Category: In The News

March 25, 2023 A tornado left a 170-mile path of destruction that left 25 dead in Mississippi and one person who firefighters had rescued from the mud in Alabama.

By Muri Assunção Source New York Daily News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

At least 26 people are dead and many more injured in Mississippi and Alabama after a powerful tornado tore through the Deep South, authorities said Saturday.

The severe weather outbreak left a 170-mile path of destruction, leaving thousands without power, obliterating buildings and wiping out large parts of the Mississippi towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City.

In a tweet Saturday afternoon, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MSEMA) confirmed the death toll had risen to 25, but warned the numbers were likely to rise as local and state search-and-rescue teams continued their work.

Views from our Unmanned Flight Operations Unit of storm damage around Ironman Rd West of Hartselle. @whnt @waff48 @WAAYTV @BradTravisWAFF @spann @NWSHuntsville pic.twitter.com/7MtCoTT8Mo

— Morgan County Sheriff's Office (Alabama) (@morgan_sheriff) March 25, 2023

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama also reported a casualty Saturday, saying a man who was stuck in the mud after his trailer overturned died after being rescued by first responders.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency in affected areas, announcing on social media he’d spoken with President Joe Biden and was assured “FEMA would be there to support our response.”

One deadly tornado appeared to have formed near Lake Providence, La. around 8 p.m. Friday, local television station WAPT reported. It then quickly gained strength as it approached the Mississippi River. Rolling Fork, Miss. took a direct hit from the “wedge tornado,” meteorologists said.

“Wedge” is a term used to describe a tornado that “looks wider than the distance from ground to ambient cloud base,” appearing wider than it is tall, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. AccuWeather confirms they are some of the largest and most destructive types of tornadoes.

“My city is gone,” Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker told CNN. “But we are resilient and we are going to come back strong.”

Royce Steed, the emergency manager in Humphreys County, where Silver City is located, called the aftermath “almost complete devastation.” Comparing the damage to that of Hurricane Katrina, he said his town had been “more or less wiped off the map.”

A tornado has touched down in Silver City, MS, in Humphreys County. Highway 49W is congested at this time with emergency crews. Please use an alternate route if possible. pic.twitter.com/npfYxnMGSN

— MHP Greenwood (@MHPTroopD) March 25, 2023

As cleanup is underway, the National Weather Service warned residents to “be careful near damaged buildings,” “watch out for power lines,” and to avoid walking or driving through floodwaters as “they can contain harmful bacteria, chemicals, sharp objects, live wires and reptiles/other animals.”

In and around Rolling Fork, three locations are now open for anyone seeking shelter following the storms. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be offered at all three shelters MSEMA said.

Earlier this year, a series of powerful tornadoes barreled through Alabama and Georgia, killing at least eight people.

March 25, 2023 West Reading Fire Chief Chad Moyer said the violence of the explosion is reducing the chance of finding survivors.

By Zoe Greenberg Source The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mar. 26—WEST READING, Pa. — Frankie Gonzalez stood atop a hill overlooking the burned-out wreckage of the R.M. Palmer chocolate factory Saturday afternoon, fiddling with a pair of binoculars and hoping for a glimpse of his sister, as the beeping of rescue workers’ trucks permeated the air.

A powerful explosion tore through the factory in this small Berks County town late Friday afternoon, sending a column of black smoke into the sky and killing at least three people. Four others remained missing as of Saturday evening, including Diana Cedeno, Gonzalez’s sister and the family matriarch. She had worked for more than a year in packaging at R.M. Palmer, one of the largest candy manufacturers in the country.

Gonzalez learned of the explosion from his cousin right after it happened. He has not slept since. Instead, he purchased a pair of binoculars, in the hopes he could see his sister carried out from the rubble. And he waited for news, along with Cedeno’s six other siblings, her father, her husband, and her two children.

“It’s stressful not knowing,” said Gonzalez. “You’re up against a wall.”

“Everyone at R.M. Palmer is devastated,” the company said in a statement. It said that it was trying to reach employees and members of their families but that all forms of communication were out of commission.

West Reading Fire Chief Chad Moyer said at a briefing Saturday night that because of the violence of the explosion and the amount of time that had passed since it occurred, the chance of finding survivors was rapidly decreasing.

“However, please be assured that our primary goal is accounting for all missing individuals and reuniting them with their loved ones,” he said.

The cause of the explosion remained under investigation Saturday night. The factory in West Reading, a town of 4,500 about 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is known for making hollow chocolate Easter bunnies. Because of its large scale, R.M. Palmer had probably wrapped up production of its Easter candies in mid-February and was in a slower phase of production when the explosion occurred, said Evan Prochniak, CEO of the Philadelphia-based candy manufacturer Zitner’s.

The hill where Gonzalez stood drew worried neighbors throughout Saturday. Ryan Noll, 27, said the blast shook his home about four blocks away. He came to the top of the hill to see if more people had been pulled from the rubble, watching in silence as rescue workers continued to fan out in the damp evening.

Noll and other neighbors said that while the local chocolate manufacturer might not command the national recognition that nearby Hershey does, it is a revered institution in West Reading.

“Everywhere you go, there’s Palmer,” Noll said.

Peg Wrede, 70, a former Palmer factory worker who retired in 2005, described the chocolate maker as a reliable employer where people like her could work for decades. She recalled the sweet smell that flooded the halls of the building and how workers turned batches of chocolate into thousands of finished candies.

“They were real crisp — the bunnies’ ears cracked when you bit them off,” Wrede remembered.

Despite the uncertainty and fear shrouding West Reading, the town’s police chief, Wayne Holben, said that one person had been located alive and pulled from the rubble during the Friday overnight recovery efforts.

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited the site Saturday morning and met with local officials about recovery needs. The Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) were also assisting with the search and rescue efforts, Holben said, removing debris and working with dogs at the site. PEMA said on Saturday morning that five people had been killed in the explosion, but Holben and West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag disputed that number, which later was revised.

Eight patients were taken to Reading Hospital, according to a spokesperson. Of those, one was transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital, two have been admitted in fair condition, and the others have been discharged.

As recovery efforts continued, town leaders and residents prayed for good news. The Rev. Vince Donnachie of Reading City Church said he did not know whether any of his parishioners were among the dead or missing. A congregational prayer at the beginning of Sunday’s service will focus on those affected by the explosion, Donnachie said.

These days, about 20% of the population works in health care and related fields. Politically, the area is a blue dot in a sea of red. Less than a mile from the former knitting mills, R.M. Palmer was founded in 1948 and employs 850 people, according to its website. Its chocolate eggs, miniature peanut butter cups, and Yoo-hoo mini bars are on offer at major stores like CVS and Walmart.

Residents described a harrowing scene Friday evening. Some of Donnachie’s parishioners reported their windows being blown out.

“I was sitting by the window I heard a powerful explosion, felt a puff of air touch the back of my neck, the windows rattled and blinds shook,” Jayson Messner, who said he lives approximately four blocks from the factory, wrote in a Facebook post Saturday morning. Messner posted photos he had taken showing black and gray smoke filling the sky, while bright orange flames licked the sides of brick buildings.

March 25, 2023 Firefighters worked for several hours to contain a fire in the beachfront community of Scituate that destroyed three homes and damaged two more.

By Jackson Cote Source masslive.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A massive fire destroyed five beachside homes and left three families displaced in Scituate late Friday, news outlets reported.

The five-alarm fire started at 72 Glades Road shortly after 8 p.m., spreading rapidly to multiple other homes near Minot Beach, The Boston Globe reported. The blaze destroyed five houses, three of which were burnt to rubble, according to the newspaper. Three other homes were also damaged, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said.

Along with the Scituate Fire Department, firefighters from Duxbury, Hanover, Hanson, Hull, Plymouth and Rockland also responded to the scene of the blaze to help with the efforts to extinguish it, The Patriot Ledger reported.

While responding to the fire, a fourth and fifth alarm were struck for the blaze. Firefighters worked at the scene for more than four hours to help control the fire that had extended to five houses, the Hanover Fire Department said in a Facebook post.

“This once again shows the importance of the mutual aid system, with fire departments as far away as Plymouth sending apparatus to help,” the department said.

Residents in the town should expect potential power outages and water-related issues, such as discoloration and pressure problems, as a result of the blaze, the Scituate Police Department said in a Facebook post Friday night.

“The scene is still active and emergency personnel are requesting anyone not immediately affected by the fire to stay away from the area. At this time, there are no reported injuries,” the post said.

The state Department of Fire Services provided a rehabilitation unit to support first responders at the scene of the blaze, according to the department.

 Massachusetts State Police investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, as well as the Scituate Fire and Police Departments, are working to determine the fire’s origin and cause. Preliminary evidence suggests the blaze started in the area of 72 Glades St. and spread from there, according to the Department of Fire Services.

“Investigators are back at the scene today with heavy machinery to assist in examining the scene, but given the extent of the damage I do not expect to have a final determination today,” Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Department of Fire Services, told MassLive in a statement Saturday afternoon.

March 24, 2023 The suit filed in Brooklyn State Supreme Court claims several top FDNY members were demoted, ousted or forced into retirement.

Source firehouse.com News

Three fire chiefs around the age of 60 have filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the FDNY and Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.

According to CBS NY the suit claims 15 top older department staffers were either demoted, forced into retirement or retaliated against by the commissioner as she sought to put her stamp on the agency.

The suit was filed by Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention Joseph Jardin, 61, Assistant Chief of Operations Michael Gala, 62, and Chief of Uniformed Personnel Michael Massucci, 59, each of whom were recently demoted and/or reassigned.

The suit claims that Kavanagh “retaliated against them and created a hostile workplace.”

It goes on to say that Kavanagh “sought to not just end, but literally destroy, their long and distinguished careers.

Kavanagh says she is merely trying to get her own team in place, like every other commissioner does.

March 23, 2023 “We won’t allow our organization…to be disparaged or our long-standing process to be politicized…” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy.

Source Firehouse.com News

The NFPA is defending its history, organization and process following the lawsuit filed last week by the IAFF. 

“For more than a century, we’ve worked hand-in-hand with the fire service on a shared mission to protect life and property in our communities, and that important work will continue,” Lorraine Carli, NFPA Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy, said in a statement.

Carli spoke about the organization’s strategy after the IAFF filed suit last week accusing the NFPA’s role in imposing a testing standard that effectively requires the use of PFAS, a known carcinogen, in gear.

“Unfortunately, the IAFF has chosen to pursue a legal strategy the facts make clear is misguided and ill-informed. What’s more, the IAFF’s recent public comments about the lawsuit falsely portray NFPA, our standards development process, and the role the IAFF itself plays in that process. We won’t allow our organization, our people, or our valued volunteers to be disparaged or our long-standing process to be politicized by a meritless lawsuit,” the statement said.

Carli continued: “NFPA understands the complex health risks that come with firefighting, and we’re deeply sympathetic to the terrible toll that cancer takes on firefighters and their families. We’re proud of the role we’ve played in educating the fire service about firefighter cancer risks and supporting federal legislation to better understand the epidemiology around this important public health issue…”

She went on to outline the NFPA’s approach and process.

• NFPA is the neutral facilitator. We don’t create or dictate the provisions of a standard. That’s the job of technical committees, which are comprised entirely of expert volunteers. These dedicated individuals represent groups like consumers, government, industry and labor, including many representatives from the fire-fighting community.
• NFPA technical committee members are well-respected experts who bring deep expertise to the standards development process. They work diligently to evaluate each and every recommendation submitted. The IAFF’s suggestion that these expert volunteers aren’t acting to make the best technical decisions based on the information presented to them devalues their inestimable contributions to the standards development process.
• NFPA does not have, nor have we ever had, any special agreements or relationships with any company or organization involved in our standards development process. Every aspect of that process is publicly available, including the names and affiliations of committee members, how they vote and all actions taken. No more than one-third of any technical committee is represented by the same interest category. The IAFF’s suggestion that any group exerts undue influence over NFPA’s process is false and defamatory.
• With the exception of NFPA employees, anyone in the world can propose changes to any standard, which the relevant technical committee must then review. At no point has the IAFF, or anyone else for that matter, recommended language to the technical committee that would prohibit the use of PFAS in firefighter protective gear.
• The NFPA protective gear standard does not specify or require the use of any particular materials, chemicals or treatments for that gear. It does require a moisture barrier test to ensure the gear will protect the wearer. The manufacturer decides how to comply with that test. Even then, it’s entirely at the discretion of organizations and jurisdictions whether to use the standard. 
• In 2021, when an amendment was submitted into the standards process that would remove this test from the protective gear standard, it didn’t gain the support needed in the technical committee. In fact, the proposed amendment didn’t even receive a simple majority of the technical committee votes.
• For additional context that contradicts the IAFF’s claims, out of the approximately 12 technical committee members who represented the fire service, only two voted for the amendment that would remove the moisture barrier test. The balance of the committee members either voted against removing the test, abstained, or did not return a vote. Out of the seven manufacturers on the committee who voted on the amendment, four voted to approve the amendment to remove the test.
• NFPA regularly updates its standards, and the balanced, transparent, open process for updating the protective gear standard is underway now.