Practice of treacherous high-angle rope rescue prepares Portland firefighters for real thing: Firefighters from Portland’s Station 1 convened at Keller Fountain Thursday to train for high-angle rope rescues, a specialty of the southwest Portland team. “We want to get new people exposed to the training,” said Rich Tyler, of Portland fire. “High-angle rope rescue is our specialty.” Tyler and 11 of his colleagues cordoned off much of the park for the two-hour training, which prepares firefighters for high-angle rope rescues. Garrett Diehl glided back-and-forth on the rope, which was attached to two opposing trees on the north and south sides of Ira Keller Park, simulating what a real-life rescue may be like. “If there was a window-washer stuck high atop Wells Fargo, we’d be the station to go,” Tyler said.
The quote brings to mind
last week’s rescue of a window-washer dangling near the top of the Seattle Center civic complex. The man, who was eventually saved by Seattle firefighters, was stranded 65 feet off the ground at McCaw Hall, a concert venue. A KIRO-TV helicopter captured the spellbinding video as the man was brought to safety. Tyler said the trainings—two were on the agenda for Thursday—are difficult to schedule because the entire staff is involved. “If a rescue happened downtown right now, we’d be on it,” he said.
One of the more recent attempts at a high-angle rescue led firefighters to the discovery of a climber who fell 50 feet to his death at Rocky Butte in Northeast Portland. Police confirmed the man’s death even as firefighters were performing a high-angle rope rescue to retrieve the man’s body. A recent response shows the range of the station's ability to repel down as well as up.
The crew from Station 1 was called to rescue a man at the bottom of a ravine off Southwest Barbur and 35th near Jackson Middle School, said Kurt Sommer, a Station 1 firefighter. About noon on July 4, Portland firefighters responded to the area and reached a man who was 35 feet down an embankment in a ravine. Sommer said the man was in an "altered state," by himself and naked in the ravine. Initial responders deemed the rescue too difficult and called on Station 1 for backup. "We bring all the goodies," Sommer said. While other stations are equipped for 'low-angle,' rescue, Station 1 is the only group performing high-angle techniques. Sommer said firefighters, the engine and anchor arrived to the area and hoisted the man to safety.
Window cleaner's ladder stolen: Popular Ashbourne window cleaner, David Hollingworth, has had his ladders stolen. The aluminium double extending ladders were propped up at the side of Bargain Booze on Monday July 11. While Mr Hollingworth washed windows just 100 yards away, two young men are thought to have travelled down Coxon's Yard before taking the ladders away via Dig Street. The ladders were stolen having been left unattended for just 10 minutes between 7.40pm and 7.50pm. Anyone with any information to contact PCSO Blackwell on 0345 123 33 33 or call Crimestoppers annonymously on 0800 555 111.
Working man tends to stuck kitten in Concord for almost 3 hours before managing to set it free: Staten Island, N.Y. - A tiny gray and black tiger cat went fishing through a hole in a utility box cover yesterday morning. The only thing it caught was its paw. At 8:30 a.m., Oscar Avarenga was walking to work when he spotted the stray kitten trapped near PS 57 in Concord. The feline's front right paw was stuck in a hydrant gate box, an eight-by-eight-inch square cover on the side of the street at the corner of Hanover Avenue and Palma Drive.
Avarenga, a window washer from Honduras who lives in South Beach, alerted authorities and kept the cat company, wrapping it in a wet shirt and giving it water to keep cool as temperatures approached 90 degrees. "I was afraid it was going to die," Avarenga said in Spanish. "I knew it was scared. It kept saying 'meow, meow' and I didn't know what to do."
Nearly three hours later, at 11:10 a.m. -- after several attempts to remove the cover -- Avarenga managed to lift it out of the ground with his finger. As he pulled it up, the cat flailed its body and removed its paw from the hole, freeing itself. It immediately scurried away into the woods and vanished. Judging from its dash into the trees, the cat did not appear to be injured. It was a bittersweet moment for Avarenga, who was hoping to adopt the cat and take it home with him. He is a cat-lover who owns Isi -- a tiger cat, as it happens -- and wanted to bring home a playmate for her.
Window cleaner set for walk to aid Kidney Research UK: A Shepshed window cleaner is taking on an 18-mile walking challenge to raise money for a kidney charity which helped him get his life back. Dave Baxter, aged 47, of Charnwood Road, had a kidney transplant thanks to a donation from his wife Sharon five years ago after suffering from nine years of problems. He is now taking part in Renal to Renal, walking from Loughborough Hospital Renal Unit to Leicester General Renal Unit with his family and friends, to raise awareness about kidney health, organ donation and raise money for Kidney Research UK. He told the Echo: “The transplant meant everything to me, it’s got me back doing the things I used to do. “I’ve done loads of things to raise money since my transplant but this one is a big one. It’s a good way of fund-raising for a great cause.”
Alaskan company loses BAMC contract: An Alaskan company that handles cleaning and other services at Brooke Army Medical Center and at health care facilities at Camp Bullis apparently has lost the lucrative contract. That prompted Ahtna Facility Services Inc. of Anchorage to notify the state last week that it may have to permanently lay off 434 workers, primarily housekeepers and floor-care technicians, on Aug 31. But those workers, represented by the Laborers' International Union of North America, are not in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Under the terms of a collective-bargaining agreement, the company that wins the contract simply will take over as the workers' new employer. “There will be no mass layoffs,” BAMC spokesman Dewey Mitchell said. The new contract has yet to be awarded, he added.
Ahtna officials didn't respond to requests for comment. Ahtna has had the contract for at least five years. A posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website dated May 2010 said the “estimated value of the 12-month period of performance (for the contract) is $32,407,972.” Ahtna has provided various services, including housekeeping, collection and distribution of linens, solid-waste and recycled material collection and window cleaning. The Army in December solicited proposals for a new five-year contract. However, the Army later excluded Ahtna after finding numerous shortcomings with the company's proposal. Ahtna filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, but the protest was denied June 30.
Ahtna on July 11 asked the GAO to reconsider, but the status of that request is unclear. The same day, it sent notice to the state on the possible layoffs. Employers who anticipate mass layoffs are required under federal law to give 60 days advance notice. Mary Davidson, business manager for the union's local chapter, said an expansion at BAMC could mean even more cleaning jobs — upping the workforce to 600 people. BAMC is adding about 760,000 square feet to the existing hospital. Mitchell had no information on how many new jobs the project might add. Ahtna is a subsidiary of Ahtna Inc. The
Ahtna are one of the tribes of indigenous people in North America.
Plans to save at least £1.5bn from private finance initiative (PFI) projects and "fully recycle" the money back into frontline services by the contracting authority have announced by the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lord Sassoon. The three main areas of savings in operational PFI contracts were identified as effective management of contracts, including sharing savings on insurance, making efficient use of space, for example, from subletting or mothballing surplus building space, and making sure the public sector doesn't buy more than it needs when specifying facilities management such as window cleaning. Under PFI contracts, private companies are paid back for the construction costs of new public sector projects over a number of years. The long-term costs of PFI have attracted criticism from MPs of all parties, and ministers want to see more effective management of contracts. The Treasury said this would include reducing wasteful energy consumption, mothballing surplus building space, and reviewing soft service requirements, "so that the public sector does not buy more than it needs when specifying facilities management such as window cleaning and frequency of decoration."
Javier Morillo-Alicea serves as president of SEIU Local 26, which represents private-sector workers in the property service industry, including janitors, security officers and window cleaners. MINNEAPOLIS - Let us pledge to stop calling the funding mechanism for the state budget a "school shift." That sounds too innocuous, as does "accounting gimmick," which makes it sound as if these are fake numbers people are playing with that have no real consequences. When the state "shifts" payments that are promised to schools, it forces the school districts to borrow money to make up for the money it should have received. Who do they borrow from? Why, from the Big Banks that we bailed out with our tax dollars at little or no interest!
And do these Banks, out of respect for those taxpayer-funded bailouts, make these loans to school districts interest-free? Quit your dreaming. They charge interest rates that the schools will have to make payments on. And how will they do that? You guessed it -- through property tax levies, or, if voters reject those, they'll see reduced school services or ever-expanding class sizes. This is not an accounting gimmick – it is stealing from our children. And those charter schools conservatives love so much? The robbery is even greater, since they must borrow at higher rates. So, think about it - we taxpayers pay once to bail the banks out and then again through property tax increases to pay the very banks that are now loaning school districts money.
Ontario program encourages youth to become their own bosses: There were 261 Summer Company applicants this summer from the Ottawa area. Diana Martinez-Cachon, the business adviser for youth entrepreneurship at the Ottawa Centre for Regional Innovation, picked students based on business plans and estimated cash flow, including the ability to show at least a minimal profit. Popular perennial startup companies through the program include landscaping and driveway maintenance. "When it's a landscaping or window cleaning business, I need to see that they really have a sense of the business plan. ... And the big thing is how are you going to differentiate yourself from the other people doing the same thing?" said Martinez-Cachon. Some of the unique Summer Company startups include a private practice birth companion and a CPR-training enterprise.
Father writes poem after thieves target his baby’s grave: Mr Reddington, who works as a window cleaner, said: “I’m always writing poems. I know he has been gone a long time but people shouldn’t mess with people’s graves. I want people to be aware someone is stealing his lamp and wanted to put the poem in Nathan’s words.”
To whom this poem may concern, I pray you are willing to read and to learn. Why would you steal from such a young boy? My little lamp and my only joy. My mummy and daddy gave it to me, for when darkness falls in hope I might see. It saddens my heart and faith in mankind, to take from my graveside something you find. I have little else yet still you deny, the only true thing that lights up my sky. So I implore you, thief of the camp, please keep your hands from my little lamp.
Growing up around criminals, Harry Archer witnessed horrific violence. He saw people slashed to death, watched his parents robbed and, at the age of just 16, felt the butt of a sawn-off shotgun in his mouth. The result was he emerged into adulthood hardened to pain. “I felt no fear,” he said. “And I mistook that for confidence.” The violence he saw was so horrific that Harry could not understand the fuss when he threw a few punches at his ex-girlfriend Faye, the mother of his two sons. But, thanks to completing a 24-month Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP) with Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust, the once explosive character is confident he can keep his temper under control – no matter the provocation. “It was such an in-depth course. It really made me look at my behavior,” he said. “Before I always felt I was at the end of a tug of war. Now I think, ‘If you want the rope that badly, then have it. “I was scared of hurting people’s feelings,” he said. “But inside I would seethe and then I would hurt them anyway through my anger. I used to be so tongue-tied. Now I’ve learnt to tell people how I really feel right from the start.” Harry, who was never jailed, says he’s now the happiest he’s ever been. He’s due to marry new girlfriend Michele next April and is hoping to start a window cleaning business. And he’s so impressed by the course he wants to tell everyone about it.
Women were kicked in the head during street fight: A mother and daughter were both kicked to the head during a violent incident in Chirk, a court heard. Football playing window cleaner Daniel Meredith, 25, and his partner, trainee accountant Katie Crouch, 20, both admitted affray but were spared custody yesterday. Mold Crown Court heard the victims were Meredith’s former partner Samantha Thomas, and her mother Sharon Thomas. Judge Niclas Parry said that in a public street at night, when members of the public were about, the defendants were involved in a serious incident of public disorder which involved two women being kicked to the head while on the floor.
Meredith, of Charles Street in Chirk, was given a 24-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months. He was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and remain indoors under a three month curfew between 8pm and 6am – apart from on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he plays football or trains for Chirk. Matthew Dunford, for Meredith, said he was a window cleaner who played football for Chirk. He had pleaded guilty and the injuries were relatively minor. It was clear he had acted out of character. Mr Dunford said it was very unlikely he would come before a court again.
Quinte melts: Is it hot enough for you? Temperatures, with the humidex index, rose as high as 46 Celsius Thursday, sending many running to pools and air conditioned buildings. But some couldn't escape it, even if they tried. Diamond Window Cleaners Terry Roshotte and Ryan Miller had towels on their heads, which they hold down with baseball caps to keep the sun off of their necks, backs and shoulders. "We don't wet the towels, they start to heat up and it just gets worse" said Roshotte, wiping sweat off his brow with the towel. Where ever you were Thursday, heat was something you couldn't avoid. The temperature should ease off a bit today, with The Weather Network calling for a high of 31 C with the humidex rating making it feel like 36 C. Saturday's forecast calls for 29 C, with the humidex making it feel like 35 C.
The service interruption was caused by a NSTAR crews in Everett performing maintenance on a transformer, said Michael Durand, a utility spokesman which left 36,000 across Somerville, Charlestown, and Cambridge powerless. In Davis Square, the bustle of motorists and pedestrians soon became a column of cars piled in all directions leading to the messy intersection, and a crush of office workers and others who sought refuge in a fully powered Starbucks that one barista said was strangely untouched by the outage. Other businesses were not so lucky. Back at Sally O'Brien's, Figueiredo had to wrestle with a tempermental alarm system that locked him - and about a half-dozen customers, scheduled food and liquor delivers, and a window washer - outside in the heat.
Could house building schemes benefit window cleaning firms? Window cleaning firms could be one group that benefits from government measures to boost the house building sector. Housing minister Grant Shapps revealed this week that he wants to see an end to regulations that have made it difficult for the UK to fully embrace the concept of self-building. Indeed, he remarked that the country is one of the worst performing nations in Europe for encouraging people to construct their own abodes. Mr Shapps has called for more land to be made available and for mortgage lenders to issue loans to house hunters who want to create their dream pad. If there is a significant improvement in uptake, window cleaners across the UK could see greater demand for their services.
Man sold 'cocaine' to police officer: A man sold an undercover policeman what he claimed was cocaine – but when the powder was tested it was found not to contain the drug, a court heard. Daniel Mosley, aged 20, instead handed the officer a mixture of chemicals used as cutting agents and caffeine, Plymouth magistrates were told. The court heard that Mosley was a 'prolific' dealer but he claimed through his solicitor that this was the first time he had sold drugs. The court heard the powder was tested and found to contain benzocaine, caffeine and lidocaine. Mrs Furniss said police found £1,040 in Mosley's home. She added the police viewed him as a 'prolific drug dealer'. Graham Kinchin, for Mosley, said he had no previous convictions. He said Mosley wanted to get involved in drug supply but had been naïve and had done his first deal with an undercover officer. Mr Kinchin said Mosley worked as a window cleaner and the money seized by the police had been earned legitimately.
Cheque u-turn joy for Spa group: A controversial plan to abolish the use of cheques has been scrapped and hailed as a ‘victory for common sense’ by members of an influential town group. Members of the Droitwich Area Forum for Older People are celebrating after the Payments Council announced the u-turn which will see the payment method be retained for as long as it is needed. The council announced in 2009 that cheques would phased out by October 2018, as long as viable alternatives had been developed. Work started last year on an alternative paper-based system, but the organisation has now said it will retain the cheque as a method of payment. The forum’s Sheila Neary, said: “If the cheque book was withdrawn as a way of paying bills it would have been a disaster for older people, small locally based charities and many voluntary organisations. “Many of us use cheques to pay small bills and for services like the window cleaner, the plumber, trips out, Christmas gifts and charity donations.
When I’m cleaning windows....! Cleaning the windows at Warwick Castle isn’t something that can be done with a bottle of window cleaner and a stepladder. In order to get to the windows a specialist team last week had to abseil down the walls. It’s not for the fainthearted, as while they try and clean the windows of varying sizes, there is a 100 foot sheer drop to the River Avon. Marketing director Georgina Kelly said: “Maintaining and restoring the historic fabric of Warwick Castle is a priority for us and we invest £250,000 annually to ensure that our wonderful building is in the best condition. We’re used to having brave knights at the castle but I’m not sure any of our jousting heroes or Merlin himself could cope with this job.”
Cec Thompson, who died on July 19 aged 85, fought his way up from the streets and orphanages of West Yorkshire to become one of the first black men to play rugby league for Great Britain. A nasty knee injury in 1958 curtailed Thompson’s career at 32. After playing, he still earned a living from the game as manager of Barrow, but a gnawing desire for self-improvement eventually got the better of him and he left two years later. In an era decades before the over-inflated wages of sports stars and the cash injections of Sky Sports, Thompson had supplemented his earnings by working as a window cleaner, a grim living in the cold and often wet north of England. However, it was on his round that he found inspiration for the next stage of his life.
“I used to go to schools to clean their windows and I would see teachers at work and imagine how pleasant it would be if I could do their job,” he recalled. “Window cleaning is cold, harsh work. Playing rugby is a brutal occupation. Put the two together and you have my life.” Self-financed by his window cleaning business, Thompson went to night school in his mid-30s, taking a course for 14-year-olds who had failed their 11-plus. At 39 he won a place at Leeds University, graduating four years later with an honours degree in Economics and a teaching diploma. While there, with typical enthusiasm and aplomb, he co-founded the Student Rugby League along with Andrew Cudbertson and Jack Abernathy: another part of his legacy that flourishes today.
On leaving university he taught economics, first at Dinnington Comprehensive School and then at Chesterfield Grammar School, where he ended his career as head of economics and master in charge of rugby. Alongside this he had continued to run his business, developing it from a humble window cleaning round into a highly successful industrial cleaning company with 250 employees.
In 1994 he received an honorary degree from Leeds University for his services to the community and in 2003 he became a freeman of the Borough of Allerdale. He spent his later years writing, travelling and expanding his business. Cec Thompson was a businessman, International rugby league player and economics teacher, who described himself as “half Trinidadian and half Yorkshireman and proud of both”, and is survived by Anne, his wife of 47 years, and their son.
Window cleaner Graeme Dust in court over attempted murder charge: A man accused of trying to kill his wife in Enfield is due in court this morning. Window cleaner Graeme Dust, 45, has been charged with soliciting to murder and attempted murder of his wife Nina. He was arrested at their Holmwood Road home in April, and is due at the Old Bailey this morning to enter a plea.
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Dalton running for re-election: Councilman Keith Dalton is running for re-election to the Post 3, East Ward seat. Dalton will finish his first term on the Covington City Council this year. “As tough economic times as we’re having right now, I think it’s more important than ever for my conservative voice to be on the council,” he said. Dalton, 46, is a 1983 graduate of Newton High School. He served as a city police officer from 1987 to 1992 and was chief of police in Oxford until 1998. He currently owns a janitorial and lawn maintenance service, Covington Window Cleaners Inc. He also is active in local fund-raising efforts for the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life event and is a member and fund-raiser with the local Elks Lodge. Dalton and his wife Kim have two daughters. Dalton so far is the only candidate to announce for Post 3, East Ward.
Houses of superheroes: Where does a superhero live? In a top secret location, location, location. Iron Man's retreat: Location Point Dume, Malibu, California.
Estate agent pitch - John Lautner modernism meets Zaha Hadid-style high-tech in this stunning cantilevered clifftop pad. Great ocean views.
Facilities - Tennis courts, helipad, wrestling ring, extensive underground parking for vintage cars, entertaining and shagging facilities.
What it says about the owner - Insecure narcissist who's yet to work out what he's overcompensating for.
Would also suit - Formula One driver, Roman Abramovich, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Drawbacks - Structurally vulnerable in high-impact combat situations. Large window-cleaning bills.
For a quick sale - Convert it into a boutique rehab facility.
Remember that luxury mansion that was used in the Iron Man film series? Well it turns out that it’s just been put up for sale for a whopping $25 million. The 11,000 square feet luxury mansion comes with 4 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and private access to Black’s Beach.
