Showing posts with label fire fighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fire fighting. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 09, 2026
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Monday, December 29, 2025
Thursday, December 25, 2025
Even more photos of the Long Beach Fire Dept 1927 Graham Paige touring 621 with the Bright Bumper and Woodlite headlight aftermarket upgrades
I posted a lot of photos of these in 2017, and all about the Bright Bumper
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/engine-company-number-1-long-beach-fire.html
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/mostly-just-interesting-for-close-up-of.html
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/how-cool-is-this-fire-chief-bought.html
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/mostly-just-interesting-for-close-up-of.html
https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/04/how-cool-is-this-fire-chief-bought.html
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Saturday, November 01, 2025
Monday, October 20, 2025
Fire Engine 30, belonging to the San Diego Fire Department's Station 30, was stolen Saturday afternoon and found more than 60 miles away.
Saturday, October 18, 2025
.jpg)
Friday, September 26, 2025
in 1983, a 7 million tire fire in Virginia resulted in a plume of smoke 3,000 feet high and nearly 50 miles long, polluting 3 states with lead and arsenic. It burned for 9 months... for two reasons, 1) there was that much fuel .
7 million tires on fire allowed to burn would release 141,000 pounds of benzene, a carcinogen, 70,000 pounds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (many are carcinogenic), 10,000 pounds of butadiene, a chemical linked to leukemia, thousands of pounds of carbon monoxide and particulates and trace amounts of arsenic, chromium, lead and zinc.
Back in the 1950's, Edward Joseph Filbin opened a dump for scrap tires on his ranch. The dump was in a canyon about 35 miles southeast of San Francisco Bay and 1/4 miles from Interstate highway 5.
By 1987 it was estimated that Filbin had accumulated 40 million tires stacked 80 feet high on the
slopes. This would have made the Filbin pile the largest tire pile in the country.
Oil was produced in the tire fire by pyrolysis - the low temperature distillation of a tire in the absence of air. The average passenger tire contained an equivalent of two gallons of oil. The Filbin tire pile contained 7 million tires or 14 million gallons of oil. For comparison, the largest U.S. oil spill was the Exxon Valdez which spilled 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound.
a lightning strike ignited a fire in the Filbin tire pile located in a canyon on the east slope of the coastal mountain range.
The tire dump contained an estimated seven million
scrap tires piled on steep slopes of the canyon. The fire spread quickly and engulfed most of the main
tire pile.
The tire
fire produced large volumes of pyrolytic oil that flowed off the slope and into the drainage of an
intermittent stream. The oil runoff was initially contained behind an existing stock watering pond
consisting of a small earthen dam and impoundment structure.
A reduction in smoke emissions was
evident as the tire fire entered into the smoldering stage.
The burning tires in the drainage ignited the oil flowing in the stream.
The large oil fire
significantly increased the smoke emissions and a local climatic inversion caused the smoke to remain
close to ground level. The response to the oil and tire fires quickly overwhelmed the resources of the
local and State agencies.
It took 27 days to extinguish the fire. Over 250,000 gallons of pyrolytic oil were recovered from the containment pond.
An estimated 4 million gallons of contaminated fire fighting water were impounded on site in a series of constructed basins within the drainage channel
These mega tire dumps are not rare, and they seem to catch on fire annually
Sept 1984 – A pile estimated at four million tires, known locally as Mount Firestone, ignited in Everett, Washington, and continued to burn, smolder, and pollute until May 1985
1996 - Panoche Hills Tire Fire, Fresno County - 3 million tires
1997 - Gila River Tire Fire, Arizona - 3 million tires
1998 - Tracy Tire Fire, San Joaquin County - 5 million tires
1998 - Ordot Landfill Tire Fire, Guam - 1 million tires
1999 - Westley Tire Fire, Stanislaus County - 7 million tires
2005 - the Wisconsin Watertown Tire Recyclers - 0.5 million tires
The Westley Fire was also about 7 million tires,
Back in the 1950's, Edward Joseph Filbin opened a dump for scrap tires on his ranch. The dump was in a canyon about 35 miles southeast of San Francisco Bay and 1/4 miles from Interstate highway 5.
As you travel up the canyon from the valley into the hills the
canyon gradually became deeper, the walls became higher and steeper. Filbin dumped the tires on the
very steep eastern slopes of the main canyon.
Filbin had constructed a road that took haulers to the hillside above the canyon of tires. Haulers would drive to a steel-plated ramp placed over the pile at the top of the canyon and extended out over the precipice.
The ramp was actually part of the runway of an aircraft carrier. The trucks would back up onto the ramp and dump over the side building up piles that were 60 feet deep
In 1988, Modesto started-up the first tire burning co-generation power plant. The power plant was built on a tall hill overlooking the tire pile. The source of tire-derived fuel was
a combination of old tires from the scrap pile and new tires that were brought to the facility by
contracted haulers. The heat generated by burning tires converted water into high pressure steam which
drove a turbine and generator and produced electricity that was sold to Pacific
Gas & Electric.
The tire incinerator burned 18,000 tires per day, 6 million tires per year or 60% of
northern California scrap tires. This provided electricity for 18,000 homes. But the reduction in the
size of the pile was slow because the older scrap tires had less BTU value than the newer tires. The
daily consumption of tires included only 20% old tires. The energy plant eventually reduced the pile to
7 million tires.
On January 22, 1999, a rare lightning storm moved into the area. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded. One lightning bolt struck the metal ramp and ignited the tires in the Filbin tire pile. The fire roared down the canyon with a 200 foot high fireball leading the conflagration. Temperatures were over 2,000 degrees F. The smoke plume formed a tornado-like vortex lifting the smoke upwards in a spiraling chimney reaching 6,000 feet in altitude.
On January 22, 1999, a rare lightning storm moved into the area. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded. One lightning bolt struck the metal ramp and ignited the tires in the Filbin tire pile. The fire roared down the canyon with a 200 foot high fireball leading the conflagration. Temperatures were over 2,000 degrees F. The smoke plume formed a tornado-like vortex lifting the smoke upwards in a spiraling chimney reaching 6,000 feet in altitude.
Oil was produced in the tire fire by pyrolysis - the low temperature distillation of a tire in the absence of air. The average passenger tire contained an equivalent of two gallons of oil. The Filbin tire pile contained 7 million tires or 14 million gallons of oil. For comparison, the largest U.S. oil spill was the Exxon Valdez which spilled 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
why do kids want to slide down the stair rails, it must be genetic. After all, they've never seen rails designed for it, like these, built in 1904 in the Sault Sainte Marie fire station (that's on the eastern end of the Yoop!)
For the video of the firefighter sliding down the rails: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1287346663080725
Friday, September 12, 2025
Houston's fire dept ordered a new ladder truck 3 years ago... they did not make sure the one they ordered would FIT inside the fire station
Three years ago, the fire department requested a new ladder truck to replace the one firefighters had been using for several years.
Houston's city council approved spending nearly $1.5 million on it.
"Under the last administration, they didn't clearly measure, and so there is a piece of apparatus that does not fit in a bay at Station 61," Marty Lancton, the president of the Houston Professional Firefighters Association, said. Fire officials said they are working to get an estimate on the construction of the bays at the station
They will need to reconstruct the bay door and provide safer clearance for the new apparatus.
Thursday, September 11, 2025
24 years ago
FDNY Firefighter Tim Duffy, though off duty, raced into the heart of the chaos on his 2000 Harley-Davidson Super Glide Sport — grabbing his gear from the firehouse and riding through a dust-choked Manhattan street to reach Ground Zero.
Duffy’s Harley-Davidson also survived the day.
On September 11, 2001, Tim Duffy was off duty, working on his 2000 Harley-Davidson.
Duffy says, “That morning I was actually doing a tune up on the bike, and I had a spark plug out when I heard the first explosion. It sounded far away and I wasn’t working so I continued working on the bike. But then I heard sirens, and the sirens didn’t stop after 10, 15, 20 seconds they just got louder and louder... so I knew something happened.
I ran into the house to call the fire house to see what was going on. As I reached for the phone it started ringing, my wife was dropping off my kids at the Y for pre-k, and she said a plane just hit the World Trade Center. I lived right on the beach... and I could see it from my kitchen window.
I turned and saw the North tower burning. So I was trying to get off the phone to go and of course she was telling me ‘You’re off today, you don’t have to go...’ and then the second plane hit. I told her I gotta go, I’ll see you later.”
Tim arrived just before the South Tower collapsed, crashing down and buried him in debris. He freed himself and got back to work, only thinking of others who’d also been victims of the terrorist attack. That day he helped save people who’d been seriously injured, commandeering a truck and driving back and forth to Ground Zero to assist wherever he could.
Monday, September 01, 2025
Saturday, August 30, 2025
The already-risky work of fire crews battling a wildfire in England's North York Moors National Park has been made all the more dangerous by World War II-era bombs and tank shells hidden under the dense, dry vegetation.
A local fire official said Wednesday that there had been nearly 20 explosions as the fire burns through brush to detonate the hidden weapons.
The Langdale Moor fire, which started on August 11, has charred about 10 square miles in the picturesque coastal region of North Yorkshire. Emergency fire crews have been tackling the blaze, aided by local farmers and game keepers who've swung into action with water tanks and tractors, dousing brush and helping cut fire breaks through the moorland, which is covered largely by dense shrubs and grass.
Dyson said part of the active fire area was a tank training ground during the 1940s, explaining why so many weapons were still lurking under the first layers of the rugged landscape.
There is still a U.K. military site, the RAF Fylingdales radar station, in the immediate area. Britain's Ministry of Defense in London said an explosive ordnance disposal team had found "various World War II-era unexploded ordnance items," declaring them to be "inert practice projectiles."
Monday, August 04, 2025
I love old steam pumpers and Disney art, but especially the way the cartoons would show the Mickey, Donald, and Goofy team try and accomplish something with slapstick humor.
When a house catches fire, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy attempt to put it out with some disastrous results.
Monday, July 28, 2025
the F-150 continues to rank as one of the most-stolen vehicles in America year-after-year, and it's possibly due to so many selling every year.. but, who would have though that fire departments would have to worry about their fire fighting trucks getting stolen?
The first was an Everett Fire Department pumper truck and took it for a bit of a joyride. That vehicle was parked in front an apartment building when someone stole it and crashed into 14 different vehicles, tearing up lawns and knocking over street signs in the process.
The latest was a Ford F-150 fire truck, which was on the scene at a residential fire when a thief took off in the pickup. Luckily, police were able to locate the F-150 not too long after that happened
It was left running in order to keep its emergency lights on, as is standard practice for public safety purposes. With personnel no more than 25 feet away, a man still decided to hop in and take off, however, at which point he struck another vehicle.
https://fordauthority.com/2025/07/stolen-ford-f-150-fire-truck-recovered-shortly-after-theft
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Monday, April 07, 2025
Construction on Disney’s new, 22-story New York City headquarters at Hudson Street caused what the city said was nearly $6 million in “significant structural damage” to the neighboring Spring Street NYC Fire Museum, forcing it to close for nearly a year.
“Construction work at the site of the new Disney HQ caused damage to the FDNYs historic building, which is home to the NYC Fire Museum,” a city Law Department spokesman said in a statement. “This filing protects the City’s rights while we work with Disney and its insurers to determine whether we can resolve this matter without further litigation.”
https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/disney-left-nyc-fire-museum-with-6-million-in-damage-city/
Saturday, March 08, 2025
‘Tallet’s Gym’, one of the Real Steel filming locations, was a fire-station – the former Detroit Fire Department HQ, in the heart of downtown Detroit. Another filming location "Crash Palace" is the old Model T factory in Highland Park that was building Ts in 1910
From 1929 to 1949 it was the fire dept HQ, and was the city’s first firehouse designed for motorized – rather than horse-drawn – fire equipment. Then it was the MGM Grand casino, but never was put up for sale until 2012.
The firehouse was designed to house more than 500 firefighters on its second through fifth floors
The site was used by the fire dept constantly since 1840, and is across the street from Cobo hall
Other filming sites were the former Belle Isle Nature Zoo, and the Parkway Motel on I 75
What might be a surprise is that the whole movie was filmed in Michigan, and not Texas where the story is set.
I posted about the truck in 2011 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/movie-real-steel-is-awesome-and-has.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)