A little bit of caution can help keep your property safe and ensure the only time you see a firetruck up close is at the Fourth of July parade.

Thanks to advances in technology, improvements to building codes, and increased consumer product industry regulation, the total number of house fires nation-wide has dropped significantly over the past 35 years.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 370,000 house fires occurred in 2011, a number almost equal to half of the total incidents that occurred in 1977.

Each time a structure fire occurs in the city, the Division of Fire performs an investigation to determine its cause.

Below is a list of reports covering the last 13 fires of 2012. (Two other fires to occur during this period, one at 17437 Shaw Avenue and the other at 17225 Clifton Boulevard, are still under investigation.)

Some of these incidents could have been avoided with commonsense, while others could have happened to anyone.

Tip: When cooking outdoors with a grill or smoker, extinguish the coals or ashes before returning the device to the garage. (Read report)
Incident location: Garage – single-family house
Address: 1535 Woodward Avenue
Date: November 11, 2012

Tip: If a bathroom fan stops working, check the fuse box and turn the electricity off. (Read report)
Incident location: Bathroom – apartment
Address: 1685 Lincoln Avenue
Date: November 7, 2012

Tip: If a power outage occurs while cooking on an electric stovetop, turn the burner controls to the off position. (Read report)
Incident location: Kitchen – apartment
Address: 1336 Hird Avenue
Date: October 30, 2012

Tip: When installing a natural gas-burning fireplace log, be certain it won’t generate more heat than the fireplace is rated to handle. (Read report)
Incident location: Living room – two-family house
Address: 13485 Clifton Boulevard
Date: October 30, 2012

Tip: Store outdoor garbage cans a healthy distance away from occupied structures, and don’t use a fake security camera. (Read report)
Incident location: Exterior garbage cans – apartment
Address: 1353 Mathews Avenue
Date: August 27, 2012

Tip: Limit the time of use and level of voltage when using a jury-rigged extension cord set-up. (Read report)
Incident location: Garage – single-family house
Address: 1473 Larchmont Avenue
Date: July 6, 2012

Tip: Discard smoking material in a secure container. (Read report)
Incident location: Bedroom – single-family house
Address: 1449 Parkhaven Row
Date: July 3, 2012

Tip: Hire a licensed electrician when upgrading electrical systems – and think twice before utilizing extra basement space to grow marijuana. (Read report)
Incident location: Kitchen – two-family house
Address: 2083 Quail Street
Date: June 24, 2012

Tip: Keep children away from incense burners. (Read report)
Incident location: Hallway – apartment
Address: 1385 Manor Park Avenue
Date: June 22, 2012

Tip: Discard smoking material in a secure container. (Read report)
Incident location: Garage  - single-family house
Address: 1440 Robinwood Avenue
Date: June 6, 2012

Tip: Keep yard debris a safe distance from electrical receptacles. (Read report)
Incident location: Garage – single-family house
Address: 1588 Cordova Avenue
Date: April 30, 2012

Tip: Discard smoking material in a secure container. (Read report)
Incident location: Garage – two-family house
Address: 1245-47 Brockley Avenue
Date: March 25, 2012

Tip: Don’t overload power outlets with electronic devices. (Read report)
Incident location: Living room – single-family house
Address: 1466 Ridgewood Avenue
Date: March 13, 2012

A school student waits as a train passes at the Nicholson Avenue railroad crossing.

A train rolled through the set of railroad tracks north of Detroit Avenue, known as the Nickel Plate line, on 178 separate occasions during the final three months of 2012, according to the latest data available from Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Taken all together it may seem like a lot of train traffic, but a closer look at the numbers shows a daily average of just two trains.

At least one train traveled across the rails each day with the exception of a couple of days around Christmas and then again for two days in early November when the tracks were silent.

Daily Norfolk Southern train traffic from October through December 2012. Click on the image for a larger view.

The highest number of trains to pass by in a single day was five. It happened on three separate occasions, each time on a Thursday or Friday, which tended to be the busiest days of the week.

Believe it or not, the daily average was much higher prior to 1998 when Norfolk Southern Corp. signed a memorandum of agreement with Lakewood, Bay Village, and Rocky River to cap train traffic at no more than an average of 13.9 daily.

Prior to the agreement, an average of 34 locomotives rumbled across the line each day. Norfolk Southern was able to accomplish the reduction by moving much of the traffic to its Chicago line, located south of Birdtown.

Ward 2 Councilperson Thomas Bullock a couple of years ago hosted a Public Works Committee meetings that focused on rail issues. The primary gripes concerned high decibel train horns and herbicide discharges.

Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co. is one of the oldest businesses in the region.

Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co., the city’s eighth largest employer, is accusing some its workers of refusing to work overtime to protest the company’s decision to transfer their jobs from the Templar Industrial Park near Birdtown to a facility in Elyria.

The company, which manufactures screws and fasteners used by companies like Caterpillar Inc. to produce diesel engines, filed a request for injunction on Tuesday in U.S. District Court seeking to end what it believes is an illegal strike held in violation of its collective bargaining agreement.

In its complaint, Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co. stated that should the refusal to work overtime continue, it would jeopardize the company’s ability to fulfill customer orders in a timely manner and create a “dire” situation that could cease business operations altogether.

The injunction request was filed against 13 machine operators (incidentally, none of whom reside in the city), their union representative, and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, District Lodge 54.

The union represents 56 hourly production and maintenance workers at the facility. The city estimates the company has 120 employees in Lakewood.

Company announced equipment relocation a year ago

Doncasters Group Ltd., a global conglomerate and the owner of Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co., announced in February 2012 its intention to consolidate the operations of its fastener unit and relocate the heading equipment – the machines used to make screws and fasteners – and related personnel to its Nelson Stud Welding facility in Elyria. All employees would keep their jobs and seniority.

Doncasters indicated the move was necessary in order to create a structure based on Centers of Excellence, maximize its assets and become more competitive in the global market.

Union: Consolidation ‘just doesn’t smell right’

Within a month of the consolidation announcement, union representatives fired off a letter to Tariq Jesrai, Doncasters Group Ltd.’s chairman and chief executive officer, questioning the motives and financial sense behind the move.

The union expressed wariness that an important part of the very profitable Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co. would be disassembled to help prop up the bottom line of a lesser sister company.

The union suggested it would cost at least $1 million to relocate the equipment, and another $500,000 annually to transport parts between the two facilities, thereby diminishing any financial gain.

More pointedly, the union leveled a not-so-subtle threat and suggested if its members declined to relocate to Elyria to set-up and operate the machines, the company stood a greater than 50% chance of losing lucrative industrial customers due to supply disruptions.

The letter also contained a mention of concern about the use of consultants and managing directors who didn’t have the company’s best interests at heart.

Taken all together, “something just doesn’t smell right to us and we hope you feel the same way as well,” the letter concluded.

Relocation of heading machines used to manufacture screws like the ones seen above are at the crux of the conflict.

Union filed grievance over relocation of equipment

Since the relocation announcement was made, only two heading machines have been moved to Elyria.

The header machine operators, header wireman and auxiliary operators filed a grievance in August 2012 after one of the machines was removed during the prior month and claimed it violated terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

The grievance charged that the removal constituted a material change in the equipment available for production and could potentially impact wage hours and incentives.

In addition, it alleged an effort was being made to subcontract work to another facility “without sound economical justification” since the machine was not generating a greater output and was said to be inoperable at the time of the grievance.

The union members’ desired settlement included retroactive wages to December 2007, and the more generous hourly wage increases contained in the prior union contract.

The grievance is scheduled for arbitration next month.

Company demands union action to halt ‘economic pressure’

It is not clear from court documents when exactly workers at Ferry Cap and Set Screw Co. allegedly began to refuse to take part in overtime activities.

On January 18, the company’s director of operations, Steve Duplessis, sent a communication to union representative Jack K. Baker seeking an end to the situation.

In the missive, Duplessis accused the machine operators of “refusing to work overtime as part of a concert effort to put economic pressure” on the company. He suggested the action is regarded as an work stoppage in violation of the union contact that states, “There shall be no strikes, stoppages or slowdowns by the Union…”

Duplessis revealed the company is investigating the possibility of terminating the machine operators and taking action against the Union for breach of contract.

According to the contract, the operators’ annual salary is between $44,408 and $49,358.

He asked the Union to disavow the activities of the machine operators and to instruct them to “resume their normal work habits and accept overtime work in accordance with their usual practice.”

What’s the future of Ferry Cap and Set Screw Co. in Lakewood?

It’s not known exactly how many jobs are leaving Lakewood for Elyria, nor is it known what the move will mean for Ferry Cap and Set Screw Co.’s future in the city.

Union representative Jack K. Baker did not return telephone requests to comment on the situation.  Ferry Screw representative Ed Huber also did not respond to telephone and e-mail requests to elaborate on the matter.

The company moved its headquarters to Lakewood in 2008, after spending more than 110 years on Scranton Road in the Flats.  It employed about 160 people that year and leased about 140,000 square feet in the Lake Erie Building complex, according to a Plain Dealer report at the time.

Crain’s Cleveland Business reported the company filled in part of the 300,000 square feet of space vacated when Lake Erie Screw moved from the 500,000 square-foot complex to Frankfort, KY in 2004.

The property is located on the northeast corner of Quail Street and Thrush Street, near Harrison Elementary School.

A little more than a year after hosting its final mass, the St. Gregory the Theologian Byzantine Catholic Church property has been listed for sale at $189,900.

Included along with the nearly 90-year-old brick 12,000-square-foot church building is a two-family home and a 50-space parking lot. It all looks to be in pretty good shape from the outside and might make for an interesting redevelopment project to lure some more artistic-types to the Birdtown neighborhood with live-work space.

Hopefully, a buyer will emerge soon because the city’s notorious marauding vandals have already begun to pick on the structure.

Police last Thursday noticed that the church was missing a large stained glass window. A temporary plexiglass window was placed in the empty space but fell out. Police left a message with the realtor about the situation.

On Sunday, a citizen walked by and was startled to find the window missing and the building open to the elements. He notified the Division of Housing and Building and called the realtor who explained that the window had been stolen, according to the church bishop. An officer driving by on Monday morning again noticed that the window was missing. He checked the doors to the church and found them to be locked. He reported the incident to dispatch and was told efforts had been made to reach the  realtor.

As of Tuesday evening, the window remained missing.

With copper pipe thieves being especially active recently, this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Real estate round-up….

In other real estate news around the city…the restaurant and bar business in this town can be difficult. Ask Patrick Sullivan. After selling his business, Sullivan’s Irish Pub, to someone who quickly ran it into the ground, Sullivan was forced to surrender the building at 13368 Madison Avenue to his lender in order to stave off foreclosure. It now sits vacant…Forest City Land Group snapped up the vacant former Bischof Interiors building at corner of Fry Avenue and Detroit Avenue for $225,000. It’s in the footprint of the stalled Rockport Square project. Forest City spokesperson Jeff Linton was unable to offer a comment on the move. Lakewood Director of Planning and Development Dru Siley said he wasn’t aware of any pending news about the project… Former Forest City and Rockport Square spokesperson Bill Sanderson has purchased the model unit at 11917 Detroit Avenue for $165,000. The original list price was $399,000. Sanderson recently started his own company…Developer Andrew Brickman acquired the vacant former Irish Cottage on Sloane Avenue through a foreclosure auction. AOL’s Lakewood Patch reported he has plans to throw up some high-end condos on the space…Zaremba Lakewood LLC, developer of the new McDonald’s on Detroit Avenue, sold the property to Levine Investments Limited for a little over $1.4 million…McDonald’s officially sold its old Sloane Avenue property to the Nature’s Bin people for $285,000 with a covenant prohibiting any type of restaurant from being there for the next 20 years — with the exception of the planned culinary training facility…The former Two Dads’ Diner building was purchased for $110,000 via a foreclosure auction by two Westlake residents…The former Red Rooster store at 12901 Detroit Avenue, near the future DrugMart changed hands for $160,000. It still sits vacant…Melt’s Matt Fish has sold his Clifton Park pad and relocated to Cleveland. Charles Geiger of Geiger’s Clothing and Sports traded in his Kenneth Drive house for a place in Clifton Park, where former Cleveland Indians team physician Dr. Louis Keppler has also purchased a property for over $1 million.

A city snow plow truck clears Clarence Ave. on Wednesday evening. The city fired a snow plow truck driver in March after he consumed alcohol while on duty.

Jonathan Blazek had a decent thing going. He joined the Public Works Department in 1988 as a night watchman and worked his way up over the next 23 years becoming a brush chipper operator, then a mechanic, and finally a streets-forestry worker. The Olmsted Falls resident earned a salary of nearly $59,000 in 2011.

Things took an unfortunate turn in mid-March of this year when Blazek, a self-acknowledged alcoholic, volunteered to work a 4 p.m. to midnight “winter shift” as a snow plow operator. Just 15 minutes before quitting time, he was sent home after it was discovered that he’d been drinking while on the job. His employment with the city was terminated three days later.

Blazek in April filed complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging he was unlawfully discriminated against based on alcoholism, which is a legally recognized disability. The EEOC terminated its investigation in August after finding that there was no probable cause to believe discrimination occurred.

Undeterred, Blazek last month filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking reinstatement, full back pay, and attorney fees.

Blaczek accuses the city of wrongfully firing him, inflicting emotional distress, causing a loss of consortium, and violating the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Ohio Civil Rights Act by discriminating against him because he’s an alcoholic.

The city admits it knew that Blazek had problems with alcohol, but denies any wrongdoing. It also disputes Blazek’s claim that he hadn’t had any prior disciplinary infractions.

The matter is before Judge Patricia A. Gaughn. A preliminary case management conference on the issue is set for January 11.

Legal round-up: County judge affirms Planning Commission’s historic designation of church; Grace Ave. residents settle Discount Drug Mart dispute

A recent rumor suggested a bank was interested in buying the building.

Cuyahoga County Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold earlier this month affirmed the Planning Commission’s designation of the First Church of Christ, Scientist building on Detroit Avenue as a historic property.

California Phone, Inc., the out-of-state owner of the building, had filed an appeal because it felt the property didn’t meet the criteria nor did it believe the Commission followed the proper procedures. Judge Saffold disagreed on all counts. It is not known if the company will file any other appeals.

 In other legal news….a settlement was reached on Thursday regarding the appeal filed by Grace Avenue residents Annie Caswell and Don Tollett over the Commission’s approval of the Discount Drug Mart project in Ward 4. More details are expected to be released soon…Cohassett Avenue resident Aumar A. Salti has withdrawn his lawsuit against the city. Salti was riding a bike in the street on the west side of Waterbury Road, south of Madison Avenue, when he hit a pothole, fell to the ground, and broke his wrist in two places.