Six D.C. Fire and EMS personnel were placed on administrative leave for fighting at an incident Tuesday night.
The clash did not involve personnel throwing punches at each other, but with a civilian. The crew also is observed kicking.
D.C. Police and fire officials are investigating the incident, according to NBC4.
“The actions depicting in a video of the incident are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the behavior we require of our members,” DC Fire and EMS said in a statement Wednesday night.
There was no information about whether anyone was seriously injured in the brawl.
Apr. 26—A North Apollo house fire has left a man homeless, and state police searching for answers.
No injuries were reported after firefighters from multiple companies put out a blaze Wednesday night at 1239 Pegtown Ave. near the borough’s Roaring Run Trail access.
First responders were dispatched to the scene, off of River Road at McCain Street around 8:30 p.m.
“It’s a two-story, single-family residence,” said North Apollo Fire Chief Chris Kerr. “I have the (state police) fire marshal coming down tomorrow out of Butler. I got conflicting stories (as to the cause of the fire). That’s why I’m bringing the fire marshal.
“I had heavy fire pushing out the front and right side of the structure. The first floor was unstable, so we pulled everybody out. We had a guy that almost went down through the floor. There was a hole in the floor.”
There was no damage to an occupied home to the left of the burning house. A vacant home to its right was also untouched.
Kerr said a recreational vehicle that was either being repaired or stripped for parts a few feet way from the fire sustained some damage.
Firefighters were addressing hot spots in the attic an hour after being on scene.
Murrysville and Oklahoma EMS personnel had rehab stations to help firefighters recover.
There was a small issue getting water from nearby hydrants.
“These hydrants down here are all on the same loop,” Kerr said. “We lost water briefly. We adapted and brought in a couple tanker trucks. There are four (hydrants) down here and we used two of them.
“Trying to use multiple hydrants caused a water issue for a short time. We were able to overcome it pretty quickly.”
Firefighters from Apollo, Kiski Township, Vandergrift, Bethel, Burrell Township, Parks Township and Kittanning responded, as did Kiski Township and state police.
It was unclear if the displaced man would stay with relatives or could be assisted by the Red Cross.
River Road was reduced to one lane around the scene.
The intersection of North Eleventh Street and North Warren Avenue a few blocks away was also closed for about an hour due to an abundance of fire trucks.
Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-871-2367, mdivittorio@triblive.com or via Twitter .
A 13-year-old girl cut a Gastonia firefighter and tried to assault others, including police officers, Tuesday night, according to police.
Firefighters were restraining the “combative juvenile,” when officers responded to the 3200 block of Pikes Peak Drive at about 9 p.m., according to a Gastonia Police Department news release.
It is not clear why firefighters were at the residence in the Crowder’s View community about 5 miles southwest of downtown Gastonia.
The girl tried to cut another firefighter with a knife before police arrived, police said. She also assaulted officers trying to get her into custody, according to the release.
The one injured firefighter was treated for minor injuries, police said.
The girl was charged with aggravated assault and ordered to be held in a Concord juvenile detention facility, according to the release.
San Jose firefighters who gave a scantily clad woman a ride in a fire truck last year are being disciplined.
Chief Robert Sapien Jr. told the city council that the truck was assigned to transport a man from the fire station to the Pink Poodle strip club where he worked. A woman climbed into the truck and asked for a ride-along, KTVU reported.
They originally refused, but she persisted. So, they drove partway around the block. She was filmed getting out of the fire truck.
“I have initiated dialogue sessions with senior and middle management to reinforce professional conduct expectations, a process that will continue through all department ranks,” Sapien said in a statement.
Former Cincinnati fire chief Michael Washington has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, city manager and mayor.
Prior to his termination, neither the mayor nor the city manager raised any concerns about how Washington was leading the department, WLWT reported, referring to the suit.
“It’s like they said strike three before he had strikes one or two”, commented Washington’s attorney Stephen Imm.
Regarding the Presidents Day fire at a high-rise apartment complex, the lawsuit states that Washington’s inability to be present at the fire is in “no way a dereliction of his duty.”
Washington was not given prior notice of his termination or an opportunity to be heard on the charges against him prior to termination, Imm told reporters.
When City Manager Sheryl Long announced last month that Washington was fired, she said the city wanted to create a sustainable workplace culture and believed the chief wasn’t capable of doing that.
As for whether that constitutes cause, Imm said, “I don’t believe it comes within a hundred miles of giving them cause to terminate Chief Washington. The Charter does not say that Chief Washington will remain in his position until the City Manager loses faith in him or loses confidence in him. You’ve got to have just cause to terminate him.”
Apr. 26—Police have arrested a Sutherlin man in connection to a February fire that damaged a church in Sweet Home. In court on Wednesday, April 26, he admitted he did it.
Deputies arrested Andrew Jacob Justin Cartwright, 36, on suspected charges of arson, burglary and criminal mischief.
The fire
On Feb. 25 at around 1:25 a.m., someone called 911 to report that the Fir Lawn Lutheran Church at 109 W. Holley Road was on fire.
Firefighters responded and found flames and smoke billowing from the church. The Sweet Home Fire District called in for backup from Albany, Brownsville and Halsey, and upgraded the fire to a two-alarm emergency.
Battalion Chief Shannon Pettner said firefighters worked for more than an hour on the scene. Pettner told Mid-Valley Media at the time that an investigation at the scene suggested the fire likely started under suspicious circumstances.
Following the fire, the Oregon State Police arson unit, Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Sweet Home Fire District all assisted Sweet Home police with the investigation.
According to a Wednesday, April 26 Sweet Home Police Department Facebook post, Cartwright was located outside of Linn County.
The aftermath for the church
“We’re kind of happy about (the arrest),” Fir Lawn Lutheran Church Council President Barb Moody said. “We hope he gets the help he needs.”
Moody said the church is trying to figure out next steps. The council will consider the church and community’s needs before deciding on where to rebuild. For now, services have been happening and will continue at the Sweet Home United Methodist Church.
Cartwright was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon on charges of first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and first-degree criminal mischief.
“I don’t want an attorney,” Cartwright told Judge Michael Wynhausen. “I’m guilty.”
Wynhausen appointed Dillon Duxbury as Cartwright’s attorney.
According to Oregon’s online court database, Cartwright has another open case in Linn County Circuit Court where he’s accused of robbery and theft. During Wednesday’s arraignment, prosecutor Coleen Cerda said Cartwright had previously confessed to the robbery and the church fire.
A motive
“I did it because I don’t like church, Cartwright told the court Wednesday. He added that he wanted to proceed with sentencing as quickly as possible.
Cerda said the arson is now a bias crime following Cartwright’s admission.
“He’s lucky nobody was in the church,” Cerda said.
Court records show Cartwright has been convicted of multiple crimes in Linn County over the years, including harassment, possession of methamphetamine and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
“I ain’t going nowhere,” Cartwright said. “I’m going to prison for life.”
Wynhausen set Cartwright’s bail at $50,000 total for the two open cases. The next court appearance in the matter is scheduled for May 8.
Twenty people were sickened, with five briefly hospitalized, after a pair of cleaning chemicals were accidentally mixed together at a posh Brooklyn spa, creating noxious fumes, FDNY officials said Thursday.
Workers at World Spa in Midwood opened up all the doors and windows to air out the urban bathhouse around 10 p.m. Wednesday after a cleaning crew working in the basement combined the two cleaning agents, authorities said.
At least 20 people suffered dizziness and breathing difficulties. Firefighters evacuated the building on McDonald Ave. near Avenue M and five people feeling ill were taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment and observation.
The rest were treated at the scene, an FDNY spokesman said.
The doors and windows to the World Spa, a new “social urban oasis” that opened in December and boasts a wide variety of baths, banyas, saunas and pools, were left open throughout the night so the noxious fumes could dissipate.
The fumes had dissipated by 1:20 a.m., FDNY officials said.
A year membership at the spa and wellness sanctuary runs about $5,000, according to the company’s website. An employee at the spa would not comment on the incident when reached.
A deranged Bronx defendant was sentenced Wednesday to life without parole for the murder of beloved city EMT Yadira Arroyo, the final step in a tortured legal process stretching over six heartbreaking years.
Jose Gonzalez, 31, appeared seven weeks after his conviction for the murder of Arroyo, a 14-year EMT veteran and the mother of five sons, in the headline-making case. The courtroom, as it was during the trial, was packed with the victim’s family and colleagues.
“This is a moment many of us thought to be far out of reach for years,” said Oren Barzilay, President, FDNY EMS Local 2507. “Now that a sentence has finally been issued, it’s a blessing to know that Yadira’s family and colleagues can be at peace. She was a light in the EMS family taken too soon. It is a relief to finally have justice.”
The long-awaited guilty verdict came in March, just eight days before the sixth anniversary of Arroyo’s gruesome death beneath the wheels of her hijacked truck.
The career criminal had a rap sheet of 31 prior arrests when he crossed paths with Arroyo, who was working an overtime shift when killed.
The prosecution was repeatedly delayed in a battle over the defendant’s mental health, with dozens of hearings held and conflicting court filings over his fitness for trial. The case finally began this past February, with Gonzalez convicted after a month-long trial and two days of deliberations.
Arroyo’s colleagues wept in the courtroom when the verdict was read, while Gonzalez stood impassively.
“Yadira Arroyo was an extraordinary EMT who cared for her patients deeply – just as she was doing when she was brutally killed six years ago,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. “We are grateful her killer will never be on the streets again, with no eligibility for parole … We will continue to honor her memory of service to our city.”
The shocking March 16, 2017, killing left Arroyo’s co-workers devastated — particularly her partner, who watched helplessly as Gonzalez jumped inside their truck and twice ran Arroyo down.
The lethal encounter was set in motion after Gonzalez jumped on the back of their moving vehicle, with things escalating from there. Once arrested, the killer bizarrely began reciting the alphabet.
The size of a football field, the mammoth theater erected in front of Union Station for this week’s NFL Draft is the biggest the league has ever built.
But the NFL actually wanted to build an even larger, more elaborate stage.
Months ago, the league planned a structure complete with a second story that could house as many as 1,000 people. But fire department officials say those plans were scaled back during conversations with the NFL.
Such a grandiose NFL Draft Theater would have faced more scrutiny from city inspectors and driven up the cost substantially because of the need to install a sprinkler system in the temporary structure.
“The building process would have taken significantly longer, the inspection process would have been significantly more involved,” said Joseph Ragsdale, the city’s assistant fire marshal who has worked on the draft preparations. “And the cost — just the sprinkler system for that, I don’t even know…we told them what they would need, and they said, ‘Oh, yeah, never mind.’”
The Kansas City Fire Department has overseen much of the construction of the stage, which has been underway for weeks. When reviewing preliminary plans some six months ago, Ragsdale said it became clear that the project would prove too expensive.
“Even with as grand of a scale as they have available to them,” he said, “they were starting a little too grand.”
The NFL Draft is considered one of the biggest and most-anticipated professional sporting events Kansas City has ever hosted, putting the city in the national spotlight as fans come from across the country and millions watch the broadcasts. All three days of the draft — Thursday through Saturday — will take place on stage at the Draft Theater, broadcast live on the NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Sprawling across the front of Union Station and stretching south to the National WWI Museum and Memorial, the event is expected to attract hundreds of thousands. From the outset, safety of the athletes and the crowd has been a top priority. Ragsdale, along with Deputy Chief James Dean, the city’s fire marshal, spoke to The Star Tuesday about safety preparations.
Ragsdale said he was “very confident” that the massive draft theater was structurally sound.
“I take the safety of the community and our guests to our city very, very seriously,” he said. “And I think this is going to be an awesome event. And we’re all going to walk away from it with joy.”
Because of the complexity of the theater, fire department officials leaned on a third-party engineering firm to review plans for the structure — and ensure actual construction followed those documented plans.
“So it’s not just my eyes looking at it to ensure compliance with the design,” Ragsdale said, “but the peer engineer is also going to re-evaluate to make sure that it was built in a way that is secure and safe.”
Ragsdale said he walked through the venue on Friday and plans to conduct another inspection on Wednesday at which he will meet with an NFL contract agent who is handling the safety issues.
Fire department officials also will be on site through the duration of the draft, he said.
The fire department waived its permitting fees for the NFL Draft, something it occasionally does for special events the city is promoting, Dean said.
“But it doesn’t remove our inspection process,” Dean said. “That still remains the same.”
But city rules exempt certain projects from building requirements, including “temporary motion pictures, television and theater stage sets and scenery.”
The city’s Planning and Development Department did issue a permit to erect temporary support columns in an underground Union Station parking garage that sits directly below the NFL Draft Theater. The city required the work to help bear the weight of the massive stage, said Sherae Honeycutt, a city spokeswoman.
She said the city planned for a special inspections engineering firm to review the work before the draft begins.
Otherwise, Honeycutt said, the city’s Planning and Development Department, which oversees most construction projects, wouldn’t have been involved in the NFL Draft plans. She said the fire department generally has jurisdiction for temporary, outdoor venues.
“The only reason the City Planning and Development Department was involved with the structure is because it was on top of a building,” Honeycutt said, referring to the parking garage. “If it had been installed on the ground or street, we wouldn’t have required plans, calculations, or special inspections by an engineering firm.”
Though the shoring project in the underground garage is being handled by the city, Ragsdale said, “we will have personnel in that space throughout the entire event.”
“So if there were to be anything that’s not going according to plan,” he said, “we’ll have direct communication to start letting people know.”
Ragsdale said he didn’t have the exact weight of the theater structure readily available, but described it as “tons and tons.”
“Just for instance, on one of the columns, there are layers of steel plates that are probably two-and-a-half or three feet thick,” he said. “They’re probably larger than a sheet of plywood or two, maybe, at each of those pillars. The amount of weight that’s involved in that structure is immense.”
Besides the structural issues, Ragsdale said, the fire department is working with police and other authorities to prepare for worst-case scenarios at the event.
“There’s homeland security, hazardous materials preparation, a mass evacuation preparation, mass casualty incident walkthroughs and preparations,” he said. “We don’t predict every single possibility, but we try.”
In case of an emergency, Ragsdale said, the fences surrounding the perimeter have a significant number of gates that can be opened.
Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a Kansas City police spokesman, said there will be “hundreds and hundreds of officers” working the three-day event.
“Similar to the way the last two Super Bowl parades were, we made requests of all of the surrounding agencies in the metro area for mutual aid assistance,” he said, “and there’ll be officers from more than 20 agencies around the metro area plus federal partners that will be helping us with security for the event.”
But unlike the Super Bowl parades, Becchina said, the NFL Draft is in a closed environment.
“It very closely resembles what you experience on game day going into Arrowhead,” he said. “There’ll be a security checkpoint, there’ll be a designated entrance. There are certain things that are not allowed in, just like an NFL game, as far as bags and outside beverages, and obviously weapons, things of that nature.”
Those attending in a group should have a reunification plan in case they get separated, he said. There will also be a child reunification station inside the grounds. If all else fails, he said, find a police officer, firefighter or security officer.
Like at every Chiefs game, Becchina said, crews from the KCPD Bomb and Arson Unit will be on hand with explosive detection dogs to monitor activity.
“It’s basically like a Chiefs game response, but like on a times-one-thousand scale,” he said.
Becchina said the police department has been planning for the NFL Draft since 2019.
“A few of our people went to Nashville when they hosted the draft to see that and get an idea of that,” he said. “And then really, we’ve ramped up the last three to four months.
“We’re confident in our planning and our ability to protect the people and in any situation that comes up.”
According to the NFL, the 2023 Draft footprint is roughly 3.1 million square feet. The area will contain 7½ miles of temporary fence lines and 1½ miles of concrete barrier. It takes more than 500 semi-trailer loads to transport all the gear, which includes 168 loudspeakers and subwoofer enclosures, 10,018 square feet of screens and 1,433 LED panels.
There’s also a process in place to deal with extreme weather.
The “High Wind Action Plan” requires the weather to be continuously monitored. When wind speeds are expected to exceed 20 mph, the document says, all personnel responsible for enacting the plan must be assembled. When the wind speeds are expected to exceed 40 mph, it says, workers must lower and remove all video lighting and audio equipment, secure it to the ground, remove the theater curtains and evacuate the area.
“Failure to follow the high wind action plan may result in injury or death of persons and damage to equipment or property,” the plan says.
Ragsdale said that in his career with the fire department, “we’ve never had anything this big as a temporary structure.”
“Any time that there’s a major event, people are naturally a little concerned for safety,” he said. “And so we want everybody to know that we are taking this really seriously and we are really ready for Kansas City to shine this weekend.”
Is there anything about it that keeps him up at night?
“I would say that a few weeks ago, yeah,” he said. “But no, last night I slept really comfortably.”
A judge is deciding if retardant can be used this wildfire season.
Apr. 24—A case brought by an Oregon-based advocacy group challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s use of aerial fire retardant is making its way through federal court, with a judge now tasked on deciding how the agency can use retardant this summer while it seeks Environmental Protection Agency guidance.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics filed the lawsuit objecting to the Forest Service’s use of fire retardant in U.S. waterways. The suit, filed last October, accuses the Forest Service of violating the nation’s Clean Water Act. It claims the retardant use during wildfires harms or kills fish and amphibians in the streams or lakes where it’s dropped from tanker aircraft.
The ethics group is requesting the court grant an injunction against the Forest Service, barring it from depositing fire retardant into U.S. streams and rivers until a permit comes through from the EPA.
At Monday’s hearing, attorneys for both sides confirmed the Forest Service is in the process of getting a permit from the EPA, but the process will likely take between two and three years.
Missoula U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen didn’t give an exact timeline of when he expects to rule on the injunction request. But he added he’s aware of the impending fire season and wants to act with a sense of urgency.
In court filings, lawyers for the Forest Service wrote that because of the lengthy permit timeline, “the Forest Service anticipates that it will have to discharge fire retardant to waters in limited circumstances until 2025 without a permit. However, these potential future Clean Water Act violations do not themselves provide a basis for the finding of liability or the broad injunctive relief FSEEE seeks.”
Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more than 200 times in the past decade, the AP reported. Officials said it’s typically a mistake, and environmental damage from wildfires exceeds harm done by retardant.
The Associated Press cited a Department of Agriculture report that 100 million gallons (378 million liters) of fire retardant were used during the past decade. The chemical is made up of water and other ingredients including fertilizers or salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.
Missoula-based Neptune Aviation is one of the nation’s largest providers of aerial firefighting planes. It is not part of the lawsuit.
“The issue here is what comes next?” said Timothy Bechtold, a Missoula lawyer representing the ethics group, at the outset of Monday’s hearing. In court filings and at the hearing, Bechtold contended that retardant qualifies as a pollutant in waterways and causes aquatic life to die. He said the Forest Service can responsibly dump the chemicals while still protecting human safety.
“The Forest Service says it should be allowed to pollute, business as usual,” Andy Stahl, FSEEE Executive Director, told the AP. “Our position is that business as usual is illegal.”
On Monday, attorneys also sparred over retardant’s efficacy in tamping down fires.
Lawyers defending the Forest Service argued that limiting fire retardant use takes many options for firefighters off the table when it comes to fighting wildfire.
Alan Greenberg, a Department of Justice attorney for the Forest Service, said the injunction the advocacy group is seeking is overly broad, and is only specific to one incident in the Los Padres National Forest where retardant was dumped on a waterway.
Julian Ellis Jr., a Denver-based attorney representing wildfire stakeholders in the case, argued that the Forest Service’s role in firefighting is paramount, and that while retardant isn’t the only tool in a firefighter’s toolkit, it’s a critical one.
“Lives and property depend on this decision,” Ellis said.
Zoë Buchli is the criminal justice reporter for the Missoulian.
