What is going on in CT?

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

The map I have has CT very close to RI. Are the memories that short?




Mass. hot over Conn. fire department's fireworks sale

Copyright 2003 Boston Herald Inc.
The Boston Herald
July 1, 2003 Tuesday ALL EDITIONS

In a scathing letter, the state fire marshal blasted a Connecticut fire chief for "endangering" lives and asked him to "rethink" selling fireworks as a fund-raiser - a position wholeheartedly backed by the Connecticut state fire marshal.
"It's like a police department going out there and getting a license to sell bullets.

It's a legal item, but from a public safety standpoint is it ethical? No," said Connecticut State Fire Marshal John Blaschik, who hopes to suspend the sales.
The Quinebaug, Conn., fire department began selling sparklers and rockets last Tuesday, outraging Bay State fire departments near the state line. The Class C fireworks are legal in Connecticut, but forbidden in Massachusetts.

"Selling a product that causes thousands of fires each year in this country is offensive to the members of this nation's fire service," Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen Coan wrote in the June 27 letter. "Your fire department's action frankly defies comprehension."

Fire Chief Joseph Donovan - who called the fireworks safe when used properly by adults - said the fund-raiser, boosted by the controversy, will go on indefinitely.

[dfdex1]

I didnt know Barid had cousins.

[nmfire]

I'll be in a corner pretending I don't live in this state once again...

[firenresq77]

I guess they must feel like they have to provide their own job security........

[NJFFSA16]

Fire Chief Joseph Donovan - who called the fireworks safe when used properly by adults - said the fund-raiser, boosted by the controversy, will go on indefinitely.

That may be true Chief.....but what happens when the unsupervised kids get a hold of them? I didn't have to look far for an answer.

Three teenagers had been arrested and accused of setting the first of the two fires that burned along the Rio Grande this past week.

Investigators said that fire, estimated at 75 percent contained, was started by a firecracker tossed into a pile of the cottony seed fibers from cottonwood trees. It burned 352 acres Tuesday and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people as it raced north through the heavily wooded river bottom area.

Chief Donovan...do the right thing...the ethical thing. Stop the sales.

[E229Lt]

Donovan acknowledges they can cause a fire.
"Anything with a spark can cause a fire," Donovan said. "But in 45 years, I've never been to a fire caused by fireworks."

Where has this guy been fighting fires, Atlantis?

"I suppose we could stop selling to them, but we'd probably lose 50 percent of our sales."

A math wiz also! I haven't heard a quote like this since Yogi Berra.

"We sell to people 18 years of age - they should be responsible adults. The directions are right on the package."

If it's dark, just use a match to read the directions.

Donovan downplayed the danger of the Class C fireworks they are selling, arguing that that they are mostly sparklers and ground display fireworks, not firecrackers, roman candles, and bottle rockets.

A recent study found that kids 5 and under, account for almost 70 percent of sparkler injuries. Firework injuries last year fell to the lowest figure for six years in all categories except sparkler injuries, which continued to rise. Sparklers accounted for nearly a quarter of firework related injuries requiring hospital treatment last year and half these victims were children. The heat from sparklers is greater than that given out by chip pans, irons or barbecues.

Donovan describes the fountain fireworks as fountains of sparks that crackle or whistle. The sparks are different colors and, while the fireworks themselves are stationary, the sparks can go as high as 6 feet into the air and spread as far as 4 feet across.

These are so safe the band "Great White" uses them at their shows. Of course, one minor mishap did cause the death of 99 people!!!!

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

It's a pretty sad day when a local fire department ignores just about every national safety organization, physicians groups et al, and SELLS fireworks. I am at work today. I fully expect to respond to some type of fireworks incident. It happens just about every year. Fires, EMS, something. A neighboring department yesterday had a hell of a fire that damaged THREE homes... Caused by ..ta da SPARKLERS.

[Dalmatian90]

Recto-cranial inversion?

I took a long, scenic way home Tuesday and my jaw nearly hit the floorboards when I saw Quinebaug! There's other departments in the area I could see doing it, but Quinebaug has a pretty level headed reputation.

To understand part of why this is really torking off Massachusetts, Quinebaug is right on the state line on Route 131 -- going between the adjacent towns of Dudley and Southbridge, MA, Route 131 dips into Connecticut for a couple miles. I was talking to one of my co-workers yesterday, and they said when they at both points 131 re-enters Mass, State Troopers where there with piles of confiscated fireworks sitting on the shoulder of the road.

Probably like beer in the firehouses...you may enjoy a cold one at home on the porch, but it's not a good image drinking one out in front of the firehouse!

[Dalmatian90]

By the way, link to a better/longer article in the local paper:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/stories/20030702/localnews/576860.html

[NJFFSA16]

From NFPA.org


Fireworks facts and figures

FACT: In 1999, an estimated 24,200 fires involving fireworks were reported to fire departments. There was $17.2 million in direct property damage as a result of these fires. Fireworks-related fires have typically caused at least $15-$20 million in property loss (not adjusted for inflation) each year in the past decade.

FACT: Most fireworks-related injuries do not involve fires that are reported to fire departments. In 1999, an estimated 55 civilians were injured in reported fires caused by fireworks, but fireworks-related injuries reported to hospital emergency rooms alone totaled 8,500 the same year.

FACT: On a typical 4th of July, fireworks cause more fires in the U.S. than all other causes combined. But because most people encounter the risk of fireworks once a year, many Americans do not realize how great that risk is.

"But in 45 years, I've never been to a fire caused by fireworks."

Yeah....and in 35 years, I've never been to a wildfire caused by matches.

The man has obviously been living on another planet. He is a disgrace to the Fire Service.

NFPA Fact Sheets on Fireworks

[dfdex1]

Truck loaded with fireworks explodes near southwest Florida beach;at least four dead

By MITCH STACY

Associated

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. - A tractor-trailer filled with fireworks for the town's Fourth of July celebration exploded as workers unloaded the truck yesterday, unleashing several thunderous blasts that shot colorful flames into the sky. At least four people were killed and two were injured.

"It just all happened at once," said Kevin McKenzie, who was mowing grass near the truck when it blew up. "Immediately it was all the fireworks going off with all the colors and the flames."

Bonita Springs City Manager Gary Price said the blast happened at 2:10 p.m. as workers were transferring part of the load of fireworks to another truck for a display in nearby East Naples.

"In the process of transferring, breaking down the load, putting part of it on another truck, something set it off and the whole truck blew up," Price said.

The blast occurred on a tip of vacant land at a state park in Bonita Springs, a city of about 30,000 near the Gulf of Mexico between Fort Myers and Naples.

Mary Mike Dearden, an employee of the Lover's Key Beach Club and Resort, said she felt the earth shake. Guests at the resort saw smoke and heard explosions from the park, located less than a mile from the resort building.

"At the front desk we heard the explosion starting like a clap of thunder and then it kept rolling," she said. "As it rolled on it felt like a jet breaking the sound barrier, but it kept going and we knew it was something else."

Hours after the blast, smoke rose from a blackened pine tree and the charred remains of the two trucks, which had been parked back-to-back. A pickup truck that was parked a short distance away was also burned.

The blast left two people injured, including a man in critical condition who was transferred from the trauma unit of Lee Memorial Hospital to a Tampa hospital, said Alex Reichart, an administrative supervisor with Lee Memorial Health Systems. A woman was listed in good condition at Memorial's HealthPark campus, he said.

The bodies remained at the scene overnight because authorities were concerned about the safety of the area and did not know whether all of the fireworks had detonated, said Lee County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Michael Maschmeier.

"Right now it's still a dangerous situation," Maschmeier said.

The state fire marshal's office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were handling the investigation.

The fireworks were from Sunset Fireworks of Dittmer, Mo. A person who answered the phone at the company's main office said officials were on their way to the scene from Missouri.

Price said the company had orchestrated the city's fireworks display last year and shot off the fireworks from a barge. The city spent $20,000 for a planned 30-minute show this year, he said.

"It's just hard to believe," Price said. "The event you're setting up for everybody's enjoyment to celebrate our anniversary of our country results in such tragedies. It's just hard to believe."

Lisa Douglass, a past president of the Naples Jaycees, said the civic organization had worked with the company for four years.

"These people that we've lost today are people that we've grown close to," Douglass said. "They put on the best fireworks display, in my opinion, that I've ever seen."

According to the company's Web site, Sunset Fireworks has been in the pyrotechnics business for more than 40 years and provided fireworks for organizations including Walt Disney World, Six Flags Theme Parks, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The company was sued in February by two workers who were injured in explosions that killed two others at a suburban St. Louis fireworks plant in November 1999.

[EFD840]

"But in 45 years, I've never been to a fire caused by fireworks."

Funny, we average about 7 a year. Then again I've only been a firefighter for 6 years and this is Alabama...