D.C. Fire and EMS have responded to 250 calls since midnight, according to spokesperson Pete Piringer. "The calls that we've had are taking us longer for obvious reasons," he tells City Desk. "We've had a few collapses, a few babies. I don't know if it's the barometric pressure or what."
There have been six calls for [...]

I almost feel sorry for Fire/EMS Chief Dennis Rubin. A video deposition he had taken in a whistleblower case has now landed on YouTube. In early October, the Government Accountability Project deposed Rubin in connection with a civil suit brought by former Fire Department Deputy General Counsel Theresa Cusick. In the interest of fairness, the [...]

First the Pershing Park case. The Office of the Attorney General may have had serious trouble with another high profile lawsuit—the Georgetown Library fire case. In April 2007, a three-alarm fire gutted Georgetown's public library. Two hundred firefighters along with roughly two dozen trucks battled the blaze. That huge effort may not have translated into [...]

Councilmember Jim Graham, who is chairman of the Metro Board, just called in to report a few things to City Desk regarding yesterday's Metro crash. Graham mentioned that the board's $250,000 relief fund for the Metro crash victims' families. He emphasized that this is not hush money.
"We wanted to have this immediately," Graham explains. "We [...]

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty: Expresses deepest condolences, as is standard practice to start these briefings.
Confirms nine fatalities, the final count. "As a government and as a city" there are only four people whose identities have been confirmed.
Three of the four are residents of the District of Columbia. One lived in Hyattsville. Fenty contacted three of [...]

The D.C. Fire Department has lost one of its weapons in its fight against two whistleblowers.  Fire investigator Gerald Pennington was set to face a trial board hearing today on charges that he allegedly claimed credentials he did not have. He was facing termination. Office of the Attorney General prosecutors–which would have handled the case–reviewed [...]