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A gas explosion at a W. Broad Street business yesterday afternoon sent a fireball into the sky, flattened cars in a lot next door and injured four veteran Columbus firefighters.

Three firefighters were blown out the front door after they walked into the Cherry Box adult bookstore about 2:45 p.m., Battalion Chief Doug Smith said. They had been called there after construction workers punctured a gas line along W. Broad.

Patrick Malone, who had been taken to Ohio State University Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns on his hands and face, was in fair condition last night, Smith said.

Barbara Capuana and Dan Whiteside suffered concussion-type injuries and “scrapes and bruises,” Smith said. They were taken to Mount Carmel West hospital, where Whiteside was in good condition. Capuana’s condition wasn’t available.

A fourth firefighter, Michael Warnimont, sprained his ankle, Smith said. A construction worker who complained of ringing in his ears was taken to Mount Carmel West as a precaution.

Smith said the construction workers were drilling under Broad Street to put in a water line. When firefighters arrived, they smelled the gas, went into the store and saw a major leak in the basement.

Firefighters told the West Side bookstore owner to leave the building. They were about to open windows and ventilate the building with fans when something ignited the gas, Smith said.

The explosion blew off the roof, shattered windows across the street and tossed pieces of the bookstore into the air. The building, at 2326 W. Broad St., burned for hours after the explosion because Columbia Gas couldn’t quickly turn off the gas.

Ken Stammen, Columbia Gas spokesman, said last night that workers had inserted an inflatable barrier into the steel gas line to stop the leak about 7 p.m. He said they were able to work on the line without turning off gas to about 2,100 nearby customers.

Travis Houghton, manager of King of the Hill Automotive next door, and mechanic Billy Brooks had just left their building when the Cherry Box blew up.

“I was ducking and dodging and running at the same time,” Houghton said. “A whole window frame came down next to us.”

He said three cars in the lot were smashed and other cars and a building were damaged.

Joyce Ratliff, who was driving east on W. Broad Street, said the blast “looked like a mushroom cloud.” Her car wasn’t damaged.

Smith said a pilot light on a furnace or water heater might have ignited the gas.

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - The Columbus Dispatch

Horry County Fire Rescue Chief Garry Alderman first thought a call he received early Wednesday reporting a that a county fire station was on fire was a joke.

But he soon realized the caller was serious and Station 14 in the Shell community, one of the county’s 45 fire stations, was burning.

No one was injured in the blaze and its cause is under investigation, said spokesman Todd Cartner.

He said fire investigators spent Wednesday morning searching the building for clues about what started the fire.

One lane of S.C. 905 was closed because of the blaze and it was reopened hours later. Alderman said a man passing by the station at 4812 S.C. 905 reported the blaze at 4:45 a.m., and soon dozens of firefighters and several fire engines from nearby stations responded to find heavy smoke coming from the building.

He said the blaze was contained within about 30 minutes.

The station, which was opened in January 1986, is staffed by volunteers and no one is there around the clock.

A volunteer who lives nearby quickly arrived on the scene and drove the station’s fire engine out of the building, Alderman said. He said the truck, which did sustain smoke damage, will be temporarily housed at either a fire station about five miles from Station 14 that is staffed 24 hours a day or at a nearby EMS station.

“We just need to sit down and figure out where to put it and how to go from here,” Alderman said as he watched firefighters search the building for hot spots early Wednesday. “It’s not something that happens every day.”

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - The Sun News Myrtle Beach

At the urging of the IAFF and other public sector groups, the IRS has announced it will delay implementation of a regulation that would change the rules for determining pension eligibility. Under a proposal issued last year, the IRS sought to do away with using years of service as a criteria to determine eligibility for a pension, seeking to replace it with a straight eligibility age.

The new regulation was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2009, but after hearing about the serious disruptions this would create for public pension plans, the IRS postponed the effective date until January 1, 2011. The IAFF will continue working with the IRS and its allies in Congress to assure that fire fighter pensions remain intact.

Read the IRS announcement.

IAFF Governmental Relations staff has been working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to ensure that an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) review that began in 2007 of requirements concerning the appropriate age at which public employees may qualify for a service retirement doesn’t negatively affect public safety workers.
Under the proposed regulations, normal retirement age for most workers would range from between 55-62, but a special provision for public safety officers permits a normal retirement age as low as 50. However, the newly proposed regulation from the IRS has called into question the use of years of service to determine eligibility for a full pension benefit. For example, under the new regulation, a system that allows fire fighters to retire at the completion of 25 years of service, regardless of age, could run afoul of the new IRS-proposed regulations.

The IRS first published a bulletin requesting comments from interested stakeholders on this regulation, and shortly thereafter proposed a rule establishing a clear definition of “normal retirement age.”

Since the original notice was issued, the IAFF has been working with its allies in the pension community and other stakeholders to reverse or delay the regulations, which are currently scheduled to become effective on January 1, 2009.

On behalf of all stakeholders, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA) submitted comments articulating the IAFF’s position on December 28, 2007. A letter from 19 stakeholder organizations, including the IAFF, representing labor and management was sent to the IRS in April 2008.

At this point, affiliates should be aware of this pending issue, but not be alarmed. The IAFF works on regulatory issues with the IRS and other federal rule-making bodies on a regular basis. There is reason to be concerned about the issue, but it is not at a critical stage.

Most recently, Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) met with IRS officials in September to urge them to delay or rescind the regulation. If IRS does not reverse itself, the IAFF is poised to take immediate legislative action during the 111th Congress which convenes in January.

The list of allies working on this issue includes many of the IAFF’s traditional allies, including AFSCME, AFT, NEA and NAPO. The IAFF is confident it will prevail because, on its side this time, the IAFF also has organizations with which it often disagrees, such as the National Association of Counties, the International City/County Managers Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and others. This coalition represents very powerful interests with significant sway on both sides of the political aisle.

The IAFF will keep affiliates abreast of developments as they unfold.

Several times every day, St. Louis Fire Department dispatchers broadcast a radio reminder that, “All persons riding on Fire Department apparatus shall wear seat belts at all times.”

The reason was made dramatically clear about noon Friday when two firetrucks converging on the scene of a house blaze collided at Martin Luther King Drive and Taylor Avenue, tipping one of the big rigs onto its left side.

Seven of the eight firefighters aboard were expected to be released from the hospital Friday night after treatment for cuts, scrapes and bruises. The eighth was to be held overnight at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for observation after suffering a concussion.

A relieved Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said it looked worse when he arrived. “It was just bad, it didn’t look good. I was really worried for them all.”

But, he said, “If there is one saving grace in this whole incident, it’s the fact that the firefighters were still in their seats and belted in place, which, if you really look at it, probably saved their lives.”

The names of the firefighters were not released. The collision was between Engine Co. 10, based at Kennerly Avenue and Whittier Street, and a spare truck being used by Engine Co. 28, based at Enright and Bayard avenues. Each carried a usual crew of four. No other vehicles were involved.

“We don’t know the exact extent of who did what or which truck hit which truck first,” Jenkerson said at the scene. He declined to elaborate later but said it would be the subject of an accident reconstruction and interviews of all the firefighters.

Buildings at the intersection, which has electric signals, make it difficult to see around the corners. Police said one truck was headed north on Taylor and the other east on King.

Officials say it is always hard for the driver of an emergency vehicle at a blind corner to hear another’s siren and air horns over the sound of his own.

Jenkerson said the department policy is to drive cautiously. “We do not ‘run’ intersections,” he said. “If there’s a red light, we stop and look both ways and make sure you have a clear intersection to proceed through.”

He acknowledged that there is urgency to reach a confirmed fire. “They were trying to get there. You don’t know who’s in these buildings,” he said.

The chief thanked construction workers nearby who heard the impact and rushed to help. He said a department ambulance was already at the fire, about a block away, at Aldine and Newstead avenues.

“I can’t say enough, or give enough thanks or praise to our emergency medics. They did a tremendous job,” Jenkerson said.

The trucks, both heavily damaged, were “quints,” the fire service term for pumpers that double as ladder trucks. The last new ones bought, in 1999, cost about $410,000 each. The department keeps reserve trucks as emergency replacements.

The fire the trucks were headed to was extinguished by other crews. The house had extensive damage.

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - STLtoday

Firefighters are prepared to provide additional emergency services in the unlikely event that workers who provide ambulance service in Buffalo go on strike, city officials confirmed today.

The membership of the labor union representing Rural/Metro Ambulance Services’ workers voted down a new contract Wednesday night.

Negotiators on both sides had worked out a tentative contract over the summer after a strike vote had been authorized. But there have been no signs that the 400 workers represented by Local 375 of the Teamsters Union were getting ready to strike.

“We haven’t heard of any indication that at the moment, this vote has any immediate impact on their services,” said Peter Cutler, spokesman for Mayor Byron W. Brown.

Rural/Metro spokesman Jay Smith said the strike vote had been detailed but declined to give further details.

Union representatives could not be reached to comment.

Cutler said City Hall was keeping close tabs on the situation and that contingency plans have been discussed. City firefighters are already first responders to emergency calls and can provide basic life support services. Cutler said that in the unlikely event Rural/Metro employees stage a job action, firefighters would expand their emergency services duties.

“There’s definitely a back-up plan in place, but we don’t think there will be any need to implement it,” Cutler said this morning.

Fire Commissioner Michael S. Lombardo said about half of all firefighters are emergency medical technicians, while the rest are certified first responders.

“We’re going to do whatever we need to do to make sure the citizens of Buffalo are safe,” said Lombardo, adding that he has been in touch with Rural/Metro officials.

Rural/Metro is Buffalo’s exclusive provider of ambulance service. It also provides emergency medical services to many neighboring localities, including Niagara Falls, Lockport, Medina and the towns of Cheektowaga, Hamburg and Evans.

In July, the membership strongly rejected a proposal advanced by a federal mediator. As the labor dispute festered throughout the summer, Rural/Metro officials downplayed the possibility of a strike. What’s more, they gave assurances that the company would work closely with “municipal partners,” nursing homes and local hospitals to try to avoid service disruptions in the event of a walkout.

Both sides have said over the last few months that they hope to avoid a strike.

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - The Buffalo News

Fire and police officials are investigating three attacks of arson which occurred Monday on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.

The first two fires evacuated 200 students from Dupree Hall and injured two staff members.

“This is a multiple serial arson incidence,” said Richmond Fire Department Public Affairs Officer Corey Lewis. “There is something inherently wrong there.”

The first incident occurred around 11:50 a.m. when someone lit a roll of toilet paper and threw it down a trash chute in Dupree Hall, a 11-story dormitory which houses 200 male students.

The chute extends throughout the structure, Lewis said.

“The chute goes from top to bottom,” he said. “At the bottom is large pile of rubbish.”

EKU’s utility personnel managed to extinguish the fire, said Marc Whitt, associate vice president for public relations at EKU.

“No one was injured and there was no smoke or fire damage to the building,” Whitt said. “The Richmond Fire Department was called to the scene to make sure the fire was out.”

Firefighters encountered smoke conditions on numerous floors, Lewis said. They ventilated the dorm and made sure the building was evacuated, Lewis said.

“The chute acts like a chimney,” Lewis said. “That could have made this fire extremely dangerous.”

Just two hours later, a 911 call was received from Dupree Hall again.

Lewis said the fire department responded to the report of a pull station activation on the fifth floor.

“Upon arrival, Richmond firefighters were made aware of a possible rubbish fire,” Lewis said. “Richmond firefighters reported smoke conditions again on numerous floors. Debris was found burning in the stair well between the seventh and eighth floor.”

Whitt said that the second arson was a result of “burning phone books that were found in a stairwell” in Dupree Hall.

“Once again, everyone in the building was evacuated and the fire extinguished,” Lewis said. “Firefighters ventilated the residence hall and performed a room-to-room search to ensure no other fires were burning at that time.”

Two custodians for EKU were treated at the scene of the second fire.

“Two faculty service personnel were treated at the location for smoke inhalation and later taken to Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries,” Lewis said.

At 8 p.m., firefighters were called to extinguish a third fire they believe to be linked to the two earlier attacks, Lewis said in a press release.

The fire was at the Powell Building, but other details were not released at press time.

The fires are being investigated by the EKU Police Department, the Richmond Fire Department and the Kentucky State Fire Marshals office.

Whitt said there are no suspects.

“Not only was it an inconvenience for the students, someone was injured,” Lewis said. “We are concerned. Arson is a violent crime that kills and injures innocent civilians and firefighters every year. We will take action against anyone we believe to have committed this crime.”

West Coast 911 firefighting news source - The Richmond Register