Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vote for Alex!

SFD Fire Equipment Operator Alex Mickschl entered a contest to become the next voice of Sparky the Fire Dog. Amazingly, Alex was selected as one of three national finalists. The winner will be determined by online voting between today and Friday. If Alex is selected, the SFD will receive public education materials from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) at NO COST. Because of the limited amount of time for voting, we could really use your help.



This week you, your friends and family can vote for their favorite. YOU CAN VOTE ONCE EACH DAY. We are asking for your support tp help us receive much needed public education materials. Visit the link below and cast your vote for Alex.





http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/93168/voteable_entries?view_entries=1

Fire Press Release

ISSUING OFFICER: Battalion Chief Jones
DATE OF INCIDENT: 2/23/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 3425 W. Olympic Place
CITY: Spokane
STATE: Wa
ZIP: 99205

NARRATIVE: On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, at 1:53 A.M. the Spokane Fire Department responded to a report of a structure fire at 3425 W. Olympic Place. Eight fire apparatus under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Jones and Green responded to this location. This response included 3 engine companies, 1 heavy rescue, 2 ladder trucks, and 2 vehicles. Command engine 16 was first on scene and reported a single-family structure with light smoke showing from side Alpha. They also reported the residents of the structure were accounted for and located on the sidewalk in front of the residence. Fire crews from Engine 16 and Pumper Ladder Truck 13, responding from their neighborhood stations, quickly knocked down the fire that was located in the wall above the fireplace and checked for fire extension into the attic. Other apparatus on scene were assigned to various duties such as Safety, RIT, Water Supply, Search, and Ventilation. There were no injuries to civilians or Fire Fighters on this response.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Cause of this fire was determined to be a defective fireplace.
DAMAGE EXTENT: Wall above fireplace.
DOLLAR LOSS: 4,000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 22
MUTUAL AID: None Given

For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com

END OF RELEASE

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Fire Press Release

ISSUING OFFICER: Bob Green/Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 2/20/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 1910 W Bridge
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99201

NARRATIVE: The Spokane City Fire Dept. dispatched fire fighting crews and their fire apparatus to 1910 W. Bridge at 20:04 hrs. on Sunday, February 20th, 2011, for a reported structure fire. The first arriving fire companies, E4 and L4 from the Browne's Addition neighborhood Fire Station, reported heavy fire showing from a second floor window of a 2 story wood/frame residence at the very front of the building. The crew of E4 quickly donned their Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and immediately went to the front door with a charged hose lead and proceeded to force entry into the locked structure. Once inside they made their way to the interior stairway and up the stairs to the second floor where they encountered the hot and rapidly growing fire that by now was burning freely in a large open room. As they were putting water on the fire upstairs, other arriving crews were outside laddering the building and scaling the sharply sloped roof in order to cut a hole over where the main body of fire was burning to allow the pent-up heat and toxic gases to vent into the cold night air. Additional hose lines were stretched into the building to provide protection for the initial interior attack crew and to assist in the actual extinguishment of the fire. Other fire crews were searching the interior of the structure and to everyone's relief those crews reported that the house was vacant and that it appeared to be in the process of being remodeled. Still other crews were sent inside the building to pull the ceilings on the second floor to get access to the fire that had spread into the attic space between the second floor ceiling and the underside of the roof. All of these necessary and well-coordinated efforts came together and achieved a fairly rapid knock-down of this fire. There were no reports of any serious injuries to any of the fire fighters at the scene. The fire was contained to the second floor, to the attic space, and to some of the structural members of the roof. The cause of this fire is currently being investigated by the Spokane Fire Department's Special Investigation Unit. Fire crews were kept on scene all through the night on "fire watch" to keep an eye on the scene until the investigators could take a look at the structure in the light of day. 33 fire fighters arrived at this fire on 9 pieces of fire fighting apparatus including 5 engines, 2 senior ladder trucks, 1 pumper-ladder truck, 1 heavy rescue apparatus, and 2 command vehicles.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Under investigation.
DAMAGE EXTENT: Heavy fire damage to the second floor, the attic space, and to some of the structural components of the roof system.
DOLLAR LOSS: 30,000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 33
MUTUAL AID: None Given

For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com

END OF RELEASE

worker solidarity rally

Spokane, WA
Friday, February 25 . 4:30pm-5:30pm. Corner of Ruby, Division and North River Drive in front of Wendy’s Restaurant

People from all over the world are helping feed union demonstrators in Madison!

From Cairo to Madison, some pizza

By MEREDITH SHINER | 2/20/11 4:05 PM EST

MADISON, Wis. — Someone in Egypt has been paying attention to what’s happening in Madison and wanted to send a message of solidarity from across the globe — so they ordered a pizza.

It might seem like a small gesture, but it’s overwhelming to the staff at Ian’s on State Street — a campus staple mere blocks from the Capitol — where in the last few days, they’ve fielded calls from concerned citizens of 14 countries, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia looking to donate money to provide free pizza to the Wisconsinites who have congregated here.

On Saturday alone, Ian’s gave away 1,057 free slices in their store and delivered more than 300 pizzas to the Capitol itself.

By 2 p.m. local time Sunday, they’d given away 351 slices and sent countless other full pies to the rotunda, where protesters have been gathering since well before noon. As a few locals stood waiting for their slices, an Ian’s staffer went to the chalkboard hanging behind the register and wrote, “Turkey” in big block letters and co-workers expressed a sense of disbelief.

“I don’t think we started it,” said Ryan O’Connor, a sophomore at a local technical school who works the register at Ian’s. “We made a post to our Facebook page because of the volume of calls we already had been getting unprompted.”

O’Connor said Ian’s got its first call Thursday when a mother of a University of Wisconsin student called and offered to donate $200 to help feed the people her daughter told her had flooded the Capitol. Since then, the outpouring of money from all over the world has put the pizza-makers into overdrive.

The blackboard behind the counter lists the “countries donating” as “Korea, Finland, New Zealand, Egypt, Denmark, Australia, US, Canada, Germany, China, England, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy” and has the abbreviations for all 50 states listed below, with donating states circled.

The small pizza chain with locations in Madison and Chicago has been using Facebook and Twitter to take what started as one phone call and make it into an international movement. Saturday night, the State Street location was so overwhelmed by orders it had to cease its delivery operations. But employees still are finding time to update the restaurant’s social media pages to keep the pizza revolution going and share with the world their chalkboard progress.

“This is astounding!” Ian’s posted Saturday to Twitter.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49888.html#ixzz1Ei2sLPN0