Commander in Fire Chief
My print column on how not to put out a "fire" is up.
posted by Spencerblog at
9:25 AM
Sunday, March 8, 2009
posted by Spencerblog at
9:25 AM
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13 Comments:
Gil - You seem to forget that the former fire chief had a history of arson. While one neighbors house was burning, he intentionaly started a fire down the street, pulled his fire fighters,and left the first house to burn. Now the Chief has two fires burning down the street, and another one burning in his own house. The old chiefs crew still has a 1700's mentality, where the first thing they do when they arrive at a fire, is start a fight with any other fire company on the scene, leaving the house to burn.
Anyway, I heard the sirens last night, and I drove by your house to see what was going on. I saw D company hustling to put out the flames. The backup, R company, was also there. They were standing by chanting "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...."
You know the rest.
Just read your "fire" COLUMN...Cannot imagine why you would have made up a story like this!! My husband is a volunteer fireman who works very hard to make sure that alarms are answered as quickly as possible...No chief would talk to a homeowner like you suggest in your column...suggesting that he repair his house,etc. is ridiculous. He is liable for statements about past chief, using fire equipment to pick up furniture, etc.
What have you got against the men/women who fight what you and other people fear!!!
You forgot to mention how expensive that furniture is... Oh and that the new chief was a junior firefighter just prior to getting promoted to chief 5 weeks ago.
Didn't the present fire chief press the municipality for the job over two years ago, seeing while his buddies on the West side of town controlled the rec room at the fire hall?
Does the present fire chief even know how to run an emergency operation? I heard he decided to spend most of the funds on softball uniforms and new pagers in order to spread the wealth to the local community. And noe the chief wants to negotiate with a group of arsonists?
At least the old chief had our town's safety in mind.
e - I don't think the fire chief ever took the county firefighting training courses in his two years in the department!
This post has been removed by the author.
bob - I would think that the former chief was atttempting to install more smoke detectors in those older and more commonly avoided homes so that major fires (You know, the chemical/asbestos related ones) never destroy the neighborhood. After all, the neighborhood doesn't want to resemble Centralia, PA (Or Siberia, or Hiroshima).
(I deleted the comment above to 'tweak' my grammar and spelling - this is a 'corrected' repost. Please don't accuse me of any 'show me your tax returns' conspiracies...)
Steve - Good to hear from you. I was starting to feel like the Maytag repairman.
Back to business. The old chief was an arsonist. Here's why. He didn't like the old neighbors, so he burnt their house down. And it's no secret. He did it in broad daylight! When asked why he did it, he kept changing his story. And of course he didn't plan on killing so many of his neighbors. Or so many firemen for that matter. And he didn't expect the fire to get so out of control. He knew how to start a fire, but he never took the time to come up with a plan for putting the fire out. Doesn't say much for his ability as a fire chief, does it?
bob - you talking about the fire with the residents on the block resembling the MOVE group? Seems like the old chief was settling a situation that was troublesome over there since the Rizzo era - yet it was avoided for all that time. Its too bad that house was also loaded with asbestos and lead paint adding fuel to the fire.
If you didn't like the fire chief, then why replace him with a kid who hasn't taken the county training? I doubt he even has the license to drive the big truck out on the street without damaging it!
Here we go back to the old chief again... Forget about the old chief. He's gone. No matter what the old chief did or did not do, there is a house on fire right now and the new chief is dropping the ball big time. He's your guy and you picked the wrong guy to handle this job. That is why you keep trying to remind everyone that the old chief was a bad chief in your opinion. You should be so critical of the new guy!
I knew someone was going to read into this the wrong way and think you were picking on firemen...
Steve - Thanks for that one. Im sure we all remember the Move situation as one of our cities finest moments. If you are comparing Bush's war in Iraq to the fire bombing of the Move compound, I think you might be on to something.
the current chief has been petitioning for his title for two years now - let him handle the brunt of responsibility!
I'll never forget the image of a helicopter dropping a 'bag' on top of the house at osage ave. still crazy to remember it so vividly after all these years.
e - You said "Forget about the old chief." Tell Gil that. He's the one who brought it up again.
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