Seattle, Washington Fire Department’s Challenge Coinis now available through NM-Coin. The coin, made exclusively for Seattle FD is being sold on the NM-Coin web site right along side of the Fire Critic/Iron Firemen Coin, patch, and badge.
You can get yours today for $15 (includes shipping).
Over the past months, several people have asked me who makes our coin. NM-Coin has been very good to us and many of our friends as well. While I cannot quote any prices for them, simply contact them by phone or email: 1-860-COIN-123 or 1-860-264-6123 email: sales@nm-coin.com
Captain Wines and I talk often about PRIDE…this is one way of showing off the Pride of your department, organization, event, IAFF Local, company, or anything else.
This is a bit of a long post…and it involves plenty of video. I got in front of the computer searching for what fires were caught on video and uploaded to Youtube…and I found a ton!
I am actually sitting here working at ole #13 on C-shift. I am paying back another guy for working for him. I am sitting right next to Captain Willie Wines Jr. and we are having a great time! I even made him a cake for his 20th anniversary on the department. I made him a cake with a bunny rabbit on it. The messed up thing is that I only put one ear on the rabbit. Willie, with the sick mind that he has, thinks it was actually something else. I just don’t see how he thought I would put that on his cake! I mean really, what kind of person does he think I am?
Now, on to the videos!
Here is a house fire (or a row of houses on fire maybe) on Fox Street in Gillingham (which is in Kent…somewhere in the UK)
This fire occured outside of Seattle. This was teh second fire in this house and it was still being rebuilt/remodeled after the first fire. Fire destroyed a home early Friday morning in Lynnwood, the second time the house was gutted by fire in less than a year.Snohomish Co. Fire District #1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said crews were called to the home in the 14700 block of Manor Way about 5:20 a.m. and the house was already engulfed in
SEATTLE – Seven people escaped a blaze that destroyed their house in the Ballard neighborhood by climbing onto a rooftop where they were rescued by police and firefighters with just minutes to spare.
View more photos of the house fire »
One of the seven, an elderly woman, was critically injured when she jumped from the roof into the arms of rescuers, but she is expected to survive, officials said.
I am working today. We had an eventful morning running about 5 calls in about 4 hours. Mostly the usual and a pickup truck on fire on the interstate. Needless to say that people CANNOT drive!
After lunch and a little bit of training I was trying to tie up some loose ends and I took a step into the watch room. I nearly lost my lunch when I walked in and found one of our Firefighter/Medics reading…..
Yes… You got it right. There he was reading STATter 911. You know, the fire service news blog run by the recently unemployed retired Dave Statter.What the hell am I chump change? Actually, this guy is a class act and keeps up on the fire service news pretty well!
It is hard to admit, but I am glad he was reading it. He filled me in on a fatal fire in Seattle that took the lives of 5 people.
People are pointing to response times. I must say that 5 minutes from the first call to the first engine being on scene is acceptable.
The firefighters were unable to get the engine into pump gear after several attempts.
What got my attention was this excerpt from the Seattle times article on the fire:
Asked Sunday why firefighters from Engine 18 didn’t then try to enter the burning unit to try to rescue the victims, Dean said crews are not allowed to enter burning buildings until water is being poured on a blaze.
“Having flames and fire on the first floor, they cannot proceed onto the second floor until they have got that fire out,” Dean said. “If you don’t put that fire out, you will have that fire follow you and burn you and your hose and remove your escape route also.” Read the entire article
I am certain that the firefighters on scene are beating themselves up. Equipment failures are going to happen. At times like these those failures CAN prove to be fatal. However, there may not be any way of knowing if any other actions would have had a better outcome.
As I have always said, the public will NEVER understand what we do.
I told you I love Seattle’s Fire Line. You have to check out this official blog of the Seattle Fire Department. More departments should take hold of the public relations power that the Fire Line has grasped.
Firefighters from around the region will take part in Seattle’s First Annual 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb on Saturday, September 12 at Two Union Square in Downtown Seattle. As they climb, each firefighter will carry a photo of one of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty in the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Read more
Great job guys…Keep up the great work in remembering our fallen brothers of 9/11.
Firefighters communicated with the patient throughout the rescue. Courtesy of The Fire Line
Apparently the Seattle Fire Department has created a blog to show off themselves. I always enjoy seeing departments who are progressive with technology in publicizing what they are about and who they are. The Seattle Fire Department has a blog titled The Fire Line.
The blog showcases incidents, news, and prevention.
Their latest post is on a trench rescue they ran which took 45 minutes and ended with a life saved. Every firefighter knows how time consuming trench rescue is and how hard it is to keep from just jumping in and start helping. However, we have learned through trial and error that we can become part of the incident, cause secondary collapse, and maybe even decrease the chances of survival for our victims if we do this.
The Fire Line states:
Seattle Firefighters worked for forty-five minutes to rescue a construction worker trapped in a trench after the wall he was working on in the front yard of a Magnolia home collapsed and buried him waist deep.
Jim Woodbury blew the whistle within the Seattle Fire Department and was then demoted. The article is a little tough to follow and understand but I will try to dissect it for you.
Jim Woodbury was demoted from Deputy Chief to Battalion Chief after filing a whistle-blower complaint with the City ethics investigators.
Woodbury had filed a whistle-blower complaint with city ethics investigators last year about Lt. Milt Footer, a fire inspector who demanded free backstage passes to a Hannah Montana concert and failed to bill Qwest Field for nearly $200,000 in fire services. Footer had worked at Qwest Field in an unusual arrangement where First & Goal, the Paul Allen company that owns the Seahawks, paid his salary.
A report by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission in March substantiated Woodbury’s complaint and criticized Dean for failing to punish Footer’s actions, which violated city ethics laws and resulted in a “gross waste of public funds.”
Gregory Dean is the Fire Chief for Seattle.
So basically, Woodbury filed the complaint against Footer. Then the ethics and elections commission said that Dean was to blame as well because he did not punish Footer.
Then Dean demoted Woodbury over it, or at least that is what Woodbury is claiming.
Like they say…shit rolls downhill. However, that still doesn’t make it right. After all, what Footer was doing was wrong and that was substantiated. Woodbury was within his rights to do what he did and in the end the City at least recouped $122,000 of the more than $200,000 it was owed to them as the report suggests. If anything, Woodbury should have come out smelling like roses. This day in age municipalities need every dollar they can get their hands on. Plus they got rid of a crooked employee (Footer).
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