In February, a Kansas fire chief was crushed between two apparatus the Linn Valley Lakes VFD. The station was designed for two apparatus but housed three. A fire fighter thinking that he had parked the engine in the left bay too close to the tanker in the middle pulled it out and then backed into the bay. When he exited the apparatus, he found the chief crushed between the two vehicles. Very sad. Upon investigation, it was found that neither the backup lights or the audible backup alarm works. As you may imagine, NIOSH entered the investigation and found a lot of problems that we probably don't think about. The first thing cited was NFPA 1500 for firefighter safety. The citation mentioned that there was supposed to be a spotter, but there was no SOP so there was no training on it. That of course went along with the beeper and backup lights. It also mentioned the capacity of the engine house, that the engine was over 25 years old so probably was not equipped properly and had non-standard mirrors. The engine was retired from service later. This points out that NFPA standards should be looked at as "best practice". This small department will probably get whacked by NIOSH because the court will say that "best practice" was not followed, and they'll cite 45 other departments that are doing it correctly. It could happen anywhere.
DHS announces round 28 of FY 2009 Assistance to Firefighters Grant awards Click Here 
A homeless teenager was arrested for arson in conjunction with the warehouse fire on West Third St in Greenville. WHIO has more right here
Columbus Fire Fighters are a little upset about monies being collected for EMS runs not showing back up in the Department budget. You can read all about it here CFD/EMS
A study by a committee in Central Ohio has determined that in most cases, Basic Life Support is as good as Advanced Life Support. Do you believe it HERE.
Trotwood has purchased five new fire vehicles. You can read about it HERE.
