Nobody was injured after a fire in the engine compartment of a Ford sub-compact Thursday afternoon. The fire was caused by a squirrel’s nesting material in the engine. The Norwalk Fire Department responded to the car fire in front of Burger King at the intersection of Republic Street and Milan Avenue at 5:33 p.m. Look for a story in Saturday's Reflector. These pictures were taken by reflector reader Doreen Shutt and staff photographer Jeff Van Natta.
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Interesting...One firefighter with all his turnout gear on and the other without at a fire! Looks like accident waiting to happen and the City of Norwalk Taxpayers will pay the price because obviously this firefighter does not take his personal protection seriously!! Really Norwalk Fire? And you want a new fire station, new equipment, and more manpower, and you don't even take safety to the fullest extent! Shame on you putting your own in harms way!! Not very professional here!! Looks like that is a firefighter by the name of Hillman if you cannot see if for yourself!
I will have to be honest.. I read your comment before I looked at the pictures, and honestly I was going to jump all over you for assuming that this firefighter was even on duty while only in minimal gear.. I assumed that I would look at the pictures and see one fireman in "street clothes" and i was going to say that he might have been off duty and heard the call, or been close by and stopped to, or rushed to the fire.... BUT I was wrong... you are completely correct in your evaluation .. I think that this fire fighter should be reprimanded for showing up without the correct fire fighting grear on.. if he had burned the lower part of his body, , that HE left unprotected, I would guess that the taxpayers would be footing the bill for his emergence room visit, and possibly hospital stay and recovery time.. and also being down one fire fighter who would no doubt still get paid while recovering from injuries that HE should have protected himself from... I think that it is clear that the "old timers" have the experience and dedication to do the job properly, Thank you Mr Eggleston, but again I do hope that this "younger" firefighter is made to learn a lesson by whatever serious means are available, before he sets the "new" standard.. and we have injured or fatally hurt fire fighters and citizens..
You two are idiots. Do you know all the facts leading up to this call? Or Mr. PublicSafety are you just bitter because you didn't get hired?
Mob - My thoughts exactly. No need to Monday morning quarterback when you have no idea of the circumstances. If you are so concerned about their safety, why don't you pay them a visit and share your concerns?
well, unlike you, I will not make it a personal attack.. (which is against the rules)..so I will just say that you must NOT have looked at the pictures provided.In the pictures , you can clearly see that one fire fighter is in his protective outfit, and therefore clearly obeying the safety requirements set in place.. and the other fire fighter is clearly only wearing the upper portion of his fire fighting outfit....so it doesn't really matter what the excuse for that is.. if you are not in the proper equipment, provided to the safety team by tax payers money, then you should NOT be fighting a fire.. The liability is too great to take that chance.. in my opinion..
Ok Swiss, you tell me. What are the safety requirements set in place for fire fighting outfits?
Maybe he was a part timer, in his car near the area with only part of his outfit. Who knows why, but here you go speculating again and trying to make a huge deal out of nothing. If he would have caught fire and burned himself then yeah....point taken, but he didnt, so lay off the keyboard zippy.
I agree with pubicsafety and swiss on this one.. WHY IS HE NOT wearing ALL his gear provided??? Under WHAT circumstances is this OK mr blaze and mob??? Please enlighten those of us who pay your salary! :)
When the firefighters, who are well trained, deem it safe, then it is o.k.
no matter how much training you get.. at the scene of an emergency (which is what a fire call usually is) the professionals should know that anything can happen, and to be prepared for the worst... That is why fire fighters are trained to arrive in full fire fighting gear , including the pants and boots..ALWAYS>>> because you never know how bad it might get, and how NOT being completely equipped to fight the fire safely might cause injury to anyone...that is their job, that is how they are trained.. he did NOT do as trained, and should be reprimanded.. in my opinion..
Oh Swiss...it is so nice that you just have such a great vast knowledge of everything so you can enlighten all of us simple minded people. Please tell us more. Like what kind of protection the pants would provide? They should be wearing these pants on all the EMS calls too since "you never know how bad it might get"? There are several instances where it might not be necessary to wear full gear and all I am saying is that, unless you know what the circumstances of this particular emergency was and when a firefighter should be in full gear, keep your mouth shut and don't try to make a trained professional look bad. Like arn said, if something bad did happen and OSHA came in and found fault in personal protective equipment, then you might have a valid argument.
I'm sure if you asked Contago, he'd say this is all Obama's fault. After the auto industry bailout, he didn't make sure cars were squirrel-proof.
Ford did not take a bailout.
Sorry. Should have been more clear, and stated 'it was a joke.'
You're damned right they didnt! They could see through the lies. They applied for one, saw the details, revoked it.
Burger King now has a flame broiled Focus done your way. Who ordered the extra crispy? LOL. But on a serious note glad no one was hurt.
Passenger cars should be required to a carry fire extinguisher just like commercial vehicles do.
Or clean the nuts out every time you chek the oil
Publicsafety.....sounds like you are a wannabe. Bitter. Jealous. Angry. Keep trying though, you might make it in the big leagues some day!
Are they sure it wasn't the bedding woodchips for the hampster powering the car?
@Blaze, You say at 3:12 , " Please tell us more. Like what kind of protection the pants would provide? ".
Well, the lower part of his body was not protected in case there was a flare up, etc.
Look how he's leaning over the car on the 3rd pic.
@csnighthawk - Yes, I see the pictures. I was not there, maybe you were? But, I do know that the people in the picture are professionally trained firefighters that know how to take safety precautions and do their job correctly. I also know that nobody got hurt and there is no need to critique the work the firefighters did.
Moderators have removed this comment because it contained Personal information.
@ C'MON MAN,(hiding behind your online alias)
Geez. Your expert explanation, I did learn something, would have been more than enough to fulfill everyone's safety questions/concerns without your condescending, patronizing, disdainful, superior, haughty, pompous, arrogant, lofty, supercilious, snooty, snobbish, contemptuous attitude.
What area are you a firefighter? Thank you.
Well, I suppose one should just analyze thee whole scene. Based on the photos only, and the obvious information in modern color photography; I would tend to lend me not only to ask about the pants, that are not being worn on your everyday average automobile fire, but maybe we should ask why the SCBA isn't being worn by both parties. Obviously they were operating a saw with a car filled with smoke trying to make entry. I am sure breathing the modern day automobile smoke with the piles and piles of plastic, etc is not anywhere near healthy. Just another observation!
As for armchair quarterback.... Not really, but I am not afraid to sell out those within public safety field who do not take responsibility and protect their own. If you are a professional, then you are expected to act and be a professional. That would to me entail properly protecting oneself so that you can always be a professional. If I cop goes to the gun fight and doesn't wear his vest, his chances of coming home are less. If a firefighter goes to the fire and doesn't wear his gear, or proper SCBA for the situation at hand (in this case a working automobile fire) ones chances of coming home diminish.) Luckily nothing catastrophic happened. Will the inhalation of toxic automobile fire gases later cause problems?
Not to think of this as criticism, I see it as an opportunity to learn. I am sure it has been discussed at the fire station. I am sure firefighter on here and in the area have said, wow, we have to watch as the camera is always on. We have to be better at our job because we never know who is watching, the tax payer, professional, insurance agent, family, etc. Be aware of your surroundings, you don't want to be caught with your pants down!