, the cats were hooked up to oxygen by Bowen and retired firefighter Jim Ellis, who was in area, along with paramedics.
“We do everything we can to save lives and families,” said Bowen.
A divided city council approved a $1.5 million contract with the state to take control of its municipal fire department.
The city projects that hiring Cal Fire to run the department will save about $1.4 million over the next five years — a point of close contention among the council members.
Mayor Joan Faul, Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Rasmussen and Councilman Nelson Crabb supported going with Cal Fire to manage the department. Councilmen Joe Rivero and Gary Frago dissented.
“This city is not afraid of watershed moments,” Rasmussen said before calling for the vote. “The progress is in front of us, and all we have to do is reach out and grab it.”
The council approved the contract Monday. Faul signed it Wednesday and sent it to Sacramento for the final stamps of approval.
Under the deal, the city maintains the equipment and stations, while Cal Fire manages the staff and deals with union contracts.
A final date for Cal Fire to take control hasn’t been set, though city leaders expect it to happen Oct. 1 or sooner. Firefighters will sever ties with the city and be hired by Cal Fire, which also contracts with Merced County, Livingston, Gustine and Dos Palos.
The split vote ends 15 months of city research into whether a Cal Fire contract would benefit the city and the firefighters. The union signaled it wanted to be at the table if the city council looked into contracting for fire services.
City estimates show that the city will lose about $124,000 in the first nine months of the deal because it must pay out sick and vacation hours earned by the employees. Projections show it will save $186,000 in the next 12 months. By the end of the five-year, nine-month contract, the city believes it will have kept an extra $1.4 million that wouldn’t be there, had it kept running the department.
This includes an estimate that the contract’s cost will increase by nearly 20 percent in the next five years.
Resident Constantino Herrera wondered if the city would get stuck with expensive contracts later on with little choice but to approve them. “Once we go down this road, it sounds like we’re stuck with whatever cost,” he told the council.
Frago, the city’s first paid firefighter, noted that a possible switch posed an emotional decision for him and he wasn’t ready to support it. “It may be a good thing, but we’re moving too fast,” he said. “This is a big move for the citizens of Atwater.”
Rivero, after doing his own calculations, questioned the accuracy of the estimated savings. He thinks the city will only save $50,000 yearly. “I don’t care what anybody says,” he said. “I have gone over the forms. I have triple-checked them and quadruple checked them with different calculators.”
He worried that the city will lose control of the department and couldn’t support such a change.
Cal Fire Unit Chief Mikel Martin said Atwater Chief Ed Banks will become a Cal Fire battalion chief. He’ll still attend council meetings and manage the two stations.
“The patch might change,” Martin said, “but we’re not here to upset (the service).”
Three Buffalo firefighters were injured this morning battling a fire that started in a vacant East Side home, the latest in a long list of firefighters hurt while responding to fires in vacant or abandoned city buildings.
The blaze started just after 5 a.m. in an unoccupied, two and one half-story frame house at 21 Herman St., off Broadway, according to Buffalo Fire Department officials.
The fire caused $20,000 damage to the building, and its cause is under investigation.
The fire spread to the houses on either side, at 15 Herman and 23 Herman, before firefighters were able to bring it under control.
The house at 15 Herman sustained $42,000 total damage, while 23 Herman sustained $22,000 damage.
Three firefighters were taken to the Erie County Medical Center with injuries that didn’t appear to be serious, a fire official said.
Though the cause of this fire is not yet determined, vacant buildings are attractive targets for arsonists.
In 2007, 60 percent of Buffalo’s arsons were set at vacant and abandoned buildings, according to a recent Buffalo News analysis of city fires.
Twenty-seven firefighters were hurt while battling those fires, including Mark P. Reed, who nearly died while fighting a blaze in a vacant Wende Street house last year. Reed later lost a leg because of his injuries.
Pittsburgh’s first female deputy fire chief has been replaced by a man who four years ago was passed over for the job.
Colleen Walz, 46, of Brookline called the move “desperately wrong.” She said Fire Chief Darryl Jones brought her into his office Downtown on Monday afternoon and told her that she had been reassigned.
Walz will retain her rank of deputy chief for salary and seniority purposes, but her duties will be those of a battalion chief in Oakland, according to Walz and an office memo issued by Jones.
“He said, ‘You are no longer deputy chief,’ and he reassigned me,” Walz said Thursday. “He said it was by court order.”
The order stemmed from a 2006 lawsuit against the city in which Battalion Chief Michael Mullen said he was unfairly passed over for a promotion to deputy chief in favor of Walz.
Mullen sued the city and won. On Monday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Timothy P. O’Reilly ordered the city to install Mullen as deputy chief immediately.
According to court records, Mullen was passed over for promotion because of “numerous issues surrounding his attitude and conduct.”
Other firefighters and paramedics accused him of physical and verbal abuse, records show, and Walz once accused him of intimidation, creating a hostile work environment and other charges, leading to a city investigation in 2002.
Mullen was cleared of the charges. Walz sued him in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, and they settled for $60,000.
Walz, who started in 1987 as a firefighter at stations in the Hill District and Brookline, described the reassignment as a de facto demotion “through no fault of my own.”
“I think it is interesting that right in the middle of a huge promotion to try to attract women and minorities to the fire department, this is how the only woman (ranked deputy chief) is being treated,” she said. “This is absolutely insulting.”
Mullen declined to comment. Reached at home, he said the case took “a long, long time, with a lot of painful memories,” adding that he wanted to focus on the future.
His attorney, James DePasquale, said Mullen and the city still are haggling over back pay. When Mullen won the case in March, the city paid him $25,000 in back pay. DePasquale said his client deserves an additional $40,000. O’Reilly will rule on the back pay at a future hearing.
Chief Jones said only that the decision had “absolutely nothing to do with the performance of Deputy Walz. I can’t stress that enough.”
Ed Mann, Pennsylvania state fire commissioner, said he was surprised by the news.
“In my dealings with Colleen and watching her teach classes at the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, her demeanor and approach to things has always been professional,” Mann said. “In the things that she’s done for us, she’s been more than qualified.”
Last year Walz co-chaired the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ task force to analyze and enhance investigations into firefighter deaths.
“It certainly shocked us when we found out,” said Deputy Chief Billy Goldfeder, chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ safety health and survival section. “We don’t know the circumstances, but any time someone is reduced in rank, it certainly raises eyebrows.”
