Don't forget - Rally Today!

Corner of Ruby, Division and N. River Drive

We Are Wisconsin from Finn Ryan on Vimeo.

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

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

IAFF Pension Infomercial

Wisconsin workers protest Tea Party governor's attempt to scrap collective bargaining.

Click on the title above or here for coverage on this. You probably won't hear much about it from the corporate news media.

The same people that we bailed out, the same people who created such economic woes for states are now owning the people running some of of the states. They are taking the money we gave them to fund a fight against us. Organized labor has always been the enemy to these folks. They used their tax breaks in the 1980s to destroy organized labor in the private workforce by moving jobs to China. Now they are using the windfall we gave them to destroy organized labor in the public sector. Wisconsin is the birthplace of collective bargaining. There is little doubt that we could be facing the same battle here.

These folks will not be happy until all workers are little more than slaves. And in many states, they have bought themselves a government to make it happen. This IAFF spot says it best:

Happy 46th Anniversary, Jack!

Jack Greenamyer's 46th SFD anniversary is today. Congrats Jack!

Ed Schultz stands up for firefighters.

Fire Press Release

ISSUING OFFICER: Battalion Chief Clive Jones
DATE OF INCIDENT: 2/6/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 15 Wast Cortland
CITY: Spokane
STATE: Wa
ZIP: 99205

NARRATIVE: On Sunday February 6th, 2011 at16:35 hours the Spokane Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 15 West Courtland. The Spokane Fire Department responded two senior ladders, two engine companies, one pumper ladder, and one heavy rescue unit along with two Battalion Chiefs. The first arriving apparatus was SL2 and reported light smoke showing on the back side of the structure. SL2 entered the structure and quickly located the cause which was a small attic fire. It was extinguished with a hose lead from SE3. PL13 along with SL2 pulled ceiling to expose any areas where the fire may have extended. No extension of the fire was found, and all fire companies were returned in service.

PROBABLE CAUSE: At this time, the cause is under investigation by the Spokane Fire Departments Special Investigation Unit.
DAMAGE EXTENT: The structure suffered a loss of $4,000 in damages.
DOLLAR LOSS: 4,000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 23
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

New Post on "Local 29 Unfiltered."

Under Members' only. 2011 WSCFF Legislative Conference. Also sent to your personal emails.

New model for curtailing ER transports and visits?

We are at the front lines of providing health care for some of the poorest and sickest people in Spokane. We know there has to be a better way to help someone who has had a cold for three days then having them call 9-1-1 to secure ambulance transport to the ER.

Sometimes we might think we are alone in facing this predicament, but communities all over our nation are seeing the same thing. In Camden NJ, studies showed that one percent of the population was responsible for 30% of medical costs. This article in the New Yorker tells the stories of physicians and other health care professionals who are tackling the problem. Some of the conclusions they have come to are counter-intuitive, but seem to work.

From health coaches and teaching people how to cook their own meals to institutionalizing patients unable to care for themselves, the responses to the problem are diverse. Here are a few tidbits, if you don't have time to read the story:

Brenner and his team are out there on the boulevards of Camden demonstrating the possibilities of a strange new approach to health care: to look for the most expensive patients in the system and then direct resources and brainpower toward helping them.

“Take two ten-year-old boys with asthma,” he said. “From a disease standpoint, they’re exactly the same cost, right? Wrong. Imagine one of those kids never fills his inhalers and has been in urgent care with asthma attacks three times over the last year, probably because Mom and Dad aren’t really on top of it.” That’s the sort of patient Gunn uses his company’s medical-intelligence software program to zero in on—a patient who is sick and getting inadequate care. “That’s really the sweet spot for preventive care,” Gunn said.

The critical flaw in our health-care system that people like Gunn and Brenner are finding is that it was never designed for the kind of patients who incur the highest costs.

For a pedestrian hit by a minivan, there’s nowhere better than an emergency room. But these institutions are vastly inadequate for people with complex problems: the forty-year-old with drug and alcohol addiction; the eighty-four-year-old with advanced Alzheimer’s disease and a pneumonia; the sixty-year-old with heart failure, obesity, gout, a bad memory for his eleven medications, and half a dozen specialists recommending different tests and procedures. It’s like arriving at a major construction project with nothing but a screwdriver and a crane.

The Hot Spotters

Can we lower medical costs by giving the neediest patients better care?

by Atul Gawand

2011 IAFF ALTS G.P. Schaitberger Address

A glimpse into some of the challenges and threats that loom ahead!

New "Members Only" Section on Local 29 website.

There is a new section on our website called LOCAL 29 UNFILTERED. You can think of it as a holding pen for possible upcoming WORKER articles. Unfiltered and unedited, you can read most of the newsletter now, weeks before the "polished" article appears in the newsletter. A lot of the stuff (like the newsletter) is probably only going to interest Local 29 members, so it's under the Members Only section.

Bridget Luby has written a great article on The Attic Gym and her experience with Crossfit. Check it out!

Fire Press Release

ISSUING OFFICER: Bill Donahoe Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 1/23/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 3315 South Fiske
CITY: Spokane
STATE: Wa
ZIP: 99223

NARRATIVE: On Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 at 21:10, the Spokane Fire Dept responded one senior ladder, three engine companies, one pumper ladder and one heavy rescue along with two Battalion Chiefs to a reported structure fire at 3315 South Fiske Street. The first arriving engine company from Station 14 in the Lincon Heights neighborhood arrived on scene and reported a single family split level home with smoke showing out of the front door. Engine 14 then reported that all of the occupants were out of the home and accounted for. They then advanced a hose lead into the basement and made a quick attack on the fire. The additional crews searched for extension of the fire and ventilated the structure. The five occupants are displaced until the fire and smoke damage can be rectified

PROBABLE CAUSE: The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Special Investigation Unit of the Spokane Fire Department.

DAMAGE EXTENT: The structure sustained fire damage to the basement and smoke damage throughout the building.
DOLLAR LOSS: 15,000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 21
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

Wacky Letter to the Editor Last Week and a response which the Spokesman-Review wouldn't print.

The Letter:

Pass the Boot

The next time I am hung up at an intersection by Spokane’s firefighters during their “Pass the Boot Campaign,” I will remember your Jan. 9 story by Jonathan Brunt.

These (sic) civil servants need the “Boot,” they shouldn’t be having their underlings passing it to us looking for handouts.

This disgraceful situation is befitting of Bell, Calif., not Spokane. I can’t think of one reason why we need these individuals. We can’t afford them. Perhaps we should become the largest city in America with a volunteer fire department. Our insurance rates wouldn’t increase more than we are being taken for by these (sic) chiefs.

Bart Needham

Spokane

The unprinted response:

Sheesh

Bart Needham, in a January 16th letter to the editor, begins his anti-firefighter prose by implying that the “Pass the Boot Campaign” is a vehicle for Spokane’s firefighters to collect money to give to Spokane’s fire chiefs. Actually, the event is called “Fill the Boot” and the money collected from thousands of very kind motorists goes to help local children suffering from muscular dystrophy.

The remainder of his screed continues and concludes with the same degree of bias and inaccuracy.

John Griffith

Spokane

Fire Press Release Two Fer

ISSUING OFFICER: Dave Haworth/Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 1/15/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 1107 W Fredrick Ave
CITY: Spokane
STATE: Wa
ZIP: 99205

NARRATIVE: On Jan 15, at 12:39 AM, the Spokane Fire Department responded 3 engines, 1 senior ladder, 1 pumper-ladder, 1 heavy rescue, and 2 battalion chiefs to a reported structure fire at 1107 W Fredrick. The calling party had reported he had a kitchen fire and the house was rapidly filling with smoke. PL13, which is located in the North Hill neighborhood, arrived within 4 minutes and reported smoke coming from the single family residence. PL13 quickly advanced a preconnected hose line off their apparatus and attacked the kitchen fire. Other companies arrived, and after confirming all occupants were out of the structure, began efforts to remove the smoke and check to see if the fire had extended into the attic. Their coordinated efforts kept the fire confined to the kitchen which sustained heavy damage with smoke damage throughout the rest of the residence. The tenent will be staying with relatives.There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Unattended cooking on the stove
DAMAGE EXTENT: The kitchen sustained heavy damage with smoke damage throughout the residence.
DOLLAR LOSS: 10000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 21
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

ISSUING OFFICER: Craig Cornelius / Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 1/10/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 606 S. Scott
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99201

NARRATIVE: On Sunday January 9th, 2011 at 22:46 hours the Spokane Fire Department responded to a house fire located at 606 S. Scott St. The first crews on the scene were from fire station 7 located at 1st and Magnolia. E7 reported a 1 ½ story wood frame residential with noting showing. Crews found a smoldering fire in one of the interior walls. The fire was quickly extinguished and confined to the wall of origin. The fire appears to have been caused by an overloaded electrical wire. There were no reported injuries at this incident.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Electrical
DAMAGE EXTENT: One interior wall and electrical service.
DOLLAR LOSS: 1800
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 23
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

Fire Press Release Two Fer

ISSUING OFFICER: Craig Cornelius / Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 1/10/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 606 S. Scott
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99201

NARRATIVE: On Sunday January 9th, 2011 at 22:46 hours the Spokane Fire Department responded to a house fire located at 606 S. Scott St. The first crews on the scene were from fire station 7 located at 1st and Magnolia. E7 reported a 1 ½ story wood frame residential with noting showing. Crews found a smoldering fire in one of the interior walls. The fire was quickly extinguished and confined to the wall of origin. The fire appears to have been caused by an overloaded electrical wire. There were no reported injuries at this incident.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Electrical
DAMAGE EXTENT: One interior wall and electrical service.
DOLLAR LOSS: 1800
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 23
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

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

ISSUING OFFICER: Joel Fielder/ Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 1/4/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 2428 North Hogan
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP:

NARRATIVE: On Tuesday January 4, 2011 the Spokane Fire Department responded at approximately 8:49 PM to 2428 N. Hogan on a reported structure fire. The first crew on-scene reported smoke coming from the eaves and fire showing from a window on the 2nd floor of a 1-1/2-story, wood framed house. An aggressive interior attack by on scene fire crews confined the majority of the fire to the upstairs bedroom. The fire was brought under control within 20 minutes and there were no reported injuries to firefighters. One civilian was transported to a local hospital with smoke inhalation and minor burns to her hand.

PROBABLE CAUSE: The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Spokane Fire Department's Special Investigation Unit. Preliminary investigation indicates the fire may have been started by a 5 year old boy playing with an unattended candle. Further investigation is needed.

The Spokane Fire Department would like to stress the importance of having properly working smoke detectors through-out your house. Early fire detection is one of the key factors for life safety.
DAMAGE EXTENT: Fire and smoke damage was confined to the upstairs bedroom and living area
DOLLAR LOSS: 15000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 27
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

E-Board Election Results

Congrats to Thad Frater and Jason Archibald for their reelection/election to the Local 29 E-Board. For specifics, check your e-mail.