marstein

from the 'this is true' newsletter:

OK BUDDY, WHERE'S THE FIRE? When the Anchorage Inn in Rouses Point, N.Y.,
caught fire, the small town at the extreme north tip of the state
called for help from neighboring fire departments. The town of Lacolle,
Que., Canada, which is just 8 miles away, sent an engine, but it was
stopped at the border by a U.S. Customs official. "I've been crossing
this border for 30 years, and the only question we were ever asked was,
'Where's the fire?'," said Lacolle fire chief Jean-Pierre Hebert. This
time, however, the firefighters were delayed for as long as 15 minutes
while they explained why they didn't have their passports in their
bunker gear. "When you're answering a call at midnight, all you think
about is putting on your pants," Hebert said. "You don't think about
taking your wallet." Two other trucks behind them, also running with
lights and sirens, were also delayed. Hebert said American authorities
promised the "isolated incident" would not be repeated. Too late for
the restaurant: it was completely destroyed. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
...Which is probably more than any firetruck-borne terrorists could
have accomplished.

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Ferris Bueller

this is what happens when customs and border patrol people start thinking they're "cool".

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|TG-6th|Ferris Bueller

Switchcraft

Reading this is like seeing the Internet version of the game of Telephone.

The lead firetruck was delayed for 8 minutes, not 15. The following firetrucks were delayed for 2 minutes. 10 departments responded to the scene, not just this one, and there were already firefighters on scene when this happened. Nobody seems to be disputing that the outcome of the fire would not have been different, only that obviously a review of procedures needed to be put in place.

This passport business is probably a complete fabrication of whoever tried to give this urban legend status...CNN reports that it came down to one firefighter having an issue, possibly a criminal record, that would normally prevent him from being able to enter the country.

I don't think this has anything to do with border patrol people "thinking they're cool" (though where the animosity in that comment comes from I don't know) or some stupid legal snafu. This is probably the first time a criminal employed by the government of a foreign country tried to cross the border under the circumstances, and now they all are going to sit down and review how and why this happened and how to speed things along for next time.

No serious injuries, no change in expected outcome, and people are reviewing what happened to have a plan the next time a known criminal tries to illegally enter my country. I'm okay with how this went down.

marstein

So 'this is true' was wrong? Sometimes their stories seem to have an edge, I admit. Thanks for the fact checking. Next time I read something on the internet ;-)

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Gigabyte P35-DS3R, 2GB, 8800GTS 640MB, Core2Duo E8400