ONE “HAT” TOO MANY……For The “Opening Act”….
It’s all in the delivery…”Jimmy.”..it’s all in the delivery….
A little pre- act set-up Dear Readers…As this writer sat waiting for the continuation of the 3/24/09 Commission meeting in Jarvis Hall on 3/25/09 at 3:30 in the afternoon……The Vice Mayor/VFD Deputy Chief McIntee came “barreling” in and told the Mayor about the “highrise fire” the VFD put out early that morning extolling the “scene”… ….He repeated the story to Commissioner Dodd…..of the “structure highrise fire”….
Commissioner Comments were up first ….
THE OPENING ACT-…BFF “Jimmy” Silverstone…(Warm em’ up Jimmy Boy)…
CS-“Thank you Mayor, I’m upset with Jerry McIntee. The Vice Mayor’s got me upset. At 5:30 this morning I was woken up. My fire beeper was going off and ah, on the beeper it said structure fire smoke showing, heavy smoke showing. I got out of bed, ran out the door, went to the station, threw the bunker gear on, got on the second truck, missed the first truck,got on the second truck. We had a fire this morning over at Sea Ranch Lakes, the condo all the way north on the 12th, 11th floor. And on the way there I listened to the radio and I hear the Vice Mayor’s voice on there saying he’s arrival and ah, heavy smoke showing. So I get there expecting to fight a fire and um, then I hear on the radio, fire out and I was like extremely upset with this um, I go up to the 11th floor and there’s Vice Mayor McIntee with a big smile on his face and I knew right away he put the fire out again. Um, it’s getting old Vice Mayor um, ah, I’m part of this fire department and ah, it seems every time that there’s a fire around here it gets put out before anything happens. Of course, I’m talking in jest…..”
BC-Quick somebody get the “hook” …..This one’s falling flat!…
Commissioner Silverstone went on to talk about the “pattern of dissent” that he hears “continuously” concerning the Vice Mayor and himself being VFD members…and like a kid stomping his foot …..(we’ve heard this same commentary many times before)…”Jimmy’s” not gonna play anymore!…He’s “not gonna pay attention to it anymore”…because unless “YOU” (dissenters) have been awakened at 5:30 in the morning..and gotten out of bed and gone where no man has gone before..(Sorry Readers, too much drama…the “gone where no man has gone before” was this writer’s attempt to add some “humor”)…back to “humorless”…just as we witnessed it….CS-“going out there putting out a fire”…”you can’t share that experience”…and “unless you give of yourself”…”You don’t have any say so.”…”You have not earned the right to,to oppose that unless you know what you’re talking about”…saying he is proud to be a volunteer firefighter..
BC- So There!…
THE “HEADLINER”…Vice Mayor/Deputy Chief McIntee…
VM-“Ah, Jimmy I gotta add something to the,to the fire this morning. Ah, I got there rather rapidly because I live around the corner and ah, people were just coming down the stairwells and the elevators ah, it’s a building that’s been around for quite a few years. There’s a major elderly content of residents and ah, when we made it up there I thought I was the first one up there, I thought. But to my surprise and ah, quite frankly I ah, impressed I was met at the 11th floor in heavy smoke conditions by a police officer. I believe his name was Jacobson, is that correct? And he had already started banging on doors and this was a fully charged hallway and that cop had a lot of guts and then we were able to locate the apartment where the fire was and the cop and I ah, were fortunate in to get in there and knock the fire down real fast. But the cop was there ahead of me and was doing a great job. I told the Lieutenant I want to make sure we write him up for the process and what he did. That’s way above their pay grade and ah, he deserves a lot of credit for it. So the fire was ah, in the bedroom, the guy was smoking in bed put his hand over the side of the bed and ignited the floor and materials on the floor and filled the place pretty heavily with smoke because it was carpet and rubber that was burning. The volunteers did a phenomenal job, ah, probably evacuated 50-100 people. The lobby was full of people. AMR set up ah, a recovery zone to treat anybody with any problems or any firemen. It was done in 40 minutes, up and down picked up and out of there. And as the volunteers were coming out all the people in the lobby applauded them. So it was a, it was a task that ah, they’ve been training for, for 9 months now now and they just hit it right on. So that’s what ah, I wanted to make sure that officer got the credit he deserved.”
ACT III….THE BSO INCIDENT REPORT….
This writer called for the incident BSO incident report on Thursday 3/26/09…it was ready a few hours later/ an e-mail to the VFD produced a response that it would be 10 business days ….Ah, showbiz!….
This report -Fire- report time 6:00/Dispatched 5:32/ arrived 5:32/cleared 6:30
The Narrative from BSO Officer Craig Jacobson- ‘On March 25.2009 at 5:32 hrs I was dispatched to a report of heavy smoke, possibly a residential fire located on the 11th floor of the Sea Ranch Lakes North Condo, 5200 North Ocean Blvd. in the Town of Lauderdale by the Sea.
Upon my arrival I met with the caller xxxx who was the overnight security officer. Mr. xxxx stated he smelled and observed heavy smoke on the 11th floor but could not find the origin of it. I made my way to the 11th floor and observed the smoke that he described. I assisted in evacuating some of the residents of the building leading them down the stairwell. Once I was able to make my way back down to the lobby I observed that Chief McIntee’s VFD vehicle was on scene. I was notified by Mr. xxxx that Chief McIntee had gone up to the 11th floor. Observing no fire apparatus on scene as of yet I went back to the 11th floor to assist Chief McIntee. I assisted Chief McIntee with the fire hose on the 11th floor and together we entered xxxx where the fire originated. I provided backup support to Chief McIntee on the hose until the fire was under control and extinguished.
The fire apparently started in the rear bedroom of unit xxxx. I spoke with xxx xxxx and he advised me that he was laying in bed smoking in his bedroom and thought he had an ashtray on the floor near his bed. He discarded his cigarette ashes into what he thought was an ashtray but was actually the carpet. Mr. xxxx stated he observed smoke and flames coming from his carpet and evacuated the apartment.
Sgt. Lagana was on scene and I reported to him that no injuries were sustained by any party involved. No residents of the building were displaced. LBTS # Engine 12.212,312, Squirt 12 responded to location.’
The report is unsigned…
BC- This fire was put out quickly, but some questions are being asked… Were the proper procedures followed by the VFD? “Chief” McIntee did not wait for backup from his “troops” in fighting the fire. The report does not describe whether “Chief” McIntee was in full gear including respirator protection in this “fully charged hallway”….This writer is told BSO Officer Jacobson has firefighting experience.The VFD incident report will be posted when received.
more to come…
Tags: BSO, LBTS Agendas/Meetings, Local Politics, Public Safety, Scoops, VFD
