Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis confirmed in a tweet Thursday night that Minter was a passenger in the single-engine Cessna airplane that flipped over after the pilot landed on the shoreline.
No one on the beach was injured.
“Sadly, former SM mayor and judge Rex Minter was the passenger in the plane,” Davis said in a comment on a video of the incident posted to Twitter. “He has passed away. I have spoken with his family and relayed the City’s condolences to them.”
Minter was elected to the Santa Monica City Council in 1955 and served as mayor from 1963-67. He later served as city attorney for Arcadia, and as a judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He also served in the Marines.
The city of Santa Monica said that flags in front of City Hall will be lowered to half-staff, and a city council meeting in the new year will be adjourned in honor of Minter’s service.
Firefighters were called at 3:17 p.m. to the 1800 block of Santa Monica Beach, said Capt. Patrick Nulty, a spokesperson for the city’s fire department.
The airplane landed on the beach and flipped over into the surf, Nulty said. Two people, including Minter, were on board.
Both occupants were transported to a hospital, the captain said.
The pilot had reported engine issues after taking off from Santa Monica Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. Further information was not available from federal authorities Thursday.
Fire ripped through a three-story Staten Island house on Friday morning, killing a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy and injuring four of their siblings, neighbors and authorities said.
Two children in the family — boys, ages 5 and 10 — were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Two older children, a boy, 12, and a girl, 14, suffered smoke inhalation and were expected to survive.
The mother of the children, who was not home at the time of the fire, was rushed to the hospital in a state of shock, but was in stable condition, said Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.
“It’s an incredible tragedy, and we feel it as New Yorkers,” said Kavanagh. “Our [ FDNY] members, of course, are parents themselves. This is right before Christmas. It’s tough for all of us.”
A firefighter was also hospitalized with minor injuries.
The blaze erupted around 10:20 a.m. in a house on Van Duzer St. near Vanderbilt Ave. in Grymes Hill.
“We heard the thumping and we saw real big flames coming out the windows,” said Jessica Little, a next-door neighbor.
An across-the-street neighbor, Adam Alv, 26, said his roommate heard the children inside the house screaming.
Firefighters responded to a 911 call and were at the scene in three minutes, the Fire Department said.
“They immediately started an aggressive interior attack on the fire,” said FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens. “The entire second floor was engulfed in flames.
“Once they started to move in the hose line, they quickly extinguished the fire. And we found the victims inside all unconscious and needing to be removed.”
Firefighters brought the injured children to the street and performed CPR and other measures to save their lives until EMTs arrived and administered advanced care, Hodgens said.
“All members operated under very intense conditions to try to save these lives,” said Hodgens. In all, 60 firefighters responded to the scene.
“They were a big family, a very respected family. The kids were very happy and this is very tragic,” said neighbor and friend who gave his name as Jorge Luis, 53.
“As for character, she was top-notch,” Luis said of the mother. “The kids would always give me a warm welcome, gleefully and happily say hi.”
”I’m so saddened for them. That this happened a day before Christmas Eve is awful,” Luis said.
Little said her father frequented the family’s house to offer food to the children. “If we had heard it sooner, we could have helped them,” Little said.
“I can’t even imagine what she is going through,” said another next-door neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. “They were quiet and the kids were good.”
Dec. 23, 2022 An alert firefighter heard the Surf City firehouse’s siren sounding and, upon investigation, found fire and smoke conditions inside the station.
A New Jersey fire company is out of service after their station and emergency vehicles were were damaged by fire Thursday night.
A nearby firefighter heard the Surf City Volunteer Fire Company station’s siren sounding, indicating a fire alarm at the station and responded to the facility check on it.
“Fortunately the Fire Siren worked as designed, and when our investigating Firefighter arrived from home, he found heavy smoke and flames inside the Apparatus Bay, and then called 9-1-1,” the department shared on Facebook.
Firefighters used extinguishers while others drove the apparatus out of the station and then crews used a hoseline from Rescue Engine 4913 to knock down the fire.
Other companies responded to assist Surf City firefighters at the scene.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries and was treated and released.
With the station and equipment out of service, the company said firefighters from the Ship Bottom and High Point volunteer fire companies will respond, along with the Barnegat Light First Aid Squad.
The Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office determined the fire was caused by malfunctioning electrical equipment and ruled it accidental.
“We would like to give a huge thank you to our mutual aid Fire and EMS organizations that responded and assisted us tonight. We will be back up and running very soon!”
In early August, a group of rafters was floating down the busy Boise River when a person jumped off an overhanging bridge and landed on the back end of a raft.
The individual was performing a back flip off the Baybrook Bridge near Parkcenter Boulevard when he crashed into the raft, injuring an adult male and his son.
The incident hospitalized the two individuals, who were pulled from the river by nearby Boise Fire Department members. The first responders did not get the name of the male who jumped from the bridge and then left the scene, however.
The victims now have filed a tort claim against the city of Boise and the Fire Department, seeking in excess of $100,000. Tort claims in Idaho are necessary precursors to litigation and give involved agencies 90 days from the date filed to accept or deny the claim. If a claim is denied or not responded to, the claimant may sue.
Jay Alcala suffered a serious injury to his head and one knee, and has mental and emotional trauma, according to the claim. He has undergone medical treatment for his injuries and likely will require further surgery and treatment on the injured knee, the claim says.
Alcala’s son suffered bone bruising and emotional trauma, according to the claim, and Alcala’s fiancée, Machelle Siegel, observed the incident and suffered from emotional distress.
The claim, filed on Dec. 16 and obtained by the Idaho Statesman, is asking for more than $100,000 for the cost of medical treatment, alleged negligence on the part of the Boise Fire Department for not obtaining the jumper’s name, and potential violations of federal or state law.
What happened?
On Aug. 6, Alcala, his son and Siegel were sitting on the back end of a large raft while floating the river, according to a video capturing the incident.
As the float passed beneath the Baybrook Bridge — also known as the Red Bridge by many — a male jumper “negligently did a back flip off the bridge without first looking to see if it was safe to do so and landed on the raft,” according to the claim.
The jump was illegal, according to Boise City Code, which states that it is against the law to “jump from, throw or drop any object, including a person, from any bridge, tree or other landscape features into the Boise River within fifty feet of any boater, floater, rafter or tuber.”
Punishment for breaking the city code carries a maximum $100 penalty.
Boise Fire Engine Three was patrolling the river from a nearby bank on a busy summer Saturday, according to previous Statesman reporting, and one of the firefighters used a rescue bag to pull one of the victims to shore. The tort claim names three Boise Fire Department first responders.
Siegel asked the firefighters to obtain the name and identification of the male who jumped from the bridge, according to the claim. The firefighters advised her to stay and care for the two victims and promised they would identify the jumper, but they ultimately were unable to, the claim says.
Because firefighters could not identify the jumper, Alcala and Siegel were unable to pursue him for damages, and the tort claim states that’s why they are taking action against the city.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An official with a volunteer fire department who also is a former 911 dispatcher is now facing federal charges after he was accused of setting at least 24 arson fires at a national forest in southeast Ohio.
James Bartels, 50, of Patriot, Ohio, has admitted to setting fires in Wayne National Forest, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. He reportedly set the fires with a lighter to “give the boys something to do” and to distract himself from depression, prosecutors say.
Bartels, who is an administrator at the Greenfield Township Volunteer Fire Department and is a former 911 dispatcher for Gallia County, was arrested Tuesday and is charged with willfully committing arson.
Prosecutors say a truck registered to Bartels was seen near the forest by officers with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on Oct. 29, and Bartels was seen on a road nearby. Within an hour, a fire was reported in the area, prosecutors say.
Bartels resigned as a dispatcher on Nov. 8. Authorities say at least 17 fires were set after Bartels resigned. He reportedly was seen twice in the vicinity of fires just minutes after they started.
Prosecutor’s say the infotainment system data in Bartels’ truck places him at the locations of the fires.
Bartels is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court on Jan. 3 in Columbus. Willfully committing arson is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
A Christmas tradition continued in San Francisco — a winter wonderland in front of the fire station on 25th Street.
Local police escorted the two trucks hauling 15 cubic yards of snow from Tahoe, KTVU reported.
The display competition involving firefighters from the various city stations started during the pandemic.
“We wanted to figure out how to create opportunities for the public to get outside safely and have something cool to look at to share with their isolated pandemic pod if you will,” Fire Capt. Jonathan Baxter said.
Even though there was fake snow at the station last year, Capt. Baxter said the community loved it.
They stepped up their game this year by bringing the community a white Christmas, and they’re hoping to come out on top again.
In a holiday decorating competition among San Francisco fire stations, one in particular won the hearts of many by bringing real snow to the city. This, along with the efforts of other participating departments, has also served as a way to continue collecting toys for children in need. #christmas #holiday #snow #firefighter #sanfrancisco #abc7news #news
Dec. 22, 2022 Michael Duran, father of Apopka Firefighter Austin Duran who was killed in July, exchanged terse and tense words with the mayor at a press conference Wednesday.
APOPKA — Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson defended the city’s response to the death of a young firefighter, fatally injured last summer in a work accident that has been blamed on departmental training deficiencies, insisting “we’re working on every angle, all aspects of safety.”
The mayor called a press conference Wednesday after two firefighters resigned from an Apopka Fire Department safety committee, insinuating city officials halted the panel’s plan to look into circumstances which led to firefighter Austin Duran’s death.
The briefing featured a terse and tense exchange between Nelson and Duran’s father, Michael Duran.
The elder Duran demanded to know, “yes or no,” whether the safety committee was investigating his son’s death.
Nelson repeated earlier remarks. “We’re investigating all aspects,” he said.
“So we’re not,” Duran said.
“I didn’t say that,” Nelson replied.
“But you didn’t say, ‘We are,’ ” the father fired back. “We’re asking questions, Mr. Mayor.”
The younger Duran, 25, died July 15 of multiple injuries suffered June 30 while helping move a trailer that had a heavy metal container filled with sand. The trailer tipped over, crushing him.
Duran served the Apopka Fire Department as a youth explorer while in high school. He was hired in July 2020.
The safety committee, named the “Austin Duran Safety Initiative,” lost two members this month, both veteran firefighters.
“I am at a loss. If the fire chief does not want the safety committee to critique and review the most important incident in the history of the Apopka Fire Department, then disband it,” Lt. Alex Klepper said in a Dec. 10 email announcing he was quitting the panel.
Klepper, also president of the Apopka firefighters union, said in his email that the safety committee’s purpose should be to make sure “every employee can go home to their family in the condition they came to work in,” but has lost its credibility because of restrictions.
“Ever since this committee has started looking into Austin’s accident, we have been met with push back, to the point that fire administration appears to be bending over backwards to exclude us, its own safety committee, from doing a simple post-incident critique,” he wrote.
Firefighter Pablo A. Echevarria also stepped down from the committee.
In his correspondence, Echevarria, a 27-year department veteran, complained about the committee’s direction.
“I already felt uneasy and was troubled about the unannounced meeting with the city attorney where he suggested that it may not be a good idea to have a critique by the safety committee due to the potential cost to the city with the pending litigation filed by Austin’s Family,” Echevarria said.
Fire Chief Sean Wylam stood behind the mayor Wednesday during the briefing outside Apopka City Hall but said nothing.
Duran’s family filed a notice with the city in October that they intended to sue over his death.
The mayor said the city has completed 18 of 22 recommendations suggested by Klepper and made other safety changes, including funding a training chief, establishing a formal mentoring program to help new firefighters, and adding a third firefighter to all emergency runs.
Nelson said the department also has stopped using the kind of trailer that injured Duran.
