Two children perished in a Rutherford County house fire despite efforts of Bostic firefighters.
The children, two and three, were found in a back bedroom, and brought out by crews, WSPA reported.
The Rutherford County Fire Marshal said fire started in the living room.
Some neighbors said what they saw Friday morning sticks with them.
“They come running out with a baby in their hands, throw it on the ground and start doing CPR and chest compressions, then they come out with another baby, throw them on the ground with chest compressions, CPR, and then later on I ask them how the babies doing, and they say the babies died,” Ronald Malton, a neighbor, told reporters.
The children’s grandfather found firefighters when he returned to the house after taking their mother to work.
Jan. 16, 2023 Over a three-year period, more than 120 Niagara Falls Air Reserve fire department employees received credit for trainings they did not attend.
Jan. 14—A federal investigation found officials with the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station’s fire department filed falsified firefighting and safety training records, crediting employees for training they never received over a three-year period.
The investigation was prompted nearly three years ago by an unidentified former member of the fire department who became a whistleblower, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
“These trainings are intended to instruct first responders on procedures and protocols to handle life-threatening emergency situations,” said Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner. “It is unconscionable that so many employees and instructors whose job is to save lives would be complicit in this type of fraud.”
The investigation found that from 2017 to 2019, over 120 fire department employees received credit for trainings they did not attend, 41 instructors submitted false training documents for validation, and six fire department employees improperly verified false training documents.
“The evidence showed many (Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department) employees — both students and instructors — on leave during the reported training courses, which they could not have reasonably taken or taught,” the Office of Special Counsel said. “Students also received credit for multiple training courses that overlapped, including courses taught by different instructors that occurred on the same date and time.”
The fire department provides fire protection and emergency services to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, responding to medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, rescue calls and incidents involving hazardous materials.
The Office of Special Counsel released its findings this month. The investigation was launched in March 2020 and completed in 2021. The Office of Special Counsel said the Air Force’s report largely substantiated the claims. The Air Force’s report said the investigation “did not reveal a criminal violation.” Employees’ names in that report were redacted.
The Air Force’s report said the conduct of three fire department officials, who were not named, constituted “gross mismanagement,” because untrained emergency personnel had responded to incidents that could have put first responders at risk and compromised public safety.
“These officials failed to ensure proper internal controls to monitor and verify training compliance,” the Office of Special Counsel said. “The agency indicated it would consider disciplinary action for these individuals.”
A spokesman for the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station did not respond to a request to comment on Saturday.
Under a change made in 2021, the fire department now reports directly to the 914th Air Reserve Wing mission support commander, “to improve oversight and provide clear, concise communication through a direct chain of command,” the Office of Special Counsel said.
The Air Reserve Wing also put into place a revised training schedule to complete makeup training and has implemented audits to verify training attendance and record keeping.
Several firefighters who responded to the deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London have been diagnosed with terminal cancers.
Close to a dozen firefighters were diagnosed with digestive cancers or leukaemia, which is the Mirror attributes to the firefighters’ work at the Grenfell fire. Many of the firefighters are in their 40s.
According to the paper, others are expected to be diagnosed in years to come.
“We are expecting some really depressing data to be revealed soon. It’s shocking,” a fire department member told the newspaper.
Firefighters depleted their SCBA breathing air and continued to work, while others wore their soot-covered turnout gear for up to 10 hours as they toiled in the 24-story high rise.
Officials said 1,300 firefighters responded worked at the Grenfell site.
In 2019, an investigation found that the soil surrounding the Grenfell site was highly contaminated and could lead to respiratory ailments and cancer.
“On a personal level it’s very worrying. I’ve got two young kids and I want to see them grow up,” said firefighter David Badillo, one of the first firefighters on scene.
“We were quite early on the scene and got held in this underground car park and we were breathing all the toxins for ages,” another firefighter, who did not want to be identified, told the newspaper. He said he now has scarred lungs.
“This vital research proves that firefighters are suffering and dying from cancer, strokes, heart disease, and mental ill health as a result of going to work and protecting the public,”Fire Brigades Union National Official Riccardo la Torre told The Sun.
“We now know that firefighters are exposed to health and life-threatening contaminants as a result of their occupation, and certainly would have been at an incident the size and scale of the Grenfell Tower Fire.
The 24-story tower burned for 60 hours, beginning on on June 14, 2017 and claimed 72 lives.
Jan. 16, 2023 One year after St. Louis firefighter Benjamin Polson was killed in a house fire, the street outside Engine House 13 was named in his memory.
St. Louis firefighter Benjamin Polson died in a house fire a year ago, and he was remembered Saturday as the street outside the fire station was named in his honor.
A sign outside Engine House 13 now reads “Benjamin Polson Place.”
“That sign is going to be watching over as the kids continue to play in the street,” former Capt. Larry Conley told KMOV.com. “Hopefully the legacy continues.”
“It’s hard to believe it’s been a year,” retired Fire Chief Kenneth Smith said. “It’s been a very difficult year for the St. Louis fire department and especially for the Polson family.”
Polson, who was 32 at the time, responded from Engine House 13 to a Jan. 12, 2022 house fire.
As firefighters were exiting the vacant building, it collapsed and trapped Polson. He was removed but later died and another firefighter was seriously injured.
“To never forget his courage,” St. Louis Fire Captain Garon Mosby said. “Never forget his sacrifice. To never forget his service. To never forget his love, his zest, his zeal for life, his friends, those he loved.”
A firefighter medic accused a Wantagh fire chief and captain of rape.
Two Wantagh fire officers—a captain and a chief—are accused of raping a firefighter medic at a fire station last year.
According to paperwork, in January 2022, the plaintiff was invited to the captain’s birthday party at a fire station where the chief and captain suggested she have alcoholic drinks.
The two commented that she was the captain’s “birthday present,” according to a report by News12.com.
The alleged rape occurred after party guests left the fire station and it was just the three of them.
“These were not only her colleagues, but her superiors,” the victim’s attorney, Vess Mitev, told the television station. “I think as many of us knew and try to play it off in the public atmosphere because you don’t want to embarrass yourself and you don’t want to embarrass the person that’s making those comments as well. So, it’s not that she had no idea. It’s that no one had any idea what this night was about to turn into.”
The chief texted the plaintiff the next day, asking her to keep quiet.
Within days, she ended her membership with the Long Island fire department.
“The event was truly horrific for her to the point where obviously she had to stop doing one of the two things that she loved the most, which was working in the firehouse and helping people,” Mitev said.
According to initial paperwork from the department, the words “rape” or “sexual assault” did not appear for two months mid-March 2022.
The chief and the captain, who refused to take part in the investigation, are no longer with the department so they do not face any departmental charges.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office did not confirm to the television station if they were looking at criminal charges.
Jan. 14—ATLANTA — Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King has announced that Dontavis George, 20, of Arlington, has been charged with three counts each of arson and criminal trespassing.
In October of 2022, King’s office was contacted by the Calhoun County Sheriff, Josh Hilton, in reference to a series of fires in Arlington.
“During October and November, two mobile home fires and one site-built structure fire in Arlington were determined to be incendiary in nature,” the fire commissioner said in a news release. “Working with investigators from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, we developed multiple leads that resulted in a full confession by Mr. George.”
Jan. 14—LOVELL — A two-story home built in the 1800s was destroyed in a fire Thursday evening.
Firefighters were called to the home at 506 Christian Hill Road about 6:50 p.m. and found it fully engulfed in flames, Lovell Fire Chief Mark Moulton said. Flames were knocked down by about 8:15 p.m.
Residents and their dog were out of the home when fire crews arrived. There were no reports of injuries.
The Office of Maine Fire Marshal is investigating the cause, but Moulton said it did not appear to be suspicious.
Firefighters from Stoneham, Fryeburg, Sweden and Saco Valley assisted the Lovell Fire Department with personnel and tankers.
Two volunteer firefighters were hurt in a house explosion in Pompton Lakes early Saturday morning, borough officials said.
After spotting smoke coming from a residential area at approximately 2:04 a.m. Saturday, members of Pompton Lakes Fire Department, a volunteer organization in Passaic County, responded to the scene of a house fire in the area of Ramapo Avenue and Riverdale Road, according to a statement posted on the fire department’s Facebook page.
Crew members had barely entered the home when, “seconds later, the house exploded,” the fire department said.
“I literally sat down in bed, went to go put my feet up and heard the explosion,” neighbor Shirley Jobes said. “I immediately jumped back up, looked out the window, and I saw pieces of the roof on fire up in the air and falling back down.”
Five Pompton Lakes firemen were inside the home when the explosion occurred, said Mayor Michael Serra in a statement posted to Facebook.
Two of the firefighters were sent to St. Barnabas Burn Center for non-life-threatening injuries. The men were treated and later released, the fire department said.
Three firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated on scene and released.
“Everyday our volunteer organizations put their life on the line for Pompton Lakes,” Serra said. “We all appreciate it.”
The incident is under investigation by the State Fire Marshall and PC CSI, the fire department said.
Jan. 15, 2023 Las Vegas, Clark County and North Las Vegas firefighters used a defensive attack as flames devoured the long-vacant former Kmart building.
Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire that engulfed a vacant Kmart store building, a Clark County fire official said Saturday.
The Las Vegas Fire Department received the call about the blaze at 3 p.m. at 2975 E. Sahara Ave. near McLeod Street, and 30 units had arrived just before 4 p.m., according to Clark County Fire Department Assistant Chief Scott Carnahan.
The entire building was on fire as firefighters took a defensive posture outside, Carnahan said.
“There’s too much danger to going inside the building,” he said.
City of Las Vegas spokesman Jace Radke said the building was vacant.
Carnahan said the fire went to three alarms, and there was a partial collapse of the roof. No one was reported injured, and there were no immediate details on how the fire started or estimate of damage.
In an update Saturday evening Carnahan said the building was unstable.
“Building officials and public works have been requested for evaluation and the Parks Department is providing fencing to the area for security,” he said in an email.
Crews from the Clark County Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire Department and North Las Vegas Fire Department responded to the fire. Las Vegas police also assisted with drone support and traffic control.
A thick smoke plume could be seen across the valley.
The cohort of Saudi Aramco firefighters who traveled to the United States in an August 2022 photo with Atlanta firefighters.
A group of six Saudi Aramco Oil Company firefighters graduated Wednesday from a six-month international training program with the Atlanta Fire and Rescue Department.
The cohort traveled to the United States to learn American firefighting standards and training by immersing themselves in the culture. It’s part of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ fellowship program that places Saudi Aramco firefighters in departments across the country.
The goal is for them to gain more aggressive, real-life experience in making strategic decisions under pressure by working in high-call volume fire departments, such as Atlanta, and taking those skills back to their department.
“These six months are your six months to learn, to experience, ask questions … to take back to your country — and to your department — everything you can,” Jeff Dulin, strategic advisor for the International Association of Fire Chiefs, told the group during their graduation ceremony at fire station 28 Wednesday morning.
The fire department for Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest energy companies, is charged with protecting the oil refinery’s industrial sites, as well as its communities. Each year, it sends multiple groups of firefighters to different U.S. fire departments. The IAFC picks up the bill, making it cost-neutral for host departments.
During their stay in Atlanta, the firefighters, many of whom already have several years of experience under their belt, lived at their assigned firehouses and worked alongside Atlanta firefighters. With the exception of providing medical care due to their visa status, they performed full firefighting duties according to their skill level.
Mohammed Alyahyawi, a 12-year veteran with Saudi Aramco, said he was initially worried it would be hard to be in such a new environment so far from home. But he was pleasantly surprised when he arrived. Everyone was welcoming and happy to help his group navigate the culture shock, and he made a lot of new friends, he said.
The Saudi firefighters all speak English, though some words — especially Atlanta’s slang — were a bit of a hurdle, Alyahyawi said.
It was “bittersweet” to see their time in Atlanta coming to an end, many of them said, coining a word they learned just the day before graduation. It described their emotions perfectly, they said.
“A few months ago, we left our home. We said goodbye to our families, friends and everyone we know. We embarked on a journey with no idea how it would be (in a) different country, different culture,” Ibrahim Alamri said. “And now, we will do the same thing (that) we did months ago: We will say goodbye to our friends here, to our families and to this country (that) now became our new home.”
The group will be headed back to Saudi Arabia over the next few days.
Since the program’s inception in 2016, there have been 22 cohorts with 160 graduates across the country, with plans for other countries to join the exchange program. Atlanta has hosted two fellowships, and the DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department has hosted one.
“It was our pleasure to open our fire stations to the visiting firefighters and we were honored to have been selected for the (fellowship) program for a second cohort,” said Michelle Middlebrooks, AFRD’s assistant chief of support services. “The fellows bring a new perspective to our department, and our firefighters consistently give feedback about the value that it brings. We are extremely proud to participate in this unique exchange.”
