Tag Archives: Fire

Glass Repair Man Rescues Five From Austin IRS Building Fire/Plane Crash

Posted on by
1

So Robin Dehaven is driving his glass repair truck in Austin, Texas in the vicinity of the IRS building when he sees a small plane flying low, coming in for an approach to a runway, only problem — no runway. He watches as this small plane crashes into the IRS building. He decides to pull into the parking lot and see what he might be able to do to help. (CNN article)

This turned out to be a good thing for five occupants of the building.

CNN reporter Mike Ernest, who witnessed the aftermath, said,

“I just saw smoke and flames. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was just smoke and flames everywhere.”

(CNN article)

Another witness, Lyric Olivarez, said,

“People on the second and third floors were busting out windows, screaming, ‘Help me! Help me! Get me out of here!’ waving handkerchiefs or whatever they could find,”

(CNN article)

So Dehaven pulled into the IRS parking lot, grabbed a ladder from his truck, positioned it under a window, climbed it to a 2′ x 4′ ledge, broke the window, and rescued five occupants. (See Facebook)

Nice work Robin.

Robin’s actions and the actions of other bystanders at this scene greatly reduced the number of casualties that might have been caused by the tragic, and apparently intentional, plane crash into the Austin IRS building.

A video of the IRS building fire is below.

Your Life:

Someone reading this blog has it within his or her power to help somebody. If your that person, this is a word for you. Take the initiative.

John Masters once said,

“You have to recognize that every ‘out front’ maneuver you make is going to be lonely, but if you feel entirely comfortable, then you’re not far enough ahead to do any good. That warm sense of everything going well is usually the body temperature at the center of the herd.”

When we take initiative it often feels a bit awkward. You, I, we have to realize that this is the normal state of most any human being who’s taking initiative to venture outside the comfort zone. Remember that God is much less concerned about your current comfort than He is about your eternal condition. (Jon Courson / Applegate Christian Fellowship)

In order to be used by God to show people His love, you must take the initiative.

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

James 4:17

5 Alarm Apartment Fire

Posted on by
Reply

My fire department fought a fire last night. It came in around 8pm as a fire in an apartment. When our first engine arrived there was heavy involvement on the first floor with significant extension into the second floor. When I arrived there was heavy fire venting from the roof. At that point I would have bet that we would lose another two or three apartments in addition to the original fire apartment. One of the occupants suffered smoke inhalation — she was treated at the hospital and released.

The Incident Commander and the firefighters who fought this fire did a phenomenal job. They confined the fire to the apartment of origin with some relatively minor water damage to the 2 apartments adjacent on either side. No firefighters were injured.

Leadership take-away:

One sign of good leadership is how your followers perform when you’re gone. The Medford Fire-Rescue Fire Chief was visiting family 1,000 miles away for Christmas yet his fire department did a great job handling a 5 alarm structure fire.

Consider the following excerpt from Traveler and the Chaplain:

Traveler said, “So my mission for God here on earth doesn’t end then after I die.  I’m supposed to grow future leaders to carry on what I’ve been doing while I’m alive.”

“Not just carry on but even exceed!” the Chaplain said with great enthusiasm.  “Look at what Jesus’ followers have accomplished since his death.  There are 2.1 billion Christians in the world today.  2.1 billion.  That’s a lot of fruit!  If you started counting Jesus’ followers out loud, one per second, after 31 years and 8 months, you would still be less than half way to finishing!  And of course during that 31 years and 8 months more people would be accepting Christ at an exponentially expanding rate.  So really, it would be impossible to keep up with the pace at which Jesus is bearing fruit for God’s kingdom.”

Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”