Strollerderby : firefighter

Spiderman Rescues Autistic Boy

Brett Singer — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:00:00 GMT

To be fair it was really "a Bangkok firefighter in a Spiderman suit." But to the kid, it was probably Spiderman. So I prefer my original phrasing.

The BBC reports that a Thai fireman named Somchai Yoosabai put on a Spidey suit in order to coax an eight-year-old autistic boy down from a ledge. It was his first day at school. The boy's mother told Somchai that her son had a "passion for comic superheroes," which prompted the costume change.

In case you, like me, were wondering why a firefighter keeps a Spiderman outfit handy, it's to "liven up fire drills in schools." Good idea. If someone had done that when I was in school, I might have joined the force.

Source: BBC via Wired

Baby Born in Penn Station During Rush Hour

Open Letter To The Woman Who Pushed Me While I Was Picking Up My Kid

White Firefighter Reunited with Black Baby He Saved Forty Years Ago

JeanneSager — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:31:00 GMT

It was the height of the sixties, when racial tensions were taught in the City of Boston and across the United States. A white fireman was caught by a photographer, his lips pressed to the face of a black baby girl, his face racked with determination to save her life.

This week, more than forty years later, that baby and her grateful godmother finally met the man who saved her.

"November, 1968, a report of children trapped inside the building," William Carroll says into the camera. "Those things you remember like it was yesterday."

The baby was covered in soot, Carroll remembers, unable to breathe with no pulse pumping in her tiny wrist. He'd crawled on his stomach through the thick smoke to find her lyin in a crib in the burning Roxbury Housing Projects, clad only in a diaper. He grabbed Evangeline Harper - now Evangeline Anderson - and rushed from the building. The picture snapped by a photojournalist on scene would shape the future of the city, and he would earn commendations for bravery.

But Caroll wasn't thinking about any of that. He had a child to save.

Forty years later, Anderson met up with a Boston Globe reporter at a community meeting. She saw an opportunity to track down the man who'd saved her - through the newspaper that made famous her picture. Caught on tape by the Globe as a companion piece to their article, the meeting is worth watching (here) for one of those "restores your faith in the good of man" moments.

First delving into it, I thought the race issue would have the bigger pull - making me all weepy to see racial tensions melting away. Instead, all this brought out in me was the mother side, the part that wanted to wrap my arms around a guy who saved a baby. As Anderson tells him - "had it not been for you, I would not be here today."

"We did a good thing that day," Carroll said, "I hope I gave her a shot."

Awww. Maybe every day should be hug a fireman day?

Image: Boston Globe

Child Alerts Family to Fire Danger

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:01:00 GMT

Thanks in part to a young child, 22 people were safely evacuated from a burning apartment building.

In Clarkston, Georgia, a fire started around 1:30 a.m. in the kitchen of one unit in the building. A young boy woke up when he smelled smoke. He immediately woke up his family, who rushed out of the building along with their neighbors. None of the building’s occupants was hurt.

This is similar to a recent event in Arizona, in which a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old saved their family from a house fire after they smelled smoke and heard popping noises. Their parents said that they, too, had heard the noises, but thought nothing of them and had gone back to sleep. But the kids got out of bed, noticed smoke in the living room, and immediately woke up their parents, who were able to put out the fire before it caused much damage.

Go kids! It seems their heightened awareness to any and all changes to their environment has some very important advantages.

Photo: Flickr

Sad footnote to sad story

Brett Singer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:30:00 GMT

31-year-old Timothy O'Connor was speeding past the funeral procession for firefighter Martin Simmons (pictured). When pulled over, he told police that he was trying to get to the front because the funeral was for his grandfather.

When police informed him whom the procession was for, he admitted to lying through his speeding teeth. What was the reason for the lame excuse? Well, the Racer X wanna-be was driving with a suspended license. But hey, first offense, right? Nope. He's had his license suspended 22 times.

Apparently he was speeding, "driving erratically and changing lanes without signaling."

I'm no legal expert but how exactly can you have your license suspended that many times and still be allowed to drive? Driving shouldn't be something that you are just allowed to do no matter what. Isn't that the point of having licenses in the first place? What does it take to get your license suspended, like, forever? What if he had hit another car – like the one carrying Martin Simmons' family?

At least Speedy admitted he was full of it when he found out whose funeral it was. Still, what a jerk.

Source: Newsday (and thanks to Brian for the tip)

Schools tying up autistic kids

Woman goes to jail for adopting children to get money

They Say: Doctors Have Feelings Too

When Granite Attacks

DNA Test Proves Baby Sold for Adoption

Toddler Accidentally Killed At YMCA T-Ball Game

Dad drowns saving his son

Brett Singer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:30:00 GMT

Martin Simmons, a firefighter from a Ladder 111 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, drowned yesterday after saving his 10-year-old son Kevin from drowning.

The family was on vacation in Tahoe, and the boy had jumped into the water, which was very cold. He got a leg cramp and started to flail, and his father jumped in to save him. Then his brother-in-law, the boy's uncle, jumped in to help. Kevin and his uncle are fine; Martin died at the scene.

Simmons' firefighting partner Joe Honan said, in the Daily News, "We do that for strangers. Of course he'd do that for his own son." I think we all would, although not all of us run into burning buildings to help strangers.

This is just incredibly sad and I hope the poor kid gets counseling to deal with the loss of his dad, and the (undeserving) guilt he will likely feel. My dad died when I was young, and it just flat out sucks. Cliché as it sounds, my heart goes out to the family.

image/source: NYDailyNews

Woman goes to jail for adopting children to get money

They Say: Doctors Have Feelings Too

When Granite Attacks

DNA Test Proves Baby Sold for Adoption

Toddler Accidentally Killed At YMCA T-Ball Game

Firefighter's Wife: I Killed Him Because He Called Me Fat

Brett Singer — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Ah, the New York Post. Where would we be without you? This story isn't exactly "Headless Body in Topless Bar," but it's still quality tabloid fodder.

Here's the scoop: in December of 2007, Janet Redmond-Mercereau called 911 and reported that her husband, Staten Island Fire Marshall Douglas Mercereau, was dead. Two days later, the Post referred to her as "the elephant in the room" because of suspicions that she had murdered Douglas because of "humiliating fat jokes he made at her expense." On Saturday (3/22/08) she was charged with murder.

Now comes the defense. Her lawyer says that "her husband had been verbally abusive after she gained weight because of a thyroid condition." The prosecution says, "We believe [the abuse] not to be true."

I know it's just a quote and could be out of context. But let's say, just for a moment, that it was true. That her husband had called her "Fatty McFatso." That she was wearing a t-shirt from Guess and he said, "I don't know, 245? 260?" (That last line I swiped from a comedian whose name I can't remember.) If he did that, she can kill him?

Well, no. But Andrea Peyer has a column warning guys to "be careful" when they poke fun at the little woman for not being so little. Still, to me it seems like a pretty thin defense strategy. (Pun intended.)

It does seem that the accused is a tad, shall we say, unhinged. A The New York Times story says that she had an oak tree in their yard chopped down because Douglas' family compared him to it at the funeral. The Staten Island Advance quotes Janet as saying, "I feel like a model," to a photographer when he arrived at her home to get a photo. And The Post describes her as "winking" to her family at the arraignment.

For the record, Janet is listed at 5' 3" and 240 pounds. But I'm not saying a word about that. Just in case she's acquitted.

Strollerderby : firefighter

Spiderman Rescues Autistic Boy

Baby Einstein Wants You To Feel Good About TV

Baby Born in Penn Station During Rush Hour

Open Letter To The Woman Who Pushed Me While I Was Picking Up My Kid

White Firefighter Reunited with Black Baby He Saved Forty Years Ago

Is it Time to Give up on Athletes as Child Role Models?

Your Kids' Good Manners Could be a Crimebuster

Shave Your Head, Fight Children's Cancer

Kindergartner Saves Diabetic Dad from Coma

Child Alerts Family to Fire Danger

Sad footnote to sad story

Dad drowns saving his son

Schools tying up autistic kids

Woman goes to jail for adopting children to get money

They Say: Doctors Have Feelings Too

When Granite Attacks

DNA Test Proves Baby Sold for Adoption

Toddler Accidentally Killed At YMCA T-Ball Game

Dad drowns saving his son

Schools tying up autistic kids

Woman goes to jail for adopting children to get money

They Say: Doctors Have Feelings Too

When Granite Attacks

DNA Test Proves Baby Sold for Adoption

Toddler Accidentally Killed At YMCA T-Ball Game

Firefighter's Wife: I Killed Him Because He Called Me Fat