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Boston Fire Department

By adamg - 5/15/13 - 7:44 am

The Herald reports all 13 deputy fire chiefs signed a letter declaring they have no confidence in Fire Chief Steve Abraira, the department's highest ranking uniformed officer, in part because he didn't want to assume command in the minutes after the Boston Marathon bombings.

Abraira reports to Fire Commissioner Rod Fraser, who hired him from Dallas - the first time the job has ever gone to somebody not from Boston. He explains to the Herald why he left Marathon response to commanders in the field.

By adamg - 3/6/13 - 6:24 am

The Globe reports a West Roxbury District Court magistrate didn't find probable cause for criminal action against Kenneth Veiga, who was suspended from his job last month after, police say, he threatened a superior with carnage. That came following an incident at the Readville fire station.

By adamg - 2/27/13 - 7:19 am

HoganBoston Police report Stephen Hogan, 24, of Dorchester, was arrested during a drug investigation in the area of Columbus Avenue and Bray Street yesterday.

Officers assigned to the Drug Control Unit observed a white male walking and talking on a cell phone while also carrying what appeared to be a plastic bag in his hand. The suspect was seen entering a vehicle which then went for a short drive around the block before dropping the suspect off. Believing that a drug transaction had taken place, officers approached the suspect after he exited the vehicle and found him to be in possession of a plastic bag containing a tan powder believed to be heroin.

Hogan is the son of Fire Chief Gerald Hogan. However, he is no longer a Boston firefighter. Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald says he resigned after his arrest Hogan had been a probationary firefighter - he had served less than a year.

Innocent, etc.

By adamg - 2/21/13 - 10:28 pm

A firefighter charged with threatening to go on even worse of a rampage than that Los Angeles cop was angry when the fire department ordered him back to work from a leave granted after he tackled another firefighter trying to kill himself in the Engine 49 firehouse in Readville, a source says.

The incident, about a week ago, ended with Kenneth Veiga covered in blood - and the other firefighter still alive - the source says.

By adamg - 2/21/13 - 12:54 pm

Boston Police report a firefighter apparently unhappy at being told he was healthy enough to return to work allegedly threatened on Tuesday to use his army training to destroy anybody who got in his way:

By adamg - 1/21/13 - 6:24 pm

Government Technology reports Boston is looking for proposals from vendors on how to upgrade the city's network of 2,200 fire alarm boxes, which still use the same basic telegraph technology as when they were first installed in 1852.

By adamg - 1/14/13 - 10:57 am

The Boston Fire Department reports that for the second year in a row, "the City of Boston recorded the lowest number of fire deaths for large cities nationwide."

In 2012, only one person died in a fire in Boston, compared to 12 in Baltimore, 25 in Philadelphia, 8 in Milwaukee, 6 in Phoenix and 7 in Washington, DC.

By adamg - 12/28/12 - 9:27 am

A bird in the hand. Photo by Rescue 2.A bird in the hand. Photo by Rescue 2. More photos.

Boston Fire Rescue 2 on Columbus Avenue in Roxbury found itself involved in an unusual rescue yesterday when somebody dropped off an Arctic Little Auk that had apparently been blown into town by the storm the other day. The species, not normally seen in these parts, dines on seafood and cannot take off without an assist.

Firefighters named the exhaused bird Olive. After a Twitter effort to find someone to care for her, Boston animal control showed up at the station and took the bird before an anticipated hand off to the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth today for a little R&R.

By adamg - 12/7/12 - 8:32 am

The tugboat Liberty suffered an engine fire off Georges Island shortly after 8 a.m. today - just as a man was falling off a fishing boat.

The Boston Fire Department promptly summoned its dive team, which promptly got stuck in traffic because it's not based on the water. However, the Coast Guard reports the fire was declared out before the BFD marine unit got out to the tugboat and that a passing boater picked up the person in the water.

By adamg - 9/20/12 - 10:46 am

The Dorchester Reporter reports city officials shut a Chinese restaurant on Blue Hill Avenue yesterday after inspectors found its kitchen air vent clogged with grease - and its basement clogged with rats and cockroaches.

The Fire Department in particular has paid close attention to the condition of restaurant air vents since the 2007 Tai Ho fire in West Roxbury, which started in a grease-filled vent and which killed two firefighters.

By adamg - 8/31/12 - 8:33 am

The Herald reports on the sad state of hydrants on roads around the Convention Center in South Boston and north of the Zakim Bridge.

By adamg - 8/4/12 - 12:14 pm

Video from inside a Boston firetruck navigating downtown traffic and frogs pedestrians.

By adamg - 6/10/12 - 11:38 pm

Firefighters at Forest HillsFirefighters at Forest Hills. Photo by BFD.

By adamg - 3/24/12 - 11:19 am

Just skip to 1:40, unless you want to see a tourist entering and leaving Cheers.

Via DotRat, who declares the firefighter his new hero.

By adamg - 3/14/12 - 8:21 pm

Instead of blocking pucks, he could cut them in half. Photo by BFD.

The Boston Fire Department reports Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped by Engine 7 and Ladder 17 on Columbus Avenue today to talk about the Muscular Dystrophy Association and get a tour.

By adamg - 11/22/11 - 6:14 pm

A federal appeals court today tossed the First Amendment claims of a group of Boston Fire Department clerical workers passed over for promotions, saying that while it's unfortunate they may have lost out because they weren't friends with the mayor's cronies in management, that doesn't rise to the level of a violation of their First Amendment rights.

The workers alleged they were passed over repeatedly for promotions in favor of friends or members of "the Hyde Park Group" affiliated with pals of the mayor and a similar "South Boston Group."

By adamg - 11/17/11 - 9:33 am

Steve Abraira. Photo by BFD.Steve Abraira with Charlestown Engine 50. Photo by BFD.

The Boston Fire Department yesterday announced the appointment of Steve Abraira of Miami as its new fire chief, replacing the retiring Ronald Keating. Abraira will report to Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser.

By adamg - 9/25/11 - 9:58 am

BFD training video by McElroy Films, filmed at the department's training facility on Moon Island and featuring a simulated "Mayday" situation.

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