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  • jimmyjazz
    jimmyjazz

    Jim Spencer is bringing it on Facebook regarding a previous post:    

  • Willfully Horn
    Willfully Horn

    I like this guy.

  • South Austin
    South Austin

    He's going to be slow to respond.  He turned down a federal grant that would have allowed Surly to increase the timing of alerts when a user gets tagged in a post.  That's not political.  It's just fa

Posted Images

3 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

the fyre mail and social lists are worth 10m

no way you are bagging that for 100k

Why tho?  Gullible people?

4 minutes ago, immamac said:

I don't even pretend to know enough about any of this to think about it. I know I wish no one was dead. 

Side Eye Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

1 minute ago, immamac said:

I mean they did sell a ton of tickets to fire fest 1 and the socials/brand is huge name recognition wise. 

Isn’t it fyre?  Some branding. 

14 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

Thanks for being a First Responder. Perhaps our disagreement is over semantics, but IMHO, any school, club, organization, camp, etc., that takes care of large numbers of people should have their own plan for evacuation. If experts can evaluate and correct it, all the better, but surely any plan is better than no plan. As we all know from the The Station night club fire in Rhode Island, disaster happens in seconds. Love to hear your thoughts. 

Every school in our county has an emergency response plan that covers pretty much any potential situation from fire, planes crashing into bldgs, WMDs, active shooters and even nuclear accidents.   Each school has the same outline for their plan.  Once the outline is laid out, then each plan is customized for each school system.  For example: layouts of buildings, who is responding from where, how long it will take, etc.  This way if their is ever a need for the plan, each responding group will know exactly where to look for pertinent info on just about anything.  Saves time and confusion.  I can imagine going to a school for a fire and the section for where to shut off electrical power is buried in some obscure bldg description section.  So yes, each camp should have a plan that is customized to them, but also follows a standard layout and format, much like an MSDS sheet.  

9 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I can actually buy the notion that disaster response should be primarily a state activity.  That makes a certain amount of good sense.

But, we've had FEMA for who knows how long and many/most states have abdicated their disaster response functions.

Like tariffs, or the notion of incentivizing domestic manufacturing, I could get on board with "we're gonna devolve FEMA's responsibilities back on the states where they belong." But that needs to take place over like 10 years, maybe 20.

Texas is so large that it is quite possible a big catastrophe can strike and the rest of the state can muster what it needs to deal with the response.  To what effectiveness I can't guess.  But smaller states can get hit and the whole state is now limping along and needs neighbors to come help in times of needs.  That state's emergency reserves could have been wiped out or made inaccessible, while their neighbors can get to their own supply, leaving the challenge of transporting it to the areas of need as the biggest impediment.  Every town has a fire/EMS department, even the really small ones.  And they can handle the day to day, but they can't handle the big ones alone.  That is where the idea of other states stepping up through FEMA makes sense.  How many Texas firefighters went to California the last go around of wildfires?  Hell, we even had Mexico come in and help us in Kerrville and they aren't even a state.  

WIthout FEMA the smaller and less populated states are at real risk, especially with extreme weather becoming the norm instead of the outlier.  

  • Popular Post
4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Maybe they're pissed because their union leader told them they should be pissed.

For what reason, I don't really get.  Seems like they might have an axe to grind with the Chief.  @wood?

As our local firefighter mentioned, it's not like Austin has excess capacity and is flood-free.

I haven't paid attention to AFD inside stuff since I left 4 years ago, and I have purposefully stayed out of the loop. I retired at least in part to get away from that. But yeah, I think they already had some problem with the way he was doing things. They even alluded to previous problems in their vote announcement, whatever they may be. What are those problems? No idea. Are there valid issues? Maybe, but I dunno what they are. I'm not here defending Chief Baker or saying he's a saint. I'm also not looking to throw him under the bus or have him be used as a scapegoat by the lunatics out there like Charlie fucking Kirk. We just don't know much, and the complaint seems very strange to me given what has to be balanced in decisions to send specialized equipment and personnel (that you don't have much of to begin with) 100 miles away when you're probably going to need it in short order - to tell people to leave. 

4 hours ago, immamac said:

Yeah why didn't anyone else think of trying to coordinate with local officials! 

The only ones I know of who we know tried to get messages to the locals were the NWS, and for whatever reason the locals apparently weren't seeing them.  If it's on anyone to try to get Kerrville/Kerr County's shit together 2 days before the storm, it's the State, who Abbott says was already out there. Not Austin. But even if we were to send people out there to get the word out (rather than just trying to communicate with them from here to take the storm seriously and go alert the public on their own), that still could be done with any number of people that aren't specialized personnel who would likely be needed here along with their apparatus, and it likely wouldn't be just AFD people making the trip. I can't make it make sense to send people out there for the purpose of warning the locals, be they officials or the public. IMHO this is probably over something else that was denied. Maybe they have a point. I dunno. I don't like not jumping into the fray to help, 'cause that's what we do. But I also understand that throughout my career the chiefs often had to make tough, sometimes unpopular decisions, that we didn't always understand or have enough info to make an informed judgement over. I need a lot more info before I can pin this on the chief as some sort of terrible disservice.

Edited by wood

  • Popular Post

How the fuck is it efficient to have Austin firefighters drive 2 hours to knock on doors in Kerr County? If those FFs were legit worried enough with enough lead time to get there in time to make a difference, why weren’t they in that moment calling all available first responders in Kerr County and telling them to get their asses in gear?  That whole scenario seems ridiculous 

  • Popular Post
1 hour ago, immamac said:

My wife is friends with a swiftwater firefighters wife. 

They are pissed, they didn't wanna go save people, they wanted to go tell everyone to gtfo. The best water rescue is the one that doesn't need to happen. 

Its not his fault for anything that happened, but it was also every bit as stupid as it is being made out to be. 

This sounds like some dumb hindsight shit. 

"We coulda went down there and warned them if it wasn't for our Chief!"

Why didn't they go warn the people in Travis/Williamson/Burnet county then? Sounds like they have previous beef with him and are trying to use this event to drum up support for his removal. They would have done the same thing had he sent the teams. They would be bitching about being shorthanded the next day.

8 minutes ago, Hmbre97 said:

This sounds like some dumb hindsight shit. 

"We coulda went down there and warned them if it wasn't for our Chief!"

Why didn't they go warn the people in Travis/Williamson/Burnet county then? Sounds like they have previous beef with him and are trying to use this event to drum up support for his removal. They would have done the same thing had he sent the teams. They would be bitching about being shorthanded the next day.

Ironically, that decision might have saved the life of a bunch of his own guys. 

This is what we’re up against people. Under a post shitting on Baker.
IMG_5356.thumb.jpeg.ee5f23dc4cf9e93e1f138466f07cacec.jpeg

  • Popular Post
2 hours ago, Hank_Hill said:

This is what we’re up against people. Under a post shitting on Baker.
IMG_5356.thumb.jpeg.ee5f23dc4cf9e93e1f138466f07cacec.jpeg

Umm, Mandy—according to my BIL, I believe the correct term is “cloud seating.”

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

  • Popular Post

I love how the poorly run Antifa big cities are once again expected to use all their tax payer supported resources and run to the rescue in the middle of the night and save these magnificently run, fiercely independent “try that in our small town”.   What a mentality.  
But I assume that since San Antonio is less than half the distance than Austin, they must of sent their entire FD to  successfully save Kerville at 4am and that that is why San Antonio FD is not run by incompetent DEI.  Correct?

3 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

Umm, Mandy—according to my BIL, I believe the correct term is “cloud seating.”

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Umm, Mandy
Well, you came and you gave without taking
But I sent you away 
Umm, Mandy

  • Popular Post

In fairness, Noem had more pressing things to do last weekend like start online polls asking people to select her official portrait.

8 hours ago, wood said:

 I'm also not looking to throw him under the bus or have him be used as a scapegoat by the lunatics out there like Charlie fucking Kirk. We just don't know much, and the complaint seems very strange to me given what has to be balanced in decisions to send specialized equipment and personnel (that you don't have much of to begin with) 100 miles away when you're probably going to need it in short order - to tell people to leave. 

This seems incredibly obvious that they've got an axe to grind and this isn't a serious complaint. If all they wanted to do was tell people to leave (apparently well before even the actual weather folks knew how bad the rain would be, so this already sounds like bullshit), that's what phones and the internet are for. They could've easily contacted officials in Kerr County and the surrounding counties and confirmed whether they were aware of how bad it was looking to get. 

  • Author
1 hour ago, Horn Dog said:

But I assume that since San Antonio is less than half the distance than Austin, they must of sent their entire FD to  successfully save Kerville at 4am and that that is why San Antonio FD is not run by incompetent DEI.  Correct?

In an interesting twist:

Valerie Frausto, Fire Chief

10 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Do you think they should have been sent to Kerr County?

image.jpeg.d35b1660bb99f77450ef4e03f4424ae8.jpeg

51 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

This seems incredibly obvious that they've got an axe to grind and this isn't a serious complaint. If all they wanted to do was tell people to leave (apparently well before even the actual weather folks knew how bad the rain would be, so this already sounds like bullshit), that's what phones and the internet are for. They could've easily contacted officials in Kerr County and the surrounding counties and confirmed whether they were aware of how bad it was looking to get. 

Agreed - this seems like one of those situations where the AFA president was more than happy to bitch about whatever decision the fire chief made.  I mean - can you imagine the shit storm that these same folks would have kicked up if a handful of folks in Austin had drowned because too many AFD resources were sent to Kerr County?  

Edited by Gap03

The narrative now shifting to "we really wanted to be knocking on doors" okay then why even bring up the supposed expertise in Hill Country swiftboat rescue? And why did it need to be AFD resources? Cops are notorious for abusing overtime pay, but I haven't heard of firefighters doing the same.

Anyway it's totally classless for them to use this as an opportunity to smear the chief and I'm glad to see it backfiring.

  • Popular Post
7 minutes ago, Pancho said:

This isn’t good

image.thumb.png.7cb59bf20d1e906a29ed503a51a55276.png

 

I came here to post that article. It's not long, but it's got a few interactive elements to show the topography and flood zone designations, so I'll share the full thing with this gift link. The article also talks about how the camp's recent expansion would've been the time to move those cabins out of there. It's worth reading, because it details the expansions, etc.

Still, they include this section:

image.png.f848925540e247be5ef0f855a3fa7a6b.png

I'd really like to get some clarification on this. Were they "unable" to secure grants or were they "too pigheaded" to accept them? The commissioners’ court transcripts say the latter.

Dalton Rice, the Kerrville city manager, said he had gone jogging around 3:30 or 4 a.m., but where he was, on the city’s walking trail along the Guadalupe, “there was very light rain” and “we did not see any signs of the river rising.”

Apparently, it's still 1885 in Kerrville, where a city official can only react to something he can see with his own two eyes. 

“This came at night when people were asleep, in bed,” Kerrville’s mayor, Joe Herring Jr., said at a news conference. He later told CNN that he had not received the weather alert and was not awakened until 5:30 a.m.

Your local tax dollars at work. 

The county does have access to a private system known as CodeRED that sends out alerts to residents’ phones, but it is not clear to what extent it was used. At 4:22 a.m., a firefighter asked on an emergency channel if there was “any way we can send a CodeRED out” to residents in the town of Hunt, where Camp Mystic and the Presbyterian camp are located, “asking them to find higher ground or stay home,” according to a report by Texas Public Radio.

But it appears that the first CodeRED did not go out for about an hour. Louis Kocurek, a resident of the town of Center Point, told The Times that the CodeRED text message he received had come in at 10:07 a.m.

There is a theory that small towns suck because the young, smart people figure out what is going on and GTFO as soon as possible. 

1 minute ago, TreatyOak said:

There is a theory that small towns suck because the young, smart people figure out what is going on and GTFO as soon as possible. 

game of thrones khaleesi GIF

You don't send highly trained units to knock on doors warning people that are 100 miles away.  That's just silly because anyone can do that job.

Edited by kevwun

23 minutes ago, bolverk said:

I'd really like to get some clarification on this. Were they "unable" to secure grants or were they "too pigheaded" to accept them? The commissioners’ court transcripts say the latter.

Plus the idea that it would take new, additional tax to fund it is fallacy. They have tax revenue. They can budget things in if they believe they are important.  

Noem, the WH and the GOP-led Congress will do nothing to investigate Noem and FEMA's shortcomings. She probably can't fully avoid questioning by a Dem rep or senator, perhaps even Chip Roy, but she will deny that any delay occurred and definitely she doesn't have any rule in place that could lead to a delay. And it's not the GOP leaders' best interest to look too deeply. 

  • Popular Post
50 minutes ago, TreatyOak said:

Dalton Rice, the Kerrville city manager, said he had gone jogging around 3:30 or 4 a.m., but where he was, on the city’s walking trail along the Guadalupe, “there was very light rain” and “we did not see any signs of the river rising.”

Apparently, it's still 1885 in Kerrville, where a city official can only react to something he can see with his own two eyes. 

“This came at night when people were asleep, in bed,” Kerrville’s mayor, Joe Herring Jr., said at a news conference. He later told CNN that he had not received the weather alert and was not awakened until 5:30 a.m.

Your local tax dollars at work. 

The county does have access to a private system known as CodeRED that sends out alerts to residents’ phones, but it is not clear to what extent it was used. At 4:22 a.m., a firefighter asked on an emergency channel if there was “any way we can send a CodeRED out” to residents in the town of Hunt, where Camp Mystic and the Presbyterian camp are located, “asking them to find higher ground or stay home,” according to a report by Texas Public Radio.

But it appears that the first CodeRED did not go out for about an hour. Louis Kocurek, a resident of the town of Center Point, told The Times that the CodeRED text message he received had come in at 10:07 a.m.

There is a theory that small towns suck because the young, smart people figure out what is going on and GTFO as soon as possible. 

 

No question whatsoever that Kerr County officials royally failed to protect the citizens of the county and the visitors on one of the busiest weekends of the year, but imo not enough attention is being given to the decisive actions of the operators at Camp Mo, who evacuated everyone in advance and likely saved many lives in doing so. 

1 minute ago, Gourmand said:

 

No question whatsoever that Kerr County officials royally failed to protect the citizens of the county and the visitors on one of the busiest weekends of the year, but imo not enough attention is being given to the decisive actions of the operators at Camp Mo, who evacuated everyone in advance and likely saved many lives in doing so. 

100% this. Makes Camp Mystic's leadership even more culpable.  

2 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

Wasn't she "boots on the ground" and at the press conferences starting Saturday or Sunday at the latest and still didn't authorize the additional help until fucking Monday?

Not sure if I read it in one of these threads but I don't believe the actual director of FEMA has even made an appearance, or spoken about the tragic flooding. This is the same moron who had to be told, "Yes, Virginia, there is a hurricane season."

 

58 minutes ago, bolverk said:

 

I came here to post that article. It's not long, but it's got a few interactive elements to show the topography and flood zone designations, so I'll share the full thing with this gift link. The article also talks about how the camp's recent expansion would've been the time to move those cabins out of there. It's worth reading, because it details the expansions, etc.

Still, they include this section:

image.png.f848925540e247be5ef0f855a3fa7a6b.png

I'd really like to get some clarification on this. Were they "unable" to secure grants or were they "too pigheaded" to accept them? The commissioners’ court transcripts say the latter.

It's been pointed out that $1M was ear-marked for Kerr County to set up some sort of early alert system, perhaps even a siren, but Kerr County officials didn't want to accept any moneys from a bleck POTUS who wore a brown suit on occasion. Biden later authorized moneys but same story -- we ain't takin' no 'sistance from a Dumbocrat libtard. MAGA!!!!!!

  • Popular Post
Just now, TreatyOak said:

100% this. Makes Camp Mystic's leadership even more culpable.  

Mystic is going to get sued into Bolivia and will not exist moving forward. Yes, they should've been more prepared considering they were ultimately responsible for 750 or so young women aged 8-18 or so. It does not change the fact that there apparently was not a well-oiled early flood alert system in place for Kerr County. That's on them and also to the state leadership. But Mystic will pay the ultimate price because you can't sue City Hall and all that. El Paso, Uvalde, Mystic -- ain't nothin' gonna change until enough people get fed up and vote these no-talent assclowns out of office. I hope I live to see that day.

2 minutes ago, C-Man said:

ain't nothin' gonna change until enough people get fed up and vote these no-talent assclowns out of office

Edited for reality.

11 minutes ago, C-Man said:

It's been pointed out that $1M was ear-marked for Kerr County to set up some sort of early alert system, perhaps even a siren, but Kerr County officials didn't want to accept any moneys from a bleck POTUS who wore a brown suit on occasion. Biden later authorized moneys but same story -- we ain't takin' no 'sistance from a Dumbocrat libtard. MAGA!!!!!!

Yeah, I've read that same stuff, but I haven't seen it picked up by any mainstream news outlet yet. Instead, it's been couched as "they weren't able to secure a grant" or somesuch. 

 

9 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Mystic is going to get sued into Bolivia and will not exist moving forward. Yes, they should've been more prepared considering they were ultimately responsible for 750 or so young women aged 8-18 or so. It does not change the fact that there apparently was not a well-oiled early flood alert system in place for Kerr County. That's on them and also to the state leadership. But Mystic will pay the ultimate price because you can't sue City Hall and all that. El Paso, Uvalde, Mystic -- ain't nothin' gonna change until enough people get fed up and vote these no-talent assclowns out of office. I hope I live to see that day.

Don’t worry, the lege added this for the special session in a couple of weeks. I suspect they’ll make a big show of throwing (our) money around Kerr Co and surrounding flood prone areas while riding in on white horses. Never mind measures they defeated in the past that might have actually avoided this largely preventable tragedy.

2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Yeah, I've read that same stuff, but I haven't seen it picked up by any mainstream news outlet yet. Instead, it's been couched as "they weren't able to secure a grant" or somesuch. 

 

I would expect that we will see a indepth report from the NY Times at some point in the next 9-12 months. They usually perform deep dives into disasters especially where leadership failings are involved. They need the time to go through documents, fight to get govt info, and perform interviews.

Just hit me that if a governor/state office really put the camps through the paces on disaster planning maga world woulda shouted it down bc of ‘more regulations’

Plus the idea that it would take new, additional tax to fund it is fallacy. They have tax revenue. They can budget things in if they believe they are important.  
What if they called it a new scoreboard for the football stadium?
11 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

Don’t worry, the lege added this for the special session in a couple of weeks. I suspect they’ll make a big show of throwing (our) money around Kerr Co and surrounding flood prone areas while riding in on white horses. Never mind measures they defeated in the past that might have actually avoided this largely preventable tragedy.

In that vein, the special session is coming -- and they're gonna discuss the important issue of redistricting. I'm sure this has nothing to do with trying to protect a razor-thin margin in the House of Reps.

 

image.thumb.png.7df011e80cc095c6f4ae2d52289065ff.png

38 minutes ago, bolverk said:

"they weren't able to secure a grant"

There's nothing we can do!

*********

Also:

“I know that this tragedy, as horrific as it is, could have been so much worse,” Kerrville Police Department Sgt. Jonathan Lamb said.

andthereitisjeffgoldblum.gif

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