They found their brother.

The body of a Glasgow, WV firefighter was located just after noon on Friday, following nearly a week of searching after he was swept away while attempting a water rescue in Raleigh County.

Donald “Donnie” Adkins, 32, was in a rescue boat with Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marty Blankenship and another firefighter near Beaver when the boat tipped over about at about 1:30 a.m. last Saturday.

A freak rainstorm had inundated the area last weekend, forcing numerous residents to be rescued from their attics and trees near their homes. Flood waters were so high that rescuers were forced to cut through utility lines in order to affect many of the rescues, according to Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper.

Donald “Donnie” Adkins with his sister Renee Coleman, in a photo submitted by the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department.

“It is with deep sadness that we accept the loss of Glasgow Firefighter Donald Adkins,” Carper said in a news release. “While Kanawha County mourns this loss, we respect Donald’s bravery and sacrifice. I also wish to commend the hundreds of volunteers throughout the state, including the State Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis, countless firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, the National Guard and the hundreds of other volunteers who risked their own personal safety in this selfless act of recovery of Donald Adkins who was recovered in Piney Creek, about 4.5 miles from where the boat capsized on Beaver Creek this past Saturday.”

Kanawha County Fire Coordinator C.W. Sigman said for several days this week, there were close to 100 people searching the Gauley River and its tributaries in an attempt to locate and recover Donnie Adkins.

Sigman led the search team that located the body. “He’s downstream in a pile of brush. They’re trying to get him out with chainsaws. There’s a lot of huge brush and tree limbs to cut through to get access to him.”

“It’s in a very inaccessible spot. It’s hard to get to when the water was up,” Sigman said. “When the water went down, it looked like a likely spot, and there he was.”

From the Charleston Gazette:

Adkins was with the Glasgow department for about three years and was a firefighter in Rand before that, Blankenship said.

He had two children and was also like a father to his girlfriend’s daughter, Blankenship said. All are between the ages of 5 and 8, he said.

Adkins had lost his job March 12, the day before he lost his life.

“Donnie was a very loved individual,” Blankenship said. “He was just a good all-around person.”

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said he wanted to commend all of the firefighters and other rescuers who helped with the search, as well as Gov. Joe Manchin, who also lent his support.

“While Kanawha County morns this loss, we respect Donald’s bravery and sacrifice,” Carper said. “We should be reminded that these individuals put their own personal safety on the line each and every day to protect us all.”

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Posted in Brotherhood, In the Line of Duty, LODD, Line of Duty, News, Rescues, Special Operations

Posted by John Mitchell on March 20, 2010 • Comments

Volunteers in the Volunteer State asked to volunteer even more.

There are so many things wrong with this story found in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

First, many of the Volunteer State’s volunteers have yet to attain a measly 65 hours of training, even after being full-fledged firefighters for over five years!

Now, the state legislature is now mandating that these local heroes attend the fire training center in Bell Buckle, TN.

Then there’s this: the cost is about $1,500, and firefighters must take the course on their own time and at their own expense (their departments cannot/will not pay for it)!

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

“They (Tennessee state legislature) just keep handing these mandates down and sending me these books telling me what my guys are going to have to do,” Kimball Fire Chief Jeff Keef said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Chief Keef said 78 percent of Tennessee firefighters are volunteers. He fears that the mandate will force rural fire departments to close because their volunteers can’t afford the required training.

I understand that fear. Here’s another:

The astonishing number of sub-trained firefighters allowed to assume the liability and responsibility to perform the highly-skilled and potentially life-threatening duties without the most basic training and without the financial backing of their departments and their taxpayers.

How much does a firefighter’s funeral cost the taxpayers?

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Posted by John Mitchell on March 18, 2010 • Comments

A St. Patrick’s Day Salute to CFD Chief Eddie Enright

When I think of St. Patrick’s Day and the fire service, many things come to mind. One of those thoughts bubbling up to the surface brings a smile to my face every time. Indulge me with a re-post recognizing the value an experienced veteran with the right approach can bring to all of us, young and old.

With that perspective, I offer up a special note to third-generation firefighter retired Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Eddie Enright who has over 38 years of duty having been assigned to engine, truck, and squad companies after serving his country in Vietnam. As he would say:

“Only 0 more days til St. Patrick’s Day”

* * * * *

Over the years, I’ve attended a boatload of fire training classes which emphasized leadership, training, and safety. Most were team-taught. A primary instructor would be there periodically, accompanied by a great group of “assisting instructors” who would each bring a certain level of expertise to the specific topic at hand.

There were lesson plans to be followed, objectives to be addressed and met, and the test to prove that learning had occurred. It’s a method of learning quite familiar with firefighters worldwide.

But sometimes, the Fire Gods might truly smile down upon you and bless you.

As you’re sitting in the classroom waiting for the course to begin, you wonder where all the instructors went. Just then, you hear guffaws of laughter just out of sight (probably damn near the coffee and doughnuts). What’s going on?

“Da Chief” is in the building.

Not necessarily the current department chief, but certainly a chief nonetheless.

He’s been around for decades and he’s seen it all. He rose up through the ranks and gained the respect from his peers the old-fashioned way. “Da Chief” earned it.

He knows how to handle the pick-head ax just as well as how to handle the politicians. He knows BS when he sees it and he doesn’t hesitate to call it out.

Just like Underdog, he is humble and loveable. He listens to everyone’s views and becomes E.F. Hutton: When “Da Chief” begins to speak- everyone listens.

Down to earth. Real.

When you are blessed with the presence of this special guy, drop everything you are doing and be near him. Hear what he has to say. Drink it all in.

Not only do you learn from his experience and wisdom, but, more importantly, from the way he relates to those around him. He does not condescend to the rookies; he gives no guff to those with whom he may disagree. He is compassionate and concerned. His smile is contagious and his love of the fire service is completely evident. He fills you with motivation and oozes tradition.

While reading this, do I have you thinking about someone you know that could be like “Da Chief”? If so, make it a point to get him to engage with you and your group. Buy him a beer after class.

It will be the best time you can spend in any fire service training session.

WordPress Tags: IFSI,Enright,leadership,wisdom,motivation,tradition,Chicago,Eddie

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Posted in Administration & Leadership, Chicagoland, In Da House, Just For Fun, Leadership

Tagged Chicago Fire Department, eddie enright, IFSI, Leadership, mentoring

Posted by John Mitchell on March 17, 2010 • Comments

TMI: Are we creating distracted drivers in our apparatus?

I saw this bumper sticker while speeding down the Northwest Tollway on my way home from O’Hare the other day. I knew I had to have one.

So I whipped out my iPhone and went to “store”.

I searched for, located, then downloaded the iPhone app that connects me directly with eBay. After logging in with my username and password “eastcoaster”, I simply typed in “h-a-n-g-_-u-p-_-a-n-d-_-d-r-i-v-e” in the search box.

As usual, I had to backspace a few times to get the correct term typed in, but I eventually persevered. Alas, too many results came up.

Blowing past Elmhurst Rd, I tried again, this time typing in “h-a-n-g-_-u-p-_-a-n-d-_-d-r-i-v-e–_-b-u-m-p-e-r-_-s-t-i-c-” before some jerk-off driving his wife’s mini-van while chatting away on his phone nearly cut me off before I could finish.

I quickly stashed my venti vanilla skim latte in its holder and simultaneously honked and waved with less fingers than my left hand contains, while clutching my iPhone in my right. What was this chucklehead thinking?

By the time I was ready to exit onto Barrington Road, I still hadn’t found what I was looking for on eBay. I was miffed until I realized how the trip down the tollway seemed to take no time at all. In fact, I couldn’t really remember driving it. What just happened for the last 20 minutes?

I decided to postpone my eBay search until I got home. It was time to pay some serious attention in case a deer decided to jump out in front of me. Gotta be extra alert out by me…

That’s one of my peeves, and I would bet many of you share it as well. It’s the self-important “distracted drivers” that piss me off as they try to multi-task while guiding a multi-ton vehicle hurtling down the road.

Losers.

The whole episode reminded me of a story I had seen in at NewYorkTimes.com, that addressed the increasing amount of gadgetry gradually accumulating in the cabs of emergency vehicles. In addition to the normal gauges, lights, dials, mirrors, radios, and sirens, more and more electronica is competing for our attention as we attempt to safely navigate our way through traffic as quickly and as safely as possible.

Like a litter of eleven puppies competing for six nipples, we’ve been inundated with computers, map routing and GPS devices, cell phones, and multiple radio frequencies- all looking for a spot in our collective cerebrums as we try to wrap our heads around pre-planning our first few steps upon arrival at the emergency scene.

I ask you this: How much is too much? When do WE cross the line and become just another distracted responder?

As the NYT article explains, there is no data currently being collected regarding accidents involving emergency responders distracted by TMI. But there are several anecdotes:

“Philip Macaluso, a New York paramedic, recalled a moment recently when he was rushing to the hospital while keying information into his dashboard computer. At the last second, he looked up from the control panel and slammed on his brakes to avoid a woman who stepped into the street.

In April 2008, an emergency medical technician in West Nyack, N.Y., looked at his GPS screen, swerved and hit a parked flatbed truck. The crash sheared off the side of the ambulance and left his partner, who was in the passenger seat, paralyzed.

In June 2007, a sheriff’s deputy in St. Clair County, Ill., was driving 35 miles per hour when a dispatcher radioed with an assignment. He entered the address into the mapping system and then looked up, too late to avoid hitting a sedan stopped in traffic. Its driver was seriously injured.”

Even my own friend and fellow podcaster Greg Friese was quoted in the article, citing his own experience in which he felt it necessary to demand the distracted driver of his ambulance to step away from his cell phone:

“My partner was checking baseball scores as he was driving a patient to the hospital. I looked through the passageway and said, ‘You’ve got to stop that right now,’ ” recalls Greg Friese, a paramedic in central Wisconsin, who was treating a patient in the back. Mr. Friese also develops online training programs for medics, E.M.T.’s, police officers and firefighters.

“We’re dealing with the carnage, which ranges from the trivial to the tragic, of distracted driving,” he said. “We should know better.”

Yes we should.

As we decide how to utilize the constant array of new technology, we need to address the amount of distraction we’re placing upon our responders. We need to recognize and accept that too much input may result in a decreased ability to process the information in a way that is useful. Worse yet, distracted emergency responders may bring increased civil and criminal liabilities upon our departments.

The last thing I need is another fire engine flying past me with a distracted driver while I’m trying to surf the web and revise my fantasy hockey roster.

Jerks.

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Posted in Change, News, Technology & Communications, WTF?, technology-communications-ems-topics

Tagged cell phone, distracted driver, eastcoaster, Greg Friese, hang up and drive, iphone, philip macaluso, puppies at a nipple, St. Clair County, there's an app for that, West Nyack

Posted by John Mitchell on March 12, 2010 • Comments

“I do not proposition women. I don’t have to. Women usually proposition me. God has blessed me like that.”- Chicago Fire Commissioner John Brooks.

Well, then.

I guess this is the type of egotistical and flippant response that is in order when accused with the rather serious charge of sexual harassment. Apparently, this is why we are supposed to believe that the allegations must be unfounded.

Just change the focus.

Then get out of Dodge for an “extended 30-day vacation.”

According to a report by the Chicago Sun Times, mayoral chief of staff Ray Orozco, a former fire commissioner himself, was described as livid about Brooks’ remarks. That leaves me wondering how the normally animated Mayor Richard Daley must have reacted.

When the mayor was repeatedly asked last week if Brooks still enjoys his confidence, Daley refused each time to say “yes”.

Oops.

Again, methinks Brooks is bestowed with enough confidence already.

From the exclusive report by staff reporters Fran Spielman and Frank Main, a payroll auditor for the Fire Department, Deidre Green, claims Brooks told her he “desired her in a sexual manner” and wanted to see her breasts, Green said. She claims that Brooks called her repeatedly and moved to lay her off when she refused his advances.

“He told me he liked me and to call him back, which I did,” she said.

But she said she didn’t like his attitude in later calls.

“He would say, ‘I am a breast man. I want a wild woman,’ ” Green claimed. “I said, ‘I don’t like this picture.’ He felt I was subordinate to him.”

If Brooks intended to help her professionally, he didn’t need to do it in late-night calls on his personal phone, Green said.

“Why would we talk at 11 o’clock at night? Why would I have his personal number? When things didn’t go his way, he got upset with me,” she said.

Green said they spoke a few more times on the phone before she confronted Brooks in the office, saying she heard he had a girlfriend.

“He said, ‘I saved your job.’ He said, ‘They want to get rid of you. I can hire you, and I can fire you, and you can sue to get your job back.’ “

The calls ended in October 2008, Green said, but she claims Brooks continued walking past her desk and making harassing comments.

As if that weren’t enough, also in hot water is the Commissioner of the Office of Compliance, Anthony Boswell, who is already serving a 30-day suspension for allegedly mishandling an intern’s sexual harassment claim against a 911 Center deputy. Boswell denies his guilt and is appealing the suspension.

Boswell, a friend of Brooks, is also accused by an unidentified source of trying to spike the investigation of Green’s claims, according to the Sun Times.

Methinks the self-professed well-endowed and God-blessed Brooks will have plenty of opportunity to fend off the women once the investigation by the city’s Office of Compliance has been completed and he finds his calendar wide open, unencumbered by the suffocation of the time constraints of any continued duties as fire commissioner.