Thursday, March 29, 2007

U.S. military foils insurgent attack with water truck and dump truck

Herald News Daily - link

U.S. military foils insurgent attack

Staff and agencies
27 March, 2007

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers foiled two suicide truck bombings against their base in a small town west of Baghdad and killed as many as 15 attackers, the U.S. military reported Tuesday.

The military said 30 insurgents responded with small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Five minutes into the firefight, a dump truck following the same path as the exploded water truck tried to smash into the base but the driver was shot and the load of explosives blew up.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

California driver named Goodyear's Highway Hero for 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Goodyear’s 24th North America Highway Hero Edward A. Regener, of Perris, Calif., escaped one fire and jumped into another to save the lives of two men trapped in their burning car.

The FedEx Freight truck driver scrambled from the passenger door of his damaged cab; a burning pickup truck was lodged against his driver’s door, blocking an easy exit. To make matters worse, his twin trailers contained hazardous materials that would contribute to the spread of a toxic fire.

Incredibly, thanks to Regener and some other motorists, all lives were saved.

Regener, a 13-year veteran truck driver, was named the 2006 Highway Hero here March 22 at the annual banquet of the Truck Writers of North America held in conjunction with the Mid-America Trucking Show. His quick thinking on Interstate 10 near Phoenix on Nov. 4, 2006, assuredly saved his life and the lives of two men who caused the tragic accident.

Regener was chosen from four finalists. The other finalists included:

• Elizabeth Pavlista of Miami, Ariz., driver for B.J. Cecil Trucking Inc. Pavlista rescued a woman from her burning car after it rolled down an embankment on Arizona 177 on Aug. 8. The woman died from her injuries.

• Richard Miner, of Phoenix, driver for Saia Motor Freight. Miner saved a woman’s life when her car crashed, rolled and burned in the Interstate 10 median near Phoenix on Sept. 28.

• Marlon Marum, of Burnsville, Minn., driver for Con-way Freight. Marum saved a Metro Transit police officer who was attacked by a drug suspect in downtown Minneapolis on Oct. 6.

For a full report on the award, including an interview with Regener, see the April 15 issue of The Trucker.

For more on Goodyear’s Highway Hero program and to nominate a truck driver for the 25th anniversary of the award, go to http://www.goodyear.com/truck/whatsnew/hero_overview.html.

The Trucker News Services

Sunday, March 25, 2007

San Bernardino County Sun - Early alert for forest

Early alert for forest - Dry winter poses wildfire risk
George Watson, Staff Writer

Earlier this month, officials celebrated cutting down the one millionth bug-killed tree in the San Bernardino National Forest.

It was a moment of understandable celebration because of the vast scope of the work: Trees had been dying at a high rate over the past decade, filling the overgrown forest with what are essentially standing matchsticks ready to explode.

For more than three years, dead and ailing trees have been coming down at a rate of 750 per day, boosted by a $70million grant from the federal government.

But as the sun shined brightly on another uncommonly warm March afternoon, the circumstances of that day's weather caused some concern.

"Normally, firefighters would be packing sandbags right now," said David Stuart, a mountain resident and leader of the nonprofit group Rebuilding Mountain Hearts & Minds, which was born out of the devastating 2003 Old Fire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes. "Instead, they are filling up their pumper engines."

There's been little reason to make sandbags for residents to place around their homes for protection against heavy rainfall.

People used to talk about the region's fire season.

Traditionally, it lasted from June when temperatures rose and moisture levels plummeted - to late November, when rain tends to fall in the valleys and snow blankets the San Bernardino Mountains.

Those days are becoming a memory.

The reasons are twofold: a warming trend further drying out an arid region thanks to a Mediterranean climate that provides little moisture; and population growth in traditionally rural areas that are difficult to defend from wildfires.

Despite the rain that fell in recent days, Southern California is heading toward a historic low in rainfall.

Normally, this time of year is a favorite for flower enthusiasts. But the lack of any real sustained moisture has left the mountains and deserts devoid of their typical spring blooms - another sign of the region's dryness.

It's also a foreboding indication of this year's wildfire season, because the blooms are critical for retaining moisture and holding off the dry season that normally wouldn't start for a month.

"We've seen this coming for the past several years," said Pat Dennen, chief of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Historically, the county Fire Department has requested $500,000 to pay for supplemental, temporary firefighters for the fire season.

"This year, we left them in place because we never really got out of fire season," Dennen said.

Dennen doubted he would ask for additional funds above the $500,000 for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The reason? He credited the county Board of Supervisors for consistently beefing up his full-time roster of firefighting jobs over the years.

Like the county, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has been readying for year-round firefighting.

Following some then-uncharacteristic wildfires in winter months during the mid-1990s, CDF officials began looking at how the fire season was changing.

The department is in the second of a three-year trial program that is keeping some fire stations open year-round, said Bill Peters, a CDF spokesman. Those stations are in and around San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego.

Normally, stations like those in Chino Hills and Phelan would shut down during the wetter, winter months, Peters explained.

"Now, the bulk of them are left open with an engine crew stationed there," Peters said, estimating that about 60 percent of stations have stayed open.

Yet while the firefighters are there to battle wildfires, their main responsibility during the winter months is prevention inspections, he added.

"Our inspections are going up exponentially," Peters said, explaining that by making homes and properties safer, it reduces a wildfire's destructive abilities. "The Legislature wanted to see how it was working, making sure they got their money's worth.

"I'd say it's working out pretty well."

Water Truck on Stunt production

'Stunt Junkies' stages bridge feat
Discovery Channel production films parachute drop, BASE jump at Foresthill span

"Stunt Junkies" stunt athlete Jonathan Tagle approaches the Foresthill Bridge on Friday after swooping from 4,000 feet. The other canopy chute belongs to camera operator J.C. Colclasure. Photo by gus thomson/ Auburn Journal

The always-photogenic Foresthill Bridge became a drop zone for Discovery Channel's "Stunt Junkies" on Friday.

Stunt athlete Jonathan Tagle, a world champion two years ago in canopy parachute piloting, was the "Stunt Junkies" star - attempting a death-defying drop that started 4,000 feet in the air from a helicopter.

Tagle's job was to "swoop" his chute for a landing on the bridge, discard the rigging, jump off the bridge for a free fall and then open a second BASE-jumping chute for a landing on the American River canyon floor about 730 feet below.

Tagle admitted to a "respectful nervousness" leading up to the jump. The bridge is the third highest in the United States. Tagle, 38, has racked up 5,000 parachute jumps and 50 BASE jumps. But he had never done a combination of the two. It will also be his first time on "Stunt Junkies," when the episode airs in May.

"This bridge has a lot of respect in the BASE community," Tagle said. "I'm a little bit nervous but that's what keeps you in check. You use it in a positive way."

"Stunt Junkies" host Eli Thompson, who has 14,000 jumps, said the bridge adds an extra dimension to stunts like Tagle's. The BASE acronym stands for buildings, antennae, structures and earthbound locations parachutists jump from.

"The bridge is fantastic," Thompson said. "It's a favorite of BASE jumpers and I wish it was a legal place to jump, like the one in Twin Falls (Idaho). BASE jumpers are courteous and what better use for the bridge than that."

Last week's three-day shoot at the Foresthill Bridge, about a half-mile east of Auburn, was the third visit by "Stunt Junkies" in the last six months to the pea-green span.

Filming in October provided preparatory footage for bungee jump at Colorado's Royal Gorge. Last month, stunt athlete Marta Empinotti attempted a BASE jump from the top of a moving truck over the bridge railing. That show is slated to air April 16.

Over the past decade, Foresthill Bridge filming has included a spectacular Corvette drop for the Vin Diesel action movie "XXX" and several other stunts for reality-based TV shows.

The "Stunt Junkies" production team approached Placer County and the state Parks Department two weeks ago for a film permit and OK to jump off the county-owned bridge into the canyon, which is part of the Auburn State Recreation Area.

Beverly Lewis, director of the Placer County-Tahoe Film Office, said that working with executive producer Perry Barndt provided an extra level of security when it came to safety.

"He's one of the top stunt coordinators in Hollywood," Lewis said. "He's the perfect person to pull this together because he doesn't take any chances. There are very few things we say 'yes' to filming."

The shoot provided work for Auburn-area people. Lewis said a water truck to wet down the temporary helicopter pad was from Foresthill. The helicopter and pilot were also from Foresthill. And the "Stunt Junkies" crew spent an evening unwinding Thursday at Bowman's Foothill Bowling Center.

Chopper pilot Erik Vandagriff, of Richvale'sa A&P Helicopters, flew from the temporary helipad with a copter that featured four different cameras to catch all the action.

A Foresthill resident who has previously worked on motion pictures like "Independence Day," Vandagriff said that with Placer County not charging for film permits, locations like the Foresthill Bridge are attractive to production companies.

"We need to promote this for the county - when filming at the Golden Gate Bridge costs $15,000," he said. "This is our backyard and we have so many locations."

BCNG Portals Page

AIR QUALITY More water used to quell problem



By JEREMY DEUTSCH
Observer Reporter

Mar 25 2007

It’s not unusual for air quality in Quesnel this time of year to get bad.

As the snow melts, dust from dirty roads and parking lots fill the air and reduces air quality.

So the city is requiring property owners with parking lots to water their lots before they’re swept.

“What we’re asking them to do is use some water to wet it down prior to sweeping, to keep the dust down as they sweep,” director of public works Jack Marsh said.

“I don’t think it’s a big onus on people.”

Marsh said the city has been using water for a few years when cleaning streets.

“We send a water truck ahead of it, we wet down the road-then we sweep it,” Marsh said.

Marsh said the city hasn’t required private parking lots to use water in the past, but every little bit helps keep the air clear.

With its Airshed Management plan, Quesnel’s Air Quality Roundtable is keeping tabs on air quality problems.

“There is some improvement in air quality in the area, but not a great amount,” AQR chair Dora McMillan said.

“It’s a very, very slow process.”

McMillan hopes property owners will follow the bylaw.

“I’m hoping they will, because it really is a health issue,” she said.

“We all have to work together to clean the air.”

McMillan said March and April are the worst months for air quality.

McMillan points to a study from Prince George due out later this year, on health effects related to dust and chemicals mixing in the air, as proof of how important the issue is.

McMillan will be presenting a report on an update of air quality in 2006 at Nature Education Resource Centre April 11 at 7 p.m.

Marsh said it usually takes six to eight weeks for crews to clean the entire city.

The city started a couple of weeks ago.

“We got a pretty good jump on it for this early in the year,” Marsh said.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

A water truck crashed into the side of a mountain

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Press-Enterprise

A water truck crashed into the side of a mountain Saturday in the Running Springs area, injuring the driver and blocking traffic lanes until he could be freed from the wreckage.

The accident happened about 6:05 p.m. on Highway 330, near Hunsaker Drive, said Bonnie Curtis, dispatch supervisor for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

California Highway Patrol officers and firefighters from Running Springs, Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino and Highland all responded to the crash scene, where rescue crews finally extricated the truck driver about 8:30 p.m., Curtis said.

Paramedics airlifted the victim to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, she said.

--Mary Bender

mbender@pe.com
Water Trucks and Water Tenders

Monday, March 12, 2007

Water Truck sprays street on big job!

City tearing up E. Brundage Lane

Collapse of sewer trunk line spurred $7.8 million monthslong project

| Sunday, Mar 11 2007 9:25 PM

Last Updated: Sunday, Mar 11 2007 9:27 PM

If your daily ramblings take you along East Brundage Lane, you've no doubt noticed a massive project that's ripped open more than a mile of roadway east of Union Avenue.

Photos:

More than a mile's worth of East Brundage Lane is torn up east of Union Avenue for replacement of a city sewer trunkline. Last week, Richard Nicholson of Griffith Co. mixed grout for a new manhole near Cottonwood Road.

The city is replacing four miles of antique sewer trunk line -- vintage 1912 -- that collapsed in December 2005, said Jack LaRochelle, Bakersfield's assistant director of public works.

When finished, new pipes will stretch below Brundage from Mount Vernon Avenue to L Street, then jog north under L to California Avenue.

The old system's collapse at Mount Vernon and Brundage about a year ago Christmas prompted replacement of the whole line, LaRochelle said.

The $7.8 million effort kicked off Oct. 16 and is expected to be finished around midsummer, said Conchita Walker of public works' engineering division. So far, a strip from Mount Vernon to the west of Washington Street is finished, she said.

These days, crews from Griffith Co. work a 1.3-mile-long dirt span running down the center of East Brundage.

The action should delight any construction junkie -- especially kids in the tractors-are-cool phase -- even as it frustrates motorists.

Tuesday afternoon, for example, utility workers labored neck-deep in a gouge at East Brundage and Cottonwood Road. They'll temporarily relocate gas lines and other equipment to make room as crews replace the sewer trunk line around them.

Overhead, the traffic light blinked red as drivers at the busy intersection rolled tentatively through a confusing jumble of cones. A water truck made regular passes up and down East Brundage, taming loose dirt with its twin spray.

Richard Nicholson, one of Griffith's employees, mixed grout in a bucket to apply to a new manhole west of the intersection. Near Union, rows of long pipe awaited deployment.

Pipe diameters run 36 inches to 42 inches, said LaRochelle. The PVC pipes -- polyvinyl chloride, a type of hard plastic through which sewage flows easily -- are encased in concrete, he said, which provides a solid structural barrier.

The city has another major sewer project slated to break ground in a few weeks, LaRochelle said.

A 6-foot diameter trunk line to serve all of northeast Bakersfield will be planted mostly under currently unbuilt roads on its way to treatment plant No. 2, located north of Planz Road and west of Mount Vernon. The so-called "northeast interceptor" project will ring at around $16 million to $20 million, LaRochelle said.

Both projects are being paid with city sewer fee money, he said.




Water Trucks and Water Tenders

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The Way Of The Freak

The Way Of The Freak: "Sunday, March 11, 2007

Home

This is such a strange neighbor hood. First off, there's a movie crew just down the street filming "Untraceable" starring Diane Lane. We live on the corner and starting the next block is a movie set. Big trucks, generators, mobile snack van, makeup artists, lights, etc. They had the street light up like no one's business the other night when filming went on till 4:00 am. It seems, they do a lot of set up, break down, and standing around, only briefly punctuated by actual filming. No wonder these movies cost so much money. The thing that really cracks me up is the fact that after scrubbing and pressure washing the side walk and path to the movie house, they decorated it with leaves and branches not unlike those they so meticulously removed. Also the idea of using a water truck to wet Portland city streets in the rainy season is very amusing.

Then, this morning while finishing some art and music projects, we were greeted with the sound of bagpipes. The Saint Patrick's Day parade! Irish wolfhounds a plenty, people dressed in green, and both the big fire trucks from our local Company 13.

Every time we get disgusted with the dope fiends, the shopping cart people, or the sad state of our aging building, somethings like these come along that make living here all worthwhile. All below our living room window .

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Jefferson County Fire District #1 Culver Station - Firehouses on Waymarking.com

Jefferson County Fire District #1 Culver Station - Firehouses on Waymarking.com: "HyperLink View waymark gallery
Jefferson County Fire District #1 Culver Station
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Volcanoguy
N 44° 31.627 W 121° 12.605
10T E 642228 N 4931979
Quick Description: Jefferson County Fire District #1 Culver Station in Culver, Oregon.
Location: Oregon, United States
Date listed: 3/6/2007 12:51:13 PM

Long Description:
The Jefferson County Fire District #1 Culver Station is located at 200 First Street, Culver, Oregon 97734. This station has a quick attack rescue/light brush engine, a heavy brush engine, a structure engine, a water tender, and a utility vehicle.
Paid or Volunteer: Part Paid / Part Volunteer

Number of Firetrucks: 4

Web Address: Related Website

Physical Address:
200 First Street
Culver, OR United States
97734