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Monopoly Firefighters Edition is Family Fun

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STP60676The family sat down last Saturday night for a game of Monopoly. We hadn’t played the game together for some time so with our oldest son home from college for the weekend we grabbed the opportunity.

Going in the family knew it would be tough to beat Dad but they were determined to give it a try. This time we were playing “Monopoly Firefighters Edition”, a new game theme developed for Parker Brothers with a firefighter theme.

I chose the fire engine as my game token, my wife was the fire hydrant. The boys chose the dog and boot tokens. Same game, new names for pieces and properties but it’s the old Monopoly. You grab properties, make deals and eventually destroy your opponents.

The family has a policy of not trading with me so I was frozen out of the deals until my wife made a fatal error. She offered a key property to me for $2,000 that exhausted my funds but it gave me a monopoly. Silly girl!

With a foot in the door I purchased houses one at a time. By dodging other well housed properties and luckily hitting Free Parking more than once I journied on. Long story shortened they began falling. College boy dropped first, followed by the kid genius, our high school junior. My wife held on as long as she could but when she landed on “Fire Chief Avenue” otherwise known as Illinois Avenue with a hotel it was all over.

The legend continues, Dad is the Monopoly champ of the family.

If you are looking for a superb gift for your fire service family member or firehouse brothers this game is a winner. Click here for game information.

Posted by Mike on 10/29/2009 • Filed under: Uncategorized • Tagged: ,

H1N1 “Swine Flu” Takes Center Stage as Obama Declares a National Emergency

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The White House has determined the H1N1 swine flu epidemic to be a “National Emergency”,  Reuters  reports.

Initially the federal government misread the potential severity of the virus and failed to order adequate stores of vaccine and antiviral medicine.  The declaration allows the government to expedite, or even bypass restrictive FDA guidelines governing helpful drugs stuck in the pipeline. One such drug is Peramivir an intravenous anti-viral under development by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.

The C.D.C. approved the use of Peramivir last night which coincides with the signing of the declaration.
Peramivir IV joins Tamiflu and Relenza as the only antivirals approved for H1N1.

The declaration also allows doctors to be moved more freely from state to state in response to hot spots.

20,000 have been hosptitalized and more than 1,000 have died from complications of the swine flu.

A 6 year old girl in Vacaville Californa and a 5 year old in San Diego died within the last week.

In some communities first responders are among the first to receive the vaccine, case in point Oakland County Michigan.

Posted by Mike on 10/24/2009 • Filed under: H1N1, Swine Flu, Uncategorized • Tagged: ,

2003 ‘Old Fire’ Arsonist Tracked Down, Charged With Murder

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Investigators have made an arrest in connection with the 2003 Old Fire charging convicted felon Ricky Lee Fowler with arson that resulted in the deaths of five men.

The five victims died of heart attacks. The victims, all men died either the day of the blaze of shortly after. Physical and emotional stress combined with breathing difficulties caused by smoke exacerbated pre existing conditions in most of the victims.

Fowler is currently imprisoned on a burglary conviction and if found guilty may find his way to death row where Esperanza fire arsonist/murderer Raymond Lee Oyler resides.  Oyler was found guilty earlier this year for murder in the deaths of five federal firefighters during the 2006 Esperanza fire.
Story at L.A. Times.

The 2003 Old Fire consumed 91,280 acres in San Bernardino County and ranks as the 12th largest blaze in modern California history.

Posted by Mike on 10/24/2009 • Filed under: Wildland, wildland fire • Tagged: , ,

Forest Fire Funds Back Where It Belongs

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The Obama administration’s attempt to divert stimulus money intended for wildfire suppression in the West to urban parks in Washington D.C. was overturned by the U.S. Senate.

The Administration grabbed nearly $3 million off the top off funds clearly labeled for “Wildland Fire Mitigation” use and funneled it to urban D.C parks under the guise of providing “green jobs”. The funds are sorely needed in western forests inundated by pest infestation and the Senate agreed.

Forests infested with bark and wood bore beetles and other pests present a danger to mountain communities, healthy forest lands and wildland firefighters. Dead and downed trees are kindling layering the forest floor that magnify the effects of fire.

The Senate saw this for what is was, a pilfering and in a rare example of bipartisanship restored the funds where they are needed most. More at the Washington Times.

Posted by Mike on 10/23/2009 • Filed under: Wildland, politics, wildfires • Tagged: , , , ,

Wildfire Assault On Queensland Australia’s Central Coast

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Residents of the central coast of Queensland Australia are confronting what long time residents are calling the worst fire conditions in memory.  ABC Australia reports. (video included in link)

The image below is a satellite visualization of the fires burning along the Queensland coast October 17.
The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service reported that fire crews confronted over 40 new and ongoing blazes yesterday October 18 and warned that severe fire danger continued throughout Queensland.

The Aussie bushfire season is starting early this season. Australia historically rivals the west coast of the USA and parts of the Mediterranean as it pertains to erratic and dangerous wildfire behavior. As such Australia’s bushfire fighting professionals are among the best trained and most experienced wildland firefighters in the world.

Queensland Australia Bushfires

Posted by Mike on 10/19/2009 • Filed under: Australian Bushfires, Fires, International, Uncategorized

Australia Bushfire Season Begins With a Line Of Duty Death

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NSWFBA New South Wales Fire Brigade firefighter collapsed and died during fire suppression activities near the resort colony of Fingal Bay, two hours South of Sydney. AAP 7 News has the story.

NSWFB Commissioner Greg Mullins paid tribute to the firefighter…. “Firefighters are men and women who are dedicated to saving life and property – it hits all of us hard when one of our own dies or is injured,”.

The identity of the fallen firefighter has not been publicly disclosed.

Our condolences from afar.

Posted by Mike on 10/16/2009 • Filed under: Australian Bushfires, LODD, Uncategorized, brush fires

President Employs Diplomacy to End Wildfire

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Obama To Enter Diplomatic Talks With Raging Wildfire

Posted by Mike on 10/13/2009 • Filed under: Uncategorized

West Coast Storm May Trigger Slides

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Remnants of a typhoon that blasted Japan last week is approaching the California coast today and should impact the state through into the weekend. Especially vulnerable are communities downstream from areas that burned this Summer.

Some of the communities in danger include Altadena, Montrose, La Crescenta, La Canada, Sylmar, Davenport, Fillmore and Oak Glen. Parts of Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties will be on slide alert as well.

The National Weather Service has issued gale warnings and flood advisories for much of the California coast.

Weather Service narrative
Posted by Mike on 10/12/2009 • Filed under: Uncategorized

Wrightwood Evacuated as Sheep Fire Advances

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Update: The threat to the town of Wrightwood has been diminished. Winds subsided and firefighters have been conducting firing operations just east of the town. Air ops was just overheard on the scanner telling operations the fire looks “comfortable”.
ABC7.com’s helicopter is having trouble finding live flame to film on the western head of this fire.

Via InciWeb:

All of Wrightwood Now Under Mandatory Evacuation

Incident: Sheep Wildfire

All of Wrightwood is now under a mandatory evacuation. An evacuation center has been established at Victorville Fairgrounds at 14800 7th Street in Victorville.

For comprehensive coverage of the Sheep Fire check out Rim Of The World.

Follow Twitter Search for real time updates from locals, fire authority and bloggers.

Posted by Mike on 10/04/2009 • Filed under: 2009 Fire Season, Sheep Fire