Firefighters in gay pride parade were sexually harassed, jury says - Los Angeles Times

Firefighters in gay pride parade were sexually harassed, jury says - Los Angeles Times
The four men sued the city after being ordered to drive a fire truck in the parade. The jury awards them $34,300 in damages.
By Tony Perry
February 19, 2009

Reporting from San Diego -- A Superior Court jury Tuesday found that four male firefighters were sexually harassed while driving a fire truck in the 2007 gay pride parade and were entitled to a combined $34,300 in damages from the city.

The four sued the city because they were ordered to drive the truck in the 90-minute parade even though firefighters in previous gay-pride parades had reported being taunted with sexual innuendoes.


The jury ruled that each of the four should receive $5,000. One should receive an additional $14,200 because he felt compelled to transfer to a different fire station after the incident, and another will receive $100 as reimbursement for a co-pay for a counseling session.

"The amount itself is not important -- the city disrespected these men and violated their rights," said their attorney, Charles LiMandri.

The Fire Department violated its own anti-sexual-harassment policy by forcing the four into the parade over their objections, the jury concluded after two days of deliberation.


A jury in September was unable to reach a verdict. In that trial, the firefighters' attorney asked the jury to award each firefighter from $500,000 to $1 million.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, who marched in the parade, has changed departmental policy, making participation in parades voluntary. The city attorney's office, which represented the Fire Department in the lawsuit, plans an appeal.

Message of Fire Prevention will continue into new year in St. Kitts,

SKNVibes.com News: Message of Fire Prevention will continue into new yearBy VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THROUGHOUT the last year, the St. Kitts-Nevis Fire and Rescue Services has made great strides in educating the general public in fire prevention and safety tips, an initiative it intends on strengthening for the new year.

In a December 30 interview with SKNVibes, Fire Sub-station Officer at the St. Kitts Fire Prevention Office Clarence Hendrickson stressed the importance of understanding and observing fire safety tips.

He said once aware of the dangers involved in overlooking fire safety tips, individuals can be fully able to prevent fires, safeguard their property and know how to respond in case of fire-related casualty.

Hendrickson noted that especially during the Christmas season, persons must pay particular attention to the proper use of power strips. He urged the general public not to overload power strips and stated that Christmas trees and decorative lights should be unplugged when no one is at home.

“A common mistake people make is passing electrical cords under their rugs. Rugs are made from oil-based materials which generate heat. Applying additional heat to these cords over a period of time, the insulators will get overheated and damaged causing the live and neutral wires to touch, resulting in a fire.

“Also, in the case of lighting and extinguishing matches, many persons fail to follow fire safety tips. People have a tendency to turn on the gas before they light the match. Sometimes, excess gas vapour is emitted and igniting the match after may cause an explosion. So people must be cautious to light the match first.

Also, after using a match, it is advised that you extinguish the lighted match with water to ensure that the match does not automatically re-ignite. Some persons may also put the used match right back into the box with the other matches which is not wise at all as it too can cause fire.”

He further stated that individuals should ensure that all appliances not in use are unplugged. Hendrickson also discouraged the public from cooking when feeling tired or sleepy and said individuals should not go to bed smoking.

“We are pleased to announce that there has been a significant reduction in the cases of fires which may suggest that persons are observing the fire safety tips more.

We intend to start the Fire Awareness programmes in which we will be going around to schools, hotels and business places to have lectures on fire prevention and safety tips.”

Hendrickson said the Department has made a concerted effort to educate and sensitize people to the causes of fires and equip them with the knowledge of how to respond in the case of a fire. He said that through the Fire Summer Safety Programme, “each one is reaching one to get the message around”.

He thanked the general public for its full cooperation this year and said he is looking forward to its continued support in the upcoming year.

Spending to fight California wildfires tops $1 billion - Los Angeles Times

Spending to fight California wildfires tops $1 billion - Los Angeles Times
About 1.4 million acres burned in 2008 in one of the worst fire seasons in the state's history. But no meaningful reforms are enacted at the state or federal level.
By Bettina Boxall
December 31, 2008

Wildfire spending in California continued its upward climb this year, driven by one of the worst fire seasons in the state's history.

Almost a quarter of all the wild land that burned across the country in 2008 was in California -- roughly 1.4 million acres.

The fires, fought at a huge cost to taxpayers, failed to translate into any meaningful reforms at the state or federal level despite efforts in Sacramento and Washington.

Lawmakers introduced a number of measures dealing with land use, fire prevention and protection. But the proposals stalled, or in the case of one major state bill, were vetoed.

In fiscal 2008, half of the $1.4 billion that the U.S. Forest Service spent nationally on wildfire suppression was spent in California alone. State fire expenditures topped $1 billion.

"I think we've seen unprecedented fires," said Ruben Grijalva, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Click the link/title above to read the rest of this story. The photo is of the Freeway Complex fire.

The 30,000-acre Freeway Complex fire in the vicinity of the 57 and 91 freeways destroyed nearly 200 residences in Orange and Riverside counties in November. It was among numerous California wildfires that burned roughly 1.4 million acres in 2008. State fire expenditures topped $1 billion.

California neglected to save for a fiery day

California neglected to save for a fiery day

Seems to me they are funding the wildland fires with the Reserve account. Un-freakin-believable. Click the link above to read the whole story and look at the difference between what they are funding and what they are actually using! For last two years the budget for firefighting was $82 million...costs however were $392 & $206 million, respecively. And those weren't unusual years! Seems to me the State has a case of "It's Not Going to Happen to Me"...even though it does happen to us, year after year!

California spent a record $392 million fighting fires across the state in the fiscal year that ended Monday, burning another hole in the state's already strained finances and forcing officials to dip into shrinking cash reserves to pay firefighting bills.

The amount is by far the highest in the past decade, and it will likely get worse with wildfires in 27 areas of the state already burning early in the fire season.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared emergencies in 11 counties, including Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara, a necessary move to free up more state funds to fight fires.

"We always will be in a position to aggressively respond to any disaster in California regardless of the cost," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.

In the past decade, however, the state has not budgeted enough funds to fight wildfires. In every year but one, the state has had to dip into cash reserves to pay firefighting costs.

"That's what reserves are for," said Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee. "We always make sure that there's enough money for firefighting regardless of what's in the rest of the budget."

Officials faulted for Santa Ana College fire alarms problems

Officials faulted for Santa Ana College fire alarms problems - Los Angeles Times
Broken devices plagued the campus for two years because of miscommunication, failure to declare an emergency and the belief that a new system would soon be installed, a report finds.

Broken fire alarms at nearly a dozen buildings at Santa Ana College went unrepaired for more than two years because of miscommunication and a can't-someone-else-do-it mentality, and because officials did not declare an emergency to fix the antiquated system, an investigation by a law firm found.

"Everybody thought it was someone else's responsibility," said Eddie Hernandez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District.

The investigation was performed by Liebert Cassidy Whitmore of Los Angeles at Hernandez's request after widespread problems that placed thousands of students, faculty and staff in potential danger became public in October.

The faulty alarms had been documented in inspections in 2005 and 2006, but not repaired. The findings of the investigation were released to The Times this week.

Six entire buildings -- including the gym, fine arts building and library -- had no working fire alarms at various times over two years. At least three other buildings had some that worked. Some alarms had broken handles, others did not ring, and at least one was turned off because it would not stop sounding.

Campus and district officials put off repairs because they thought a new system was coming soon, according to the report.

"There was a feeling of 'Why fix these things if they're going to be replaced?' " said John Hanna, a community college district board member. "But that's no excuse."

Officials made another major mistake by not starting a fire watch when they first learned alarms were broken, Hernandez said, which left buildings unmonitored by human or machine.

Meanwhile, officials used the $400,000 in state money that had been earmarked to replace the system to paint and waterproof the exteriors of some of the same buildings that lacked working alarms.

The college's safety committee disbanded several years ago, cutting off one avenue through which the problems could have been reported to a higher level.

If the district board had been notified of the problem immediately, it could have drafted an emergency resolution that could have bypassed the lengthy bidding process and promptly fixed the alarms, according to the report.

That's what the board did once news of the broken fire alarms reached board members in October and the campus newspaper El Don wrote a story about the lapses.

The board acted swiftly, calling an emergency meeting, instituting a 24-hour fire watch and fast-tracking repairs for the aging system.

Less than two months later, the old system was restored to working order.

This month, the board is scheduled to approve a contractor to install a new fire alarm and public address system. That system, at a cost of about $1 million, should be in operation by the end of the year.

Liebert Cassidy Whitmore's report portrays a complicated web of campus and district bureaucracy, with at least six officials passing around information about the broken alarms for two years but taking little action.

For nearly three years before the problem became public, campus and district officials drafted and revised plans to replace the entire system but did not send forward a proposal to repair the existing one, district spokeswoman Laurie Weidner said. "We wanted to make sure we made the right investment," she said. "We don't take the expenditure of public funds lightly."

Santa Ana College President Erlinda Martinez knew the alarms were malfunctioning to some extent, asking in August 2007 for a faulty alarm -- which buzzed constantly -- outside her temporary office to be silenced.

"She had a very stressful day and just wanted the buzzer to be shut off," according to the report.

Martinez has said she did not learn of the broken alarms until inspectors brought the problem to the college's attention in October.

The investigation narrowed in on six officials. At the college: Bruce Bromberger, plant manager; and Noemi Kanouse, vice president of administrative services. At the district: James Wooley, safety and security supervisor; Al Chin, director of safety and security; Don Maus, environmental and safety services manager; and Bob Brown, director of construction and support services, who retired in 2006.

All six were apparently cited in the report for not fulfilling their responsibilities regarding the fire alarms, though how they erred is undetermined because district authorities blacked out names when referring to mistakes they made.

The district also took disciplinary action against those faulted by the report.

Bromberger, who was responsible for the maintenance and repair of fire alarms at the college, resigned in February.

Chin, who is responsible for fire alarm systems at the district and college and communications about safety, was suspended for two weeks without pay.

Kanouse, responsible for facilities maintenance at the college, was transferred to serve as vice chancellor at the district and given a pay cut.

Three other officials received letters of reprimand but kept their jobs.

In reaction to the fire alarm problem, Santa Ana College has reconvened its safety committee, and the district board has formed its own counterpart.

"Thank God no one was hurt and we didn't have to pay the price," Hanna said. "But there were mistakes made. Administrators have been chastised and will see more clearly now. The silver lining is that out of this will come a safer campus."

tony.barboza@latimes.com

Student Paper's Fire-Alarm Article Leads Santa Ana College to Begin Hourly Patrols

Student Paper's Fire-Alarm Article Leads Santa Ana College to Begin Hourly Patrols - Chronicle.com

Student Paper's Fire-Alarm Article Leads Santa Ana College to Begin Hourly Patrols
Santa Ana College has begun hourly fire patrols in seven buildings because their fire alarms are not working — and in some cases have been broken since 2005, according to the Orange County Register.

Problems with the alarms were revealed last week by the community college’s student newspaper, El Don. Subsequently the board of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, of which the college is a part, met in emergency session to begin the process of buying a new central alarm system for the campus. In the meantime, the college is seeking parts to repair the existing alarm systems in individual buildings. Repairs are expected to take about a month.

El Don reported that alarms in some buildings had been switched to a “silent” mode, rather than getting needed repairs, and that in the gym alarms were not working and water lines leading to fire hoses had been disconnected. College officials said the general counsel’s office had begun an investigation aimed at finding out who is to blame for the alarm failures.

But why stop there???

Fire alarms broken at Santa Ana College: Some officials knew of problem for two years.

SANTA ANA - Fire alarms are not working at seven buildings at Santa Ana College as part of a longstanding problem that was known but not addressed, officials confirmed this week.

Until the alarms are fixed, the buildings are on manual "fire watch" during which a security guard manually patrols looking for problems at least once an hour while people are in the buildings.

College trustees were not told about the broken alarms which in some cases date back to 2005 and originally involved as many as 11 buildings, said John Hanna, president of the board of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which operates the college.

"We're furious about this," Hanna said. "People in management were informed and nothing was done."

The seven buildings on manual fire watch are the Cook Gym, Hammond Hall, Phillips Hall, the Library, and the Administration, Fine Arts, and Security buildings, officials said.

The issue became public this week only after the El Don college newspaper published an investigative story about the system. The district board held an emergency meeting Tuesday night to approve a request for bids for a new alarm system which could take as much as two years to install.

Meanwhile, parts are being sought to fix the antiquated, standalone, bell-type fire alarms and they should all be fixed in about a month, officials said.

"Everything will be functional within the next 20 to 30 days," college President Erlinda Martinez said. "Each building will have 100 percent of its alarms functioning."

Martinez said she only found out about the problem "a few weeks ago" during a meeting of the campus facilities committee.

The problems came to light in 2005 and 2006 inspection reports, but there are no records that anything was ever done with the information. Campus safety officials told the El Don campus newspaper they had reported the problems but repairs were not made.

Minutes from previous facility committee meetings over the last two years do not show any mention of problems with fire alarms, despite written reports about them.

In some cases, problems with the bells ringing caused officials to simply disable them instead of repairing them.

A May 2006 inspection report shows not only rusted and non-working alarms, but also many panels that had dead batteries and other routine maintenance that had not been performed.

The El Don reported that alarms in two buildings had been switched to "silent mode" rather than having been repaired.

The paper also reported that alarms inside Cook Gymnasium, scene of large athletic events attended by hundreds, are not working and its fire hoses were disconnected from water lines.

An investigation by the college's general counsel's office is underway to determine what happened and who is at fault, officials said.

The college had money to make the repairs from hundreds of millions in bond money that the district had acquired for building construction and renovations. Thirty million dollars of that pool was used to build a new sheriff's academy that recently opened.

The problem seemed to have been related to a decision to replace the standalone ringing alarm bells with a new technology that will allow all the buildings to be connected to a central panel in the campus security building.

Instead of repairing broken alarms, campus staff apparently did nothing because of plans to install the new system. However, no bid requests ever went out for the new system until this week, Hanna said.

"It boggles the mind why that wasn't done," Hanna said. "Had someone come and asked us for money to get that done, we would have given it to them."

Santiago Canyon College, also operated by the same district, used deferred maintenance funding to repair its alarm system in 2005 and 2006, Hanna said.

Even in the October facilities meeting in which the issue came to light, Hanna said no mention was made of the broken alarms until a concerned faculty member brought it up.

Martinez said that the college has hired Pyro-Comm of Huntington Beach to make temporary repairs on the standalone system and will seek bids to install a modern system called "Notifier."

It is against state law for classroom buildings to not have working fire alarms.

Santa Ana Fire Marshal Lori Smith said the city is aware of the problem and that the college voluntarily proposed the plan to have a security officer patrol buildings hourly whenever students are present.

"They are under notice to repair the existing system and get it working," Smith said.

Martinez said that college officials are also looking into reports there may be problems with sprinkler systems and water hydrant pressure. "We are following up on everything that was brought up," she said.

But wait! There is more!

Faulty fire alarms at Santa Ana College put thousands at potential risk:

The alarms have been broken since 2005, according to contractor reports. 'Something's rotten, trustee board president said, 'and we're going to find out about it.'
Seven buildings at Santa Ana College, including the administration offices and the library, have faulty fire alarms, placing thousands of students, faculty and staff in potential danger.

The alarms have been broken since at least June 2005, according to reports given to the school at that time by a contractor the college hired. Some have broken handles, others do not ring, and at least one was turned off because it would not stop sounding.

The Rancho Santiago Community College District has hired a law firm to find out why nothing was done for more than two years after reports documented the problems.

"It is an unacceptable practice to compromise the safety of our students or visitors," said Board of Trustees President John Hanna, who called an emergency meeting Tuesday for trustees to pass a resolution to repair the alarms. "Inspectors don't issue reports just for the fun of doing it. Somebody knew about this and made a conscious decision not to do anything about it. Clearly something's rotten in Denmark, and we're going to find out about it."

Inspections completed in 2005 and 2006 revealed widespread problems with the college's 1960s equipment, citing several buildings that lacked working fire alarms.

In some of those cases, campus security would not have known if there were a fire because the system makes noise only in the building where the alarm is pulled and does not alert authorities. The campus security building is one of those where the alarms don't work.

The college district in 2003 earmarked $400,000 in state maintenance funds to go toward replacing Santa Ana's nearly obsolete fire alarm system, but four years later, the overhaul has not been started.

The problems came to the attention of top district officials last month. Short-term repairs approved at the board meeting, expected to cost $68,000, should be completed in about a month. Meanwhile, security guards at the college have started a fire-watch program and hourly are patrolling buildings without alarm coverage. Other buildings without working alarms include the gym, the fine-arts building and the theater.

Three portable classrooms also had broken alarms, but they recently were fixed.

"I'm not sure whether it was a communication thing, a process thing, or an individual person thing," district Chancellor Eddie Hernandez said. "This should not have taken this length of time to solve it. There are plenty of people in retrospect that dropped the ball." Santa Ana Fire Department officials, who annually review the college for fire code violations, do not inspect fire alarms but rely on the college to hire a contractor to ensure they are working.

The college's fire alarms date to about 1966, making replacement parts nearly impossible to find, according to a contractor's report this month.

Officials said the district will replace the old alarm system with one that will notify security staff of fires and include loudspeakers and strobe lights.

It could take as long as two years before the new system, expected to cost between $1.5 and $2 million, is installed.

Santa Ana College President Erlinda Martinez said she did not learn of the broken fire alarms until inspectors brought it to the college's attention again last month. She declined to state which college officials had known about the broken alarms in 2005, saying only that reports about the alarms "didn't rise to the level to where we took action."

Hernandez , the district chancellor, said he was certain some school administrators knew about the problem. "This is a classic case of something falling through the cracks, but safety should come to the top of everyone's list."

Santiago Canyon College, which is part of the same community college district, finished replacing its alarm system in 2005, after two years of construction at a cost of $247,000.

Feinstein criticizes fire planning for region

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Feinstein criticizes fire planning for region
City and county leaders need to do a better job preparing for the type of firestorms that devastated the region last month, even if that means raising taxes, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said yesterday at a public hearing she chaired at San Diego City Hall.

If changes aren't made quickly, Feinstein warned the result could be “a loss of life on a major scale.”

Feinstein, D-Calif., was joined by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego. The federal lawmakers are trying to correct problems that surfaced during the October wildfires.

About a dozen people testified, including San Diego City Council President Scott Peters, county Supervisor Ron Roberts and former San Diego fire chief Jeff Bowman.

The 3½-hour hearing opened with Feinstein criticizing the city and the county. Feinstein said the city doesn't have enough firefighters or fire stations. She said San Diego County is one of the largest in California without a unified fire department.

Peters pointed out that voters have twice refused to pay for more fire protection. Feinstein suggested “the third time might be the charm.”

“I think people now see this is a pattern, and everything they hold dear could go,” she said.

What seemed to trouble Feinstein most was finding out that the fire station in Rancho Bernardo is responsible for protecting 24 square miles. Standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, which accredits departments across the country, say a station shouldn't cover an area larger than 9 square miles.

All of the 365 homes burned in San Diego last month were in Rancho Bernardo. Most were destroyed, which Feinstein said indicates that firefighters didn't get in.

“Obviously, the fire wasn't fought there,” she said.

She asked Peters if an additional fire station in the area would have helped. Peters said the city is trying to answer that question.

At least four stations – in Paradise Hills, Tierrasanta, La Jolla and University City – cover areas larger than 9 square miles, fire officials said.

The National Fire Protection Association has set a five-minute response goal for firefighters. In Rancho Bernardo, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department meets or exceeds that goal 37 percent of the time. Across the city, the department meets or exceeds that mark 47 percent of the time.

In Mission Valley, an area lined with strip malls and office buildings, firefighters have trouble responding to 911 calls within 10 minutes, Fire Chief Tracy Jarman testified.

Some municipalities in the county steer more resources to fire protection than San Diego.

In Escondido, for example, five fire stations cover 50 square miles. In Chula Vista, nine stations defend approximately 52 square miles, although there has been talk of closing one of those stations due to budget concerns.

After the 2003 wildfires, the National Fire Protection Association studied the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to see if it qualified for accreditation. It didn't.

The city needs at least 20 additional fire stations, the association said. It would cost about $100 million to build and staff the stations, and $40 million a year to run them.

Since the 2003 wildfires, two stations have been built, including a temporary structure at the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot. A third station is expected to open in January in Carmel Valley.

Money, or a lack of it, has been the biggest stumbling block. San Diego is hamstrung by a mountain of debt and other financial problems that have made borrowing money an expensive exercise.

The fire department has a $181 million annual budget, up from $171 million a year ago. If the stations were built, about 240 firefighters would be hired to join the 924 men and women who staff 46 stations.

But that still wouldn't be enough manpower to turn back firestorms like those that burned across the county last month, department spokesman Maurice Luque said.

“It's unfair to put the onus of solving all the fire protection issues on the backs of the city,” Luque said. “This is a regional issue that's going to take state and federal support to resolve.”

Luque said the lack of personnel isn't nearly as worrisome as the lack of fire engines.

“We had firefighters trying to sneak on engines because there weren't enough,” he said.

As much as Feinstein would like to see more resources in the city, she said she's just as concerned about the county's decision not to form a regional fire department.

During the hearing, when Roberts interrupted the senator and said he had a suggestion, Feinstein pointed at him, smiled and took a playful stab.

“Like a county fire department in your district?” she said.

Roberts, chairman of the board of supervisors, has said he is reluctant to focus on that goal because of resistance from several rural fire protection districts.

However, he said he is interested in improving the use of military aircraft, which barely got off the ground during the first two days of last month's fires. He also wants Cal Fire, the state agency, to use more military technology to gauge the direction and magnitude of wildfires. And Roberts said he would like military assets to arrive before the fires start, instead of days afterward.

Roberts also expressed interest in an idea that Bowman, the former fire chief, raised at the hearing. Bowman suggested that the county buy 50 fire engines and spread them among the fire departments.

After the meeting, Roberts said he'll take the first step toward making such a purchase in the next two weeks and ask the board to approve a proposal to review funding options and legal obligations. Roberts said it's possible that federal funding could be used. It's an idea he plans to discuss further with Feinstein.

“It doesn't necessarily hinge on federal funding, but she seems determined to assist in making some changes, and I'm delighted with that,” Roberts said.

Bowman, who resigned 18 months ago as San Diego's fire chief, in part because he couldn't get more resources, reminded Feinstein that the two of them were members of the Blue Ribbon Commission formed after the 2003 wildfires to determine what needed correcting. The commission came up with dozens of recommendations, but several suggestions were only partially implemented or ignored.

One called for adding 150 engines to Cal Fire's fleet. To date, 19 have been ordered.

“This is like déjà vu – we have these meetings, but nothing happens,” Bowman said. “What needs to happen here is action.”

Feinstein thanked Bowman for his candor.

“Now the challenge will be to see whether there is the leadership to take us where we need to be,” she said.

Tomgram: Mike Davis, Who Really Set the California Fires?

Tomgram: Mike Davis, Who Really Set the California Fires?

You can't have too much of a good thing, so let me just quote Mike Davis from 1998 to introduce Mike Davis 2007 on the California fires. In Ecology of Fear, his 1998 book on southern California, he wrote just about everything you'd ever need to know if you didn't want to be surprised by the raging Santa Ana-driven wildfires of 2003 or 2007. After all, there's nothing new about the burning phenomenon on what Davis then dubbed "the fire coast." "A great Malibu firestorm," he wrote, "could generate the heat of three million barrels of burning oil at a temperature of 2,000 degrees." No wonder Cold War era researchers used those California fires to model the behavior of nuclear firestorms.

What remains eternally new (and yet utterly predictable, once you've read Davis) is the increasing amount of tinder we put in the way of such fires in "the suburban-chaparral border zone where wildfire is king" -- and then the fierce fire-suppression campaigns that new, wealthy homeowners in their privatized, gated communities, McMansions, and McCastles demand, which only build further the fuel for the fires that, even in the 1990s, were "becoming ever more apocalyptic." Oh yes, and another thoroughly predictable thing: After hundreds, or thousands, of houses burn, the search for villains begins not among the politicians and developers, pushing human habitation ever deeper into the lands of the firestorm, but for arsonists, "although probably not more than one in eight blazes is caused by arson." The shape of the shape-shifting arsonist has changed over the years: more or less in historical order, according to Davis, they have been Indians, sheepherders, tramps, Wobblies, Okies, "Axis saboteurs," and, in our own time, environmentalists, (indirectly) endangered and protected species, gays, and terrorists. The search for arsonists is, of course, on again -- and one has so far been identified, a boy, possibly only 10 years old, playing with matches whose case is now being turned over to the district attorney for possible prosecution.

And finally, it's predictable that "the essential land-use issue, the rampant, uncontrolled proliferation of firebelt suburbs," is ignored; while, in the rush to fight the ensuing fires, vast sums of taxpayer money are functionally spent on luxury enclaves and gated hilltop suburbs. As Davis concluded back in 1998, but might as well have written last night, "Needless to say, there is no comparable investment in the fire, toxic, or earthquake safety of inner-city communities. Instead, as in so many things, we tolerate two systems of hazard prevention, separate and unequal."

And the worst of it is that "fire itself accelerates gentrification" in those former wildlands. Charred hillside? All the better to build, my dear…

Read the article San Diego Builds a Statue to an Arsonist:
Developers with Matches by clicking HERE.

Another firefighter harassment case, another big jury award. Why do we keep risking taxpayer dollars?

Fire alarm - Los Angeles Times

SUDDENLY THAT $2.7 million the City Council offered Tennie Pierce — the black firefighter who sued the city for racial discrimination after co-workers laced his dinner with dog food — is starting to look like a bargain. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vetoed that settlement, opting to let a jury decide whether Pierce deserves compensation.

Well, this week a jury handed a whopping $6.2 million to Brenda Lee, a gay, black firefighter, finding that she was harassed because of her race and sexual orientation. She cited arbitrary, grueling drills and urine in her mouthwash.

This is the third payout in connection with Lee's case. In March, a jury awarded $1.75 million to firefighter Lewis "Steve" Bressler, who said he was retaliated against for supporting Lee. Gary Mellinger, who like Bressler is white and made the same retaliation claim as well as one on age bias, settled his part of the case in November for $350,000. That's $8.3-million worth of anti-gay harassment and racial and age discrimination. When the Fire Department sets out to discriminate, it certainly covers all the bases.

What makes these payouts infuriating is that the behavior behind them has been all but banished from every other place of business in this country. There should be no courtroom deliberation regarding urine-contaminated mouthwash or the comical merits of dog food for dinner. We should be focusing on the Fire Department's heroics — on display again just weeks ago as it contained the Griffith Park fire and saved surrounding homes. As that blaze reminded us, the Los Angeles Fire Department is an elite emergency response agency that saves lives and property in one of the most difficult and dangerous areas to cover in the United States.

Yet it's also, unfortunately, home to an enduring frat boy culture that roils the department with alarming frequency. Over the past 30 years, two chiefs have been forced to resign, millions of dollars have been paid out in settlements and judgments and the number of female firefighters has actually declined. Now the Lee settlement is making news from New York to North Carolina, Australia to Britain. And gay media throughout the world have taken note.

Of course, there's no telling what a jury will decide in the Pierce case — one recently rejected the claim of another black firefighter, Jabari S. Jumaane, a 21-year veteran who sued the city for $7 million. And there's always a chance the Pierce jury will have a Delta House sense of humor. But the gamble that the city can successfully defend the Fire Department against Pierce's claims just got a lot riskier.

Forest management may lead to worse wildfires

Forest management may lead to worse wildfires - earth - 11 June 2007 - New Scientist Environment
This is a really interesting article. It seems that removing the dead wood after a fire, may lead to a worse fire next time!

Forestry management techniques used after wildfires may actually lead to worse repeat fires, say researchers who studied one of largest forest fires in recent US history.

The 2002 Biscuit Fire in southwest Oregon engulfed more than 200,000 hectares, over 18,000 of which had been burned previously, in the 1987 Silver Fire. In the three years after the Silver Fire, more than 800 hectares were logged to salvage any wood that could be sold, and the land was replanted with conifers.

"For a long time there was a perception that by salvage-logging fire-killed trees, you would be removing a lot of potential fuel for future fires," explains Jonathan Thompson of Oregon State University. Such logging also enables commercially interesting trees such as conifers to be planted.

Using before and after satellite images from both fires, Thompson and colleagues found that areas that these "managed" areas burned more severely during the second fire than areas that had been left to regrow naturally.

This type of forest management should, therefore, not be used in an attempt to limit risk of future fires, he says.

Conifers to blame?
The satellite data available was not sufficient to allow the team to determine whether it was the logging or the replanting that made the second fire worse in certain areas.

Salvage-logging operations can leave a lot of the higher branches on the ground where they can fuel future fires, but it is difficult to say how much of an effect this would have had 15 years, Thompson says.

He believes it is more likely that the conifers that replaced the original forest provided a homogenous fuel to the 2002 fire, causing replanted areas to burn more. Thompson notes that this could create a positive feedback, where each forest fire makes the next one worse.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol 104 p 10743)

Fatal fire draws charges

Fatal fire draws charges - baltimoresun.com
New information has been released regarding the death of the BCFD cadet in February. Click on the link for the whole story, the synopsis is below.

Racheal Wilson died Feb. 9 after she was trapped in a rowhouse that had been deliberately set on fire as part of a training exercise.

A state agency charged the Baltimore City Fire Department yesterday with "intentionally" and "knowingly" violating safety rules resulting in "a substantial probability [of] death or serious physical harm" during a Feb. 9 training exercise that killed a fire cadet.

The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, after a five-month investigation, cited the department for 33 safety violations and singled out two fire commanders for the haphazard planning and execution of the live burn that claimed the life of Racheal M. Wilson, 29, and injured two others in a vacant rowhouse on South Calverton Road in Southwest Baltimore.

It said that eight fires -- not seven as the Fire Department previously reported -- were lit by three people inside the rowhouse while the safety officer stood outside. One blaze was set on the first floor, five on the second floor and two on the third floor, the document said.

National standards require that only one person -- an ignition officer -- should set the fire and that only one blaze should be set at a time.

The newly disclosed information also showed that firefighters and trainees inside the burning building were not wearing proper breathing or safety gear and that when the fire got out of control one instructor abandoned four trainees.

Also, when the cadets entered the burning building, the backup hose line, which should have been charged with water in case of emergency, was "rolled up on the back of a pickup truck," according to the document. It said there was no water reserve available for the burn.

National regulations require a hose line to be charged and ready to put out a training blaze from the moment it is ignited...

All 33 violations were labeled "serious," meaning there was "a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result," according to definitions of the violations listed in the charging document.

Of those, 17 were also labeled "willful," meaning "the employer committed an intentional and knowing violation" or acted with "plain indifference to or in careless disregard of employer responsibilities."

The charges dealt exclusively with the fatal live burn on Feb. 9 and did not address other incidents. The day before, for example, two firefighters were injured at a live burn in a vacant house in East Baltimore. It was unclear from the charging document whether the earlier burn was, or is, being investigated...

One citation said the instructor-in-charge -- Crest -- "did not stop the live-fire training evolution when multiple fires set on three floors of the burn building created the potential for a rapid uncontrolled burn."

Another said the safety officer -- Hyde -- should have prevented instructors from lighting the multiple fires. He also failed to remove debris from the building, ensure that backup hose lines were in place and establish emergency exits, according to the charging document.

When the house was set on fire it contained "mattresses, broken window frames, trees and brush, tires, lumber, street lamp, trash, drywall and insulation," the document said. Such materials -- particularly the tires -- can release toxic smoke.

RAGING TAHOE FIRE'S ROOTS: 150 YEARS OF FOREST ABUSE / HISTORY OF MISMANAGEMENT: From Gold Rush logging to modern development

RAGING TAHOE FIRE'S ROOTS: 150 YEARS OF FOREST ABUSE / HISTORY OF MISMANAGEMENT: From Gold Rush logging to modern development

This article explains why todays forest fires are so much more destructive then the ones we fought 50 years ago. It is worth clicking the link above and reading the entire story.

The raging fire that is denuding hillsides and darkening the clear blue waters of Lake Tahoe is the final product of 150 years of mismanagement of the Sierra Nevada ecosystem, fire management experts said Monday.

From Gold Rush clear-cutters to modern home-builders, people have brought changes to the Tahoe basin that have fueled the intensity of the 2,500-acre Angora fire near the town of South Lake Tahoe. By Monday night, 178 homes had fallen casualty to the 2-day-old blaze, which was only 40 percent contained.

Ecologists and local residents said they saw such a disaster coming.

"It's the fire we've been anticipating for 20 years," said Patsy Miller, who owns a residence at Fallen Leaf Lake, about a mile from where the flames had spread by late Monday.

"People have interjected their homes into a system that has a natural tendency to burn very frequently, and where we have suppressed the frequency of those fires for so long, there's an ungodly amount of fuel there," Forest Service regional ecologist Hugh Safford said.

The immediate cause of the Angora fire was under investigation Monday. But the fire's beginnings can be traced all the way back to the Gold Rush and the Comstock-era mining boom.

"They clear-cut about two-thirds of the basin," said Shane Romsos, science and evaluation program manager for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Mixed-growth forests of fire-tolerant species like the self-pruning Jeffrey pine were replaced by uniform stands of dense white fir and undergrowth, which grew rapidly in the unusually wet years of the early 20th century.

Then came the vacation homes and ski areas. As development spread, land managers focused on fire suppression, allowing the fuel load to build every year.

Federal officials began to shift fire-management policies in the mid-1990s and in recent years have sought to clear away dense underbrush and thin trees in the forests around Tahoe and in the rest of the Sierra. U.S. Forest Service officials said those efforts probably saved at least 500 homes that otherwise could have been engulfed by the Angora fire.

But many forests are still vulnerable to catastrophic burns. This past winter had a notable shortage of snowfall, and Sunday brought ferocious winds that whipped the flames from treetop to treetop even in woodlands where some thinning had been done. Winds that died down Monday were expected to pick up tonight and Wednesday.

"Conditions were ripe for a fire like this," Romsos said.

Now, fire-stripped hillsides could lead to a surge of runoff, clouding Lake Tahoe.

History with Fire in Its Eye: An Introduction to Fire in America, The Use of the Land, Nature Transformed

History with Fire in Its Eye: An Introduction to Fire in America, The Use of the Land, Nature Transformed, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center
An essay by Stephen Pyne that discusses the origin of the fire policy in the US.

For the 1880 census, Charles Sargent mapped forest fires. Fire was nearly everywhere, some places more vigorously than others. The amount of burning was, by today's standards, staggering. A developing nation, still primarily agricultural, the United States had a fire-flushed landscape not unlike those of Brazil and Indonesia in more recent decades. While lightning accounted for some ignition, and steam power (notably locomotives) for a growing fraction, the principal sources of fire were people—people burning for hunting, for traditional foraging, for landclearing, for clearing field fallow, for pasturage, for the ecological equivalent of housecleaning. And of course there was a significant amount of sheer fire littering. Where spark met large caches of combustibles (as around logged sites), horrific fires, implacable as hurricanes, broke out. The idea that one might abolish fire seemed quixotic, in fact, dangerous. Without fire most lands were uninhabitable. Free-burning fires came and went with the seasons, as unstoppable as the movement of the sun across the heavens. Right-thinking conservationists, as good Progressives, argued for government intervention to stop them.

Click the link above to read the entire essay.

Feud over firefighter's job reveals department discord

Feud over firefighter's job reveals department discord - Today's Paper > Local News | Bakersfield.com - Kern County news, events, shopping & search
Wow...rumors, sex and alchohol... Perception is everything! Click on the link above to read all of the sordid details!

The story so far

Fired firefighter Robby Pratt was disciplined for allegedly engaging in a sex act at a fire station that was witnessed by Capt. Bryan Perry back in 2003.

Pratt contends it didn’t happen.

Perry is the only witness.

Pratt was charged with drunken driving in August 2006.

The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, but Fire Chief Ron Fraze and City Manager Alan Tandy fired Pratt.

The Fire Civil Service Commission heard Pratt’s appeal in February and upheld his firing.

Commissioner Stuart Gentry, who has since resigned, initiated contact with Pratt both before and during Pratt’s hearing. Pratt is asking for a new hearing. He also has three lawsuits against the city for unfair disciplinary actions.

“Is (Pratt) a saint?” asked Pratt’s lawyer Richard Middlebrook. “No. But did he get railroaded? Yes.”

Charles Brehmer, another lawyer for Pratt, said the city has ignored his demand for a new hearing.

“There’s been absolutely no response,” Brehmer said. “Surprise, surprise.”

Esperanza fire spurs debate on priorities

thedesertsun.com | Esperanza fire spurs debate on priorities
An excellent article addressing the politics of wildland fires.

RIVERSIDE - A blaze that killed five federal firefighters last year has emboldened those who question the cost of saving the ever expanding number of homes on the fringe of wilderness.

...Firefighters' attitudes also are an issue in protecting homes.

Public expectations can sometimes lead to bravado and a cavalier mind-set among firefighters, experts say. A recent investigative report in the five deaths listed overconfidence, excessive motivation and risk-taking as contributing factors.

"One of the standard fire orders states: 'Fight the fire aggressively having provided for safety first,"' said Peter Leschak, a 26-year firefighter and a commander for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Division of Forestry. "There has been an argument recently to change that because we don't need to encourage firefighters to be more aggressive - half the time we're holding them back."


Federal firefighters could scale back structural protection without too much political fallout, but that would not be easy for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which answers to the governor, said John Maclean, a federally certified firefighter and the author of several books on wildfire disasters.
Danger zone

The Forest Service spends 44 percent of its budget on wildfire suppression annually, he said, and much of that work means protecting homes where suburbs collide with wilderness.
More than 6 million homes in California stand in wildfire "red zones" - areas defined in part by their thick brush and steep slopes - and that number is expected to grow by 20 percent in the next decade, according to a recently released insurance report.

"There is an expectation on the part of a lot of people that somebody better get in there and do or die for their house," Maclean said. "If you stop doing that and you stop taking reasonable risk to protect structures, you'd have a new governor in about five minutes."

Gilbert family loses home to fire, gets the bill

Gilbert family loses home to fire, gets the bill | EastValleyTribune.com
Too bad this family didn't vote to annex (they probably didn't think it would happen to them)....When their double-wide home caught fire, town firefighters showed up.... to watch it burn...Rural Metro also showed up-to watch....and now to put salt in their wounds...the family will now have to pay the Fire Dept for coming to watch their double-wide burn down! (Cause it WASN'T THEIR tax dollar at work...)

Town officials said they felt for the family’s loss, but the family took that risk by deciding not to annex so as to receive town fire services when Rural/Metro Fire Department ended its subscription services Sept. 30.

The double-wide mobile home at 12849 S. Higley Road was considered a total loss after fire tore through it Wednesday night. Gilbert firefighters at the scene ensured there was no threat to life, but did not make an effort to put out the fire.

Rural/Metro Fire Department responded from a farther distance as a courtesy, company officials said. As policy, the homeowners will get a bill that could total upwards of $10,000 based on fees that include $100 an hour for each firefighter responding and about $1,000 for each truck.

The Fire Hydrant That Saved The Mission

The fires that raged after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco caused far more damage than the quake itself. According to legend, this fire hydrant saved the Mission District. Every year, it is spray-painted gold in commemoration. aprox. 7 mins.

To learn more about the past and present of San Francisco's cultural epicenter, visit www.sfmission.com

Library Fire Exposes Problems With Hydrants

Library Fire Exposes Problems With Hydrants
What if there was a fire .... and the hydrants were all out of order? Don'tcha simply HATE it when that happens? They sure do in Washington DC-- Where the failure of the hydrants slowed firefighters tremendously.

WASHINGTON - The fire at the Georgetown Library has exposed problems with some fire hydrants in the city.
Dozens of them aren't in working order, including the two closest to the library, where some irreplaceable documents and artwork were destroyed.

The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is in charge of more than 9,000 hydrants in the city, and the agency has identified 53 hydrants across the city that are in need of repair. Some leak, some have defective parts, and others don't produce water.

Officials say it's hard to keep up on inspections, so the fire department plans to work with WASA to do more checks.

Fire and union officials say the faulty hydrants often aren't discovered until a fire breaks out. Firefighters wound up using hydrants that were about two blocks from the burning building.

Officials say the broken hydrants slowed the response of some units by a few minutes but didn't have a major effect on the blaze.

This is why many fire departments have their own hydrant maintenance and testing program, such as the Charlottesville, VA FD. Click here to read their SOP.

Rapping Philadelphia Firefighter Fired - Firehouse.com News

Rapping Philadelphia Firefighter Fired - Firehouse.com News
What do you think? Are the lyrics of a song grounds for dismissal? Do you have a "right" to free speech as a firefighter?

firefighter who wrote rap lyrics calling police "pigs" and threatening to turn them into "bacon bits" will be losing his job, fire officials said Monday.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers reported that the investigation into musical lyrics produced by firefighter Rodney Jean-Jacques had concluded.

As a result of the investigation, Ayers has suspended Jean-Jacques with intent to dismiss effective Monday afternoon.

"Commissioner Ayers deeply regrets that anyone was offended by the lyrics, especially our important (first) responder partners, members of the Philadelphia Police Department," said a fire department press release.

The police union's president initially asked for a written apology, but when none came, the union demanded Jean-Jacques's firing.

Click here for the link to the previous story.
Click here to link to the music video Jean-Jacques made for the fire department...back when they liked him.

History of the Black Firemen on the Los Angeles Fire Department, 1897 to 1956

History of the Black Firemen on the Los Angeles Fire Department, 1897 to 1956
From the Los Angeles Fire Department Historyical Archives I found this web site that chronicles the history of Black Firefighters through 1956.
Here is an excerpt:

Fire Station No. 14

On November 2, 1936, twelve years after the segregation of Engine 30 the white firemen were removed from Fire Station 14 and it also became all-black. Angry at being removed from their station, the whites trashed the building with garbage and fecal matter. The Battalion Chief ordered them back to clean up their mess.

Click on the link above to read the rest.