By Claire Bessette
For The Day

Norwich – Whenever Thomas LaFreniere hears a fire siren, he returns to April 3, 1962.

With the fire chief out of town and the deputy responding to another call, LaFreniere, a lieutenant, was in charge at 1:22 p.m. when trucks were backing into the cramped Chestnut Street station.

“Truck fire at Van Tassel Warehouse,” came the call from the switchboard operator. “Be careful, explosives aboard.”

When firefighters arrived, they were met by a massive explosion that was felt as far away as Montville and Preston. Four firefighters were killed in what is the second worst fire tragedy in the state’s history.

LaFreniere, now 83, will return to Norwich from Florida April 3 for a memorial ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the worst firefighter fatality disaster in the city’s history. He will give the keynote speech in honor of his four fellow firefighters killed that day. A plaque will be unveiled with the names of all 10 Norwich firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

That fateful day

Three firetrucks screamed to the narrow dead end of Forest Street.

“You always think a truck fire is in the engine compartment,” LaFreniere said this week. “Wrong. It was in the box car.”

Firefighters saw smoke coming out of the truck cargo box, which was loaded with highly explosive peroxide-based chemicals. The truck was parked in a narrow opening between two buildings. One barrel aboard had leaked.

To read the full article, click here.

Photo credit: Tim Martin, The Day

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Imagine a film crew showing up at your fire station asking if you want to be filmed for a Super Bowl commercial? This is exactly what happened to LION customers, Phil Sutsos and Jack Schach of the Petaluma Fire Department.  They were featured in the Chrysler Super Bowl ad in their LION turnout gear.

From the CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service

Two Petaluma Fire Department battalion chiefs appeared in an acclaimed commercial that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Phil Sutsos and Jack Schach appeared for about two seconds in Chrysler Group’s “It’s Halftime in America” narrated by Clint Eastwood. The firefighters appear one minute and four seconds into the spot, which aired right after the halftime show that featured Madonna.

The theme of the commercial, shot in black and white and color, is that America and the auto industry are back after tough times, and neither can be knocked out by one punch.

“We get right back up again and when we do, the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines,” Eastwood said.

Schach said he and Sutsos were the only ones in Fire Station 1 at 198 D St. when the film company knocked on the door in early January.

Click here to read the full article.

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By KATHY OGDEN
Special to the Courant, The Hartford Courant

Fire Lt. Todd Ghent credits instinct with saving his life as a propane cloud he unintentionally walked into erupted in flames.

As the orange fireball enveloped him last January, without thinking he held his breath. This kept the burning gas, which ignites in the air at nearly 1,000 degrees, out of his lungs.

“They said it would have cooked my lungs,” Ghent recalled in an interview last week in his dining room, which was still decorated for Christmas.

The flames left him with second- and third-degree burns on his head, face and neck, though.

Ghent said it would take a whole day and night to convey all the thoughts that ran through his mind in the moments he was engulfed. He thought particularly about his wife, Renee, and teenage daughter, Amanda, a sophomore at Portland High School, he said.

“I remember it all,” he said.

Ghent had been among the firefighters who responded to the scene of a leaking underground propane tank last Jan. 29. A 30-year volunteer with the Portland Fire Department, he was supposed to be in Vermont that weekend, skiing with his wife and daughter but 20 inches of snow had fallen in Connecticut so he decided to stay home and work clearing roofs and plowing snow.

He was with fellow town firefighter Tom Revicki when they heard the call for a gas leak at a duplex on Summer Street. They were the first on the scene and could smell gas. Putting on protective gear, they began to evacuate people from the area. As other firefighters arrived, Ghent and firefighter Tim Goff started moving down the snow-lined driveway with a gas detection meter that measures how much of the invisible gas is in the air. Suddenly, the meter reading spiked and they turned to leave, but it was too late.

Click here to read the full story.

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By STEVE SCHWARTZ
Message from LION CEO

This Sunday marks ten years since 9/11.

It’s a time for remembrance. Nearly 3,000 people were murdered. Each loss creates an unfillable void for family, friends, our fire service and first responder community, and the nation.

It’s a time for reflection. Right after 9/11, as a country, we stood as one. That sense of oneness has looked and felt increasingly fragile over the past two years of economic and political turmoil in our country.

It’s a time for renewed solidarity: to recommit ourselves to a belief in that oneness that we felt so strongly 10 years ago. The challenges we face in each of our communities and in the nation can only be solved through believing in oneness not divisiveness. Divisiveness is what our enemies hope for.

We must also recommit ourselves to the defense of our country – and to its core values. On 9/11, we were attacked by radical Islamist forces not for a specific policy, but for who we are. Remember: in 1993, under a different president from a different party, there was another deadly terror attack on the Twin Towers. It’s America – and what we stand for – that’s the target.

I thank each of our first responders for putting your lives on the line daily to keep our families and communities safe. I hope our nation never experiences anything like 9/11 again, but if we do, know that we as a company are doing everything we can to keep you safe and ready to respond to whatever challenge you face.

Stay Safe.

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What happens when one of the biggest names in the fire service joins forces with one of the most original, cutting-edge firefighter apparel designers for an all-new line of stirring, rugged and durable equipment designed just for firefighters? Black Helmet Supply produced by LION®, a line of NFPA-certified protective gear and equipment with hand-drawn designs that represent how firefighters live. Not only will they supply what firefighters want to wear, but also what they need for protection. Protection that will represent the dedication, tradition and sacrifice demonstrated in service of the public and the brothers and sisters at their side.

(more…)

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By Sara Jerome
for TheHill.com

The death of Osama bin Laden could sway the debate over an expensive communications network for police and firefighters, analysts say.

Public-safety advocates welcomed President Obama’s announcement of bin Laden’s death Sunday night and reiterated their calls for Congress to swiftly devote a valuable chunk of airwaves to an emergency network that they say would have prevented the deaths of many first responders in the 9/11 attacks.

(more…)

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The F.I.E.R.O. Fire PPE Symposium is designed to be a hard-hitting, factual series of presentations about the PPE that most firefighters use on a regular basis. Future symposiums can address other less often used items and provide more detail on the subjects of the first symposium.

LION’s own Karen Lehtonen will be a speaker at this year’s event. Karen has been with LION since November 2000. As LION’s director of products, she is responsible for product, fabric and material developments. She also oversees the certification of all product lines and the operation of the LION Lab.

(more…)

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LION Paul Conway Helmets™ provide high-performance protection using state-of-the-art fiberglass technology. It’s stiff enough to provide maximum strength, yet flexible for impact.

The video below is a testimony of a Norwood, OH firefighter on his first fire run in his new LION Paul Conway Helmets™ American Classic helmet. Find out how this helmet held up when an axe fell off of a roof, landing directly on the helmet.

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The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (H.R. 847), called the Zadroga Act or Zadroga Bill, was recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and will soon become law. When enacted, the Zadroga Act will provide $4.3 billion in funding, establishes the World Trade Center Health Program to monitor and provide medical care to people who develop health conditions caused by 9/11 toxic exposure, orders research of 9/11 related diseases, and reopens the Victim Compensation Fund. For more information, see “What is the Zadroga Act?”

(more…)

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The Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championships are the culmination of a season of hard work and rigorous training for teams around the world. Congratulations to all of the competitors for their dedication, hard work, sportsmanship and camaraderie throughout the season each year. Their passion for firefighting, competition and sport are unmatched.

As they are every year, the top competitors for 2010 were inducted into the Lion’s Den, the “varsity club” of Combat Challenge competitors.

LION has been a long-term supporter and the official turnout gear and helmet sponsor of the Challenge because we believe in its mission of encouraging firefighter fitness and demonstrating the profession’s rigors in a public way. Wearing full turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), competitors race head-to-head as they simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175-lb. “victim” as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.

Check out this video of LION Janesville turnout gear in action – and what FFCC competitors have to say about it – at the 2010 Firefighter Combat Challenge World Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last month.

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