Surely you’ve all seen Statter911 and FireLaw’s take on the Miami Dade Angry Captain for shouting at the public for…well…I can’t figure out why.  Dude wants to shoot video in public, dude can.  Dude isn’t covered by HIPAA.  Curt mentions a safety zone, dude is across the street.  My young daughters and I were closer than this when REACH landed at a firehouse on open house day.  No shouting was involved.  This is Risk Management in reverse, placing so much fear into providers about cameras that they snap thinking they’re going to get fined for a violation.  Only to make them look a fool the world over.

Let’s take a few IF pills, shall we?

IF, somehow, the video catches some kind of PHI (Protected Health Information) there is no HIPAA violation.  If the crew inadvertantly loses a PCR sheet in the prop wash and the guy on the camera picks it up…maybe, just maybe that could be considered…MAYBE…and incidental disclosure of PHI.

The fine?

Nothing.

So long as the agency can prove they did as much as they could to prevent the paper from flying away, no harm no foul.

 

There, isn’t that easy?

So why all the fear around the privacy legislation?  Because it’s changing?  Have you read the changes?  Still won’t include dude on the sidewalk, still won’t fine you for letting dude film and still won’t require personal liability insurance in the event of an incidental disclosure no matter what the insurance salesman tells you.

 

After dozens of pages determining if your agency must comply with the legislation, HIPAA says this: (paraphrasing)

“Don’t be a dick. Don’t tell stories about people or take pictures or use their personal information, OK?”

It does not mention violating the freedom of the press in the name of a law you never read and clearly do not understand.  GRANTED the Angery Captain never mentions HIPAA in his request for code 3 PD (I can hear Motorcop’s eyes rolling), my guess is that was the reason for his outburst.

 

More importantly…WHAT IS THAT TRANSPORT UNIT?!?!

That thing is a BEAST!  I cringe looking at the front overhang and thinking of some of the hills in San Francisco.  Sure we have Engines, Trucks and Squads with overhangs, but they are much higher centered.  And a crew cab?  I like it for the future of EMS being more centered on getting patients places without having to recline them, but dang, that’s a lot of space.  Can anyone speak to the history of this design in Miama Dade?  I like the idea of something new, but it still looks like a box on a frame.  It appears to be a Spartan RT.

Is the Captain in the video Angry abou these rigs perhaps?

The boys are back!

What do you mean from where and who cares?

We’re doing the show LIVE from now on using Google Hang out, a part of Google+

Thursday nights 8pm Pacific, fire up the computer and come have a chat with us!

Caught this video from Sydney from youtube superuser www911rescuede.

Dig the apparatus doors.  First the side opening ones…then the…well…you’ll see.

Our good pal Dylan, noted BlogStalker, childhood Explorer Scout friend and Chief Programmer at GasdaSoftware got a surprise while out back the other day:

 

CalFire was responding to a slow moving fire that proved difficult to access on Sept 3rd.  It was on site of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, a deactivated WWII munitions depot primed for development if anyone can figure out how to remove all the ordinance. While we could smell the smoke at HMHQ Dylan, from Gasda Software, had a far better vantage point.  I’d be curious to hear the pilot’s thoughts about all the kids at the edge of the pond.

 

And yes, that’s a separate helicopter.

 

Thanks for the video Dylan!

Parking in San Francisco is not a nightmare, but more of a craps shoot.  When Mrs HM and I lived in the City we only had one car and it was a small car at that.  When trying to find parking there was a rule:

3 blocks 6 times or 6 blocks 3 times.

This meant that if you went around the 3 nearest blocks in all directions 6 times you were not going to find a spot and should just find a shady spot maybe no one would see you.  But you had to be careful.  Handicap spots and the little ramps in the sidewalks were big tickets and I would never block a plug (hydrant).  Parking in a driveway or blocking a garage not your own was a guaranteed tow, so sneaking into a half spot was generally attempted, sometimes with success, other times that little white envelope would be waiting for you in the morning.

Unless of course you forgot which day of the week street cleaning was.  Then you’ve got another ticket for that too.

The Department of Parking and Traffic wanders the City in little 3 wheeled bikes and are almost like locusts swarming through the neighborhoods looking for places to earn revenue.  It’s a thankless job and when I see their little trucks parked on a plug and they’re no where in sight I call them in as illegally parked.

But I’ve gotten a bit off topic.

Point is, when you would be sitting at a sidewalk cafe and see a DPT bike go by, you suddenly sprang up and sprinted to the clearly expired meter and gave it another 25 cents for another 4 minutes without a $65 ticket.

But since 2008 the DPT officers aren’t looking around as often.

Listen to KRON 4′s Gabe Slate and Stanley Roberts Team up to look at how transit buses are issuing parking tickets just by driving down the street.

Installed on select Municipal Transportation Buses (MUNI) are cameras that capture images of cars along the bus’s route.  Those videos are then screened by a DPT officer and offending vehicles are sent tickets in the mail.

Unlike static red light cameras, they are able to see if a vehicle is moving, blocking traffic, occupied etc.  However, Happy is not a fan.

Reason being that buses are buses and parking enforcement is parking enforcement.  In addition, I seriously doubt the MUNI drivers are being cited for all their traffic violations, including blocking multiple lanes, stopping blocking intersections, illegal turns etc.  Or perhaps the drivers are safer now that the cameras are installed?

Either way, the City sees some value to the service since over the next 15 months cameras will be installed on all 819 buses.  At a cost of $800,000 in a City facing cuts in Fire, Police, EMS, library, even MUNI is hard to justify.  But in 2010 they recovered almost 1/4 of that cost on only 30 buses.

You do the math.

Some will scream “Big Brother!” and I see that argument and raise you a “it’s breaking posted laws.”

I only hope that the trucks that double park 2 and 3 wide directly next to a clearly identified loading zone get fined as much as the drivers who don’t notice the 3 feet tall letters on the street “TAXI ONLY.”

Perhaps MC could speak to the validity of mounting a camera on the ambulances to capture traffic violations?  I think we could up that 2102 citations in a year in just a few months the way folks seem to go insane around an ambulance.

Do you think this program is a good idea?  Think it goes too far?

At last year’s How to Become a Firefighter Workshop here in Northern (some will argue Central, long story) California, I presented on technology in the job hunt, focusing specifically on the pitfalls of social media.  It is a fantastic all day seminar held at the Las Positas Fire College and includes lunch cooked by the students.  The cost of the seminar? $12. Including lunch and a chance to speak to the people hiring you one on one, let them preview your resume etc.  Where was this when I was getting hired?

The seminar attracts Battalion Chiefs, Division Chiefs, Officers from a number of large metropolitan departments and someone you know who writes a blog.  Our pals Judon Cherry, Chris Eldridge, Sam Bradley and Thaddeus Setla helped film the video for the program and this year Judon and the Dridge were there again.  Oh, and I have nothing to do with the kick ass indexed screen shot BTW.  have a look:

The attendees had some great questions about facebook, twitter, email a whole host of issues, but one comment from the audience stood out and has caught traction recently.

In my presentation I mention that some employers are asking that you friend their HR director on facebook prior to the interview.  When I mentioned that the Chiefs you’re speaking with may want to friend you as well, one of them spoke up from the audience,

“I don’t want to be your friend, I want your password.”

The audience was silent.

If you were one of the final applicants being considered for this job, would you give a prospective employer, or anyone for that matter, your facebook password?

It could be considered an invasion of privacy, but I can’t think of a better way to see what someone does when they think no one is watching.  And with the way that an employee can ruin a department’s reputation with the simple click of “share” I think it is reasonable to ask for it.

So this year, when I gave the presentation, we discussed the privacy settings pages and how to eliminate tags in photos perhaps you wish others had not uploaded, comments on posts that maybe you made late at night after drinking studying, or perhaps something rather inflamatory, deragatory, racist, sexist, heterophobic…you get the idea.

It’s actually a good idea for everyone to visit those pages every few months just to check and see what you look like from the inside of social media.  We make comments to one circle of friends the other circles may find offensive, but is any of that going to be considered immature, dishonest or a misrepresentation of who we really are?  It matters greatly if the three key traits an emploer is looking for are maturity, honesty and trust.

What do you think?

If you got called up for your dream job in the fire service and they asked for your password, what would you do?

It’s easy to see an accident and keep on walking, but something in some people kicks in to make them want to learn more. At a recent accident we’ve all seen on video by now a motorcyclist collided with a car and, surprisingly, they caught fire.
As random folks come to the car and look inside a woman in flip flops does what EVERY rescuer needs to do at EVERY roadway incident:

She looks under the car.

Seeing the unconscious body of the motorcycle rider she tries to lift the car off of him. Others seem interested and when she confirms again “there’s someone under there” the troops are flocking to the scene to lift the car.

You can give credit to the worker who pulled the rider out of harms way, the cops and their interesting fire attack or even the firefighters and paramedics who magically appear, but the real credit goes to flip flop lady and her desire to answer the burning question she had inside: “Where is the rider?”

From NPR: According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Wright suffered a “broken leg, a shattered pelvis, bruised lungs and burned skin,” when he and his motorcycle collided with a car. But, thankfully, he is “well on his way to recovery, his doctors said.”

 

I came across this video for a neat looking product for fighting high rise fires from the floor below.

During the video we see how water can be applied through the device in either straight stream or via a remote controlled combination nozzle.

I have no opinion about the product positive or negative, that is not the reason for my sharing the video.  As you watch, pay careful attention to the changes in smoke conditions between straight stream and fog.

Just in case you always wondered why there is more smoke when you use the fog nozzle as opposed to putting the fire out with the straight stream.

More reach, more water, less fire, less smoke.

10 hours cramped into a fire engine.

450 miles.

14 minutes and 40 seconds that made me cry.

Thank You.

By way of new bloggers Magnum Boots and their BLDG4801 comes this find of the Chico PD PSA.

 

Atta Boy Chico! A Tip of the Helmet to ya!

 

Someone has been paying attention in class.
If your Bay Area Fire, Police or EMS agency wants to make a PSA, click over HERE, I know a guy.