Sunday, November 17, 2024
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
LODD Reports from USFA
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Birchwood, WI
John "Jack" Colbert of the Birchwood Fire Department in Birchwood, WI has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-04-06 .
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Philadelphia, PA
Robert Neary of the Philadelphia Fire Department in Philadelphia, PA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-04-09
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Philadelphia, PA
Daniel Sweeney of the Philadelphia Fire Department in Philadelphia, PA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-04-09
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Decaturville, TN
Kenny Fox of the Decatur County Volunteer Fire Department Station 3 in Decaturville, TN has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-04-07
Thursday, April 5, 2012
LODD Notices
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Los Angeles, CA
David Bailey of the Los Angeles County Fire Department in Los Angeles, CA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-04-03 00:00:00.0.
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Adena, OH
Edward Richard Bernosky of the Adena Volunteer Fire Company in Adena, OH has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-03-20 00:00:00.0.
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Jacksonville, AR
Donald L. Jones of the Jacksonville Fire Department in Jacksonville, AR has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-03-19 00:00:00.0.
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Norfolk, VA
Jonathan D. Myers of the Norfolk Fire-Rescue in Norfolk, VA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-03-19 00:00:00.0.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
LODD
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Houston, TX
Thomas "Bill" Dillion of the Houston Fire Department in Houston, TX has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2012-03-14
Initial Summary:
Senior Captain Dillion arrived with other firefighters at the scene of a residential cooking fire. As he approached the entrance to the apartment building he experienced a medical emergency and collapsed. Dillion was treated immediately and transported to the West Houston Medical Center Hospital where he passed away from a cause still to be determined. Incident Location: 7520 Cook Road, Houston, TX
Sunday, February 5, 2012
LODD Reports
Flint, David M.
Edinboro, Pennsylvania
02/02/2012
Initial Summary:
While returning to the fire department, Fire Chief Flint passed away from injuries he suffered in a motor vehicle crash when another vehicle coming from the opposite direction crossed over the center line. Assistant Fire Chief Sharon Petri, a passenger who was riding with Flint at the time of the accident, was injured and remains hospitalized. Investigation into the incident continues by local and state authorities. Incident Location: 6-N East of Fry Road (USNG: 17T NG 6944 3688)
Haase, Sr., Doug
St. Charles, Missouri
02/01/2012
Initial Summary:
Firefighter/Engineer/Paramedic Doug Haase, Sr., passed away while on duty from a cause still to be reported. Incident Location: 1550 S Main ST, St. Charles, MO (Station 2, USNG: 15S YC 1834 9442)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
LODD 2012
8 so far not a good start to the year
Sumner, Walter C.
Cranesville, Pennsylvania
01/24/2012
Turcotte, Bruce
Hopelawn, New Jersey
01/19/2012
Little, Brandon
New Oxford, Pennsylvania
01/18/2012
Ibarra, Duane
Kahului, Hawaii
01/18/2012
Crenshaw, David
Anderson, South Carolina
01/09/2012
Butler, Samuel
Maxton, North Carolina
01/08/2012
Elliott, William "Jumbo"
Pompano Beach, Florida
01/06/2012
Lionell, Crisanto Leo
South Sacramento, California
01/04/2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
New Show
From the Arlington Cardinal
NBC Approves ‘Chicago Fire’ Pilot — Action-Driven Drama About Heroic Men and Women of the Chicago Fire Department
Monday January 30 2012 9:28 am http://www.arlingtoncardinal.com/?p=50767
Reruns of Rescue Me and EMERGENCY! might be satisfactory for some firefighter fans, but what if a new series would air about the Chicago Fire Department with the quality of Law and Order? NBC has approved a such a pilot, Chicago Fire, produced by Dick Wolf and reported to be an action drama showing the lives of the men and women of the Chicago Fire Department. Writers Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (both of 3:10 to Yuma fame, starring Russell Crowe) are also working on the project.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
On the web and in the news
Fire Department Ordered to Keep Receipts
WNEP-TV
By Jim Murdoch The mayor of Wilkes-Barre Township said Monday he still has confidence in the volunteer fire department, even though state police raided the place Friday and even though the fire chief has been charged with theft.
See all stories on this topic »
Firefighters Give Support Dog To Kid In Need
FOX2now.com
So when the department heard Zach had spent the past year and a half trying to get a service dog, Creve Coeur's firefighters raced to his rescue again, volunteering to pay all the costs from their own pockets. On Monday, at the offices of Support Dogs ...
See all stories on this topic »
Horse drawn chemical truck, San Luis Obispo firefighters in 1906 ...
By David Middlecamp
CHEMICAL TRUCK — The latest thing in fire fighting equipment — in 1906, that is—is pictured here in a photo which was presented to the San Luis Obispo fire department by Mrs. Callie M. John in 1948. The gallant volunteers in uniform are as follows: Top row, left to right—Charles ... art firefighting in San Luis Obispo until 1916 when petrol would replace equine power. This photo was made a year after one of the worst fires in history struck downtown, destroying a whole city block.
Fireground Search: How Do you Know?
FireEngineering.com
By Jerry Knapp Firefighters take house fires for granted, but I'm not sure why. House and residential fires in America account for a death rate (on average) of one every three hours or about eight per day. Residential fires account of an annual loss of ...
See all stories on this topic »
Burning Questions - Chicago Sun-Times
While hall fixtures and furniture were destroyed, firefighters managed to save most of the structure itself. Schuette would go on to shepherd reconstruction and modernization of the school at a cost of $30000, according to a parish publication. ...
See all stories on this topic »
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Next Big Thing - Coming to a truck near you
Unless you’re scanning the web for this kind of information, you’re probably not aware that on a fairly regular basis huge trucks with no driver inside the cab roll away from where they were parked. This usually happens because the driver neglected to engage the parking brake or because someone either purposely or inadvertently released it. The so-called rollaway accidents that result are often both costly and deadly. In April, a tractor trailer rolled across 10 lanes of expressway traffic in Columbus, GA and plowed through a store, causing $200,000 in damage. In 2006, an eight year-old girl was killed in New York City after being pinned on the sidewalk by a runaway school bus. Witnesses saw an eight year-old boy entering the empty bus prior to the tragic accident.
Accardi lives in the village of Yaphank, New York in the suburbs of Long Island. He spent close to six years working on his device, which sells for $2,500, and comes with a lifetime guarantee. A patent is pending.
Here’s how it works: less than two seconds after the driver has gotten out of the seat, a sensor in the seat sends a signal to the system’s controller box, which also receives data on the truck’s speed. If the controller detects motion of between 2 and 3 mph, it sends current to a solenoid that has been installed on the supply line to the air brake, cutting off the air. That, in turn, causes the parking brake to kick in.
Accardi parks a truck in the driveway of his home in Yaphank, opens the driver side door, releases the brake and the truck starts rolling in reverse. He sits in the driver seat for a moment with his legs hanging outside the cab, watching the truck roll down the driveway, then quickly climbs out of the moving truck. A second or so after his butt is off the seat, we hear the air brakes hiss and the truck stops rolling. In another segment of the video a truck with the anti-roll away system is seen rolling down a steep suburban street. Then Accardi opens the door and jumps out of the moving truck, which quickly brakes seconds after he is out of the driver’s seat. It’s dramatic stuff.
In the video Accardi makes reference to the personal injuries, deaths, property damage and resulting insurance claims from rollaway accidents and then declares: “The system we have is going to put an end to all of that.”
A self-taught mechanic who says he never had the money to go to mechanics school, Accardi has worked on trucks since he was 15 years old. He worked his way up from mechanic to administrator at Waste Management, the giant private carting firm. While he was there, Accardi says, he got weekly safety updates that indicated between two and five rollaway incidents took place almost every week. In one, a Waste Management employee was crushed to death between two trucks, causing Accardi to remark, “There’s no need for this to happen. I can make something to prevent this.”
When a colleague dared him to go ahead and try, Accardi spent the next two nights in his garage making a tabletop model of his anti-rollaway system. The Craftsman tractor he sat on as he mowed his lawn was something of an inspiration.
“Look at your standard garden tractor,” Accardi said in an interview. “They all have a seat switch so that if you get up out of your seat, it shuts the motor off.”
Which is why he pulled the seat off the lawnmower and attached it to a used beer delivery truck he bought for $5,000 solely for the purpose of perfecting his anti-rollaway system.
Accardi resisted the overtures of a firm that describes itself as America’s leading inventor service company. He says it wanted him to cough up $10,000 before it would help and took months to return one of his calls. He also spent many months doing a dance with venture capitalists, who he says “wanted almost the whole company. If I would have given every VC what they wanted, I’d be working for them for the rest of my life.”
Accardi says he had some promising meetings with the giant auto part manufacturer Delphi but there were personnel changes and no deal was reached. So he reluctantly decided to market the device himself. They key engineering challenge was an electronic one: programming some sort of controller with a microprocessor that would use inputs on the truck’s motion and absence of a driver to make the air brakes go on.
“Everybody wanted large amounts of money to do engineering before they got involved and did anything,” Accardi recalls.
Initially he was told there would be between $200,000 and $500,000 in engineering costs to launch the business. But eventually Accardi found a firm called Electro Motive Designs on Long Island. The firm does work turning garbage trucks and buses into hybrids, so Accardi’s project was right up their alley. Instead of a six figure tab for programming the controller box, Accardi paid Electro Motive Designs in the low five figures.
“They told me they would hack right into the truck’s computer, and then bing, bang, boom, they did everything we wanted,” Accardi recalls.”They had already done the hard work on their previous jobs.”
Dana Demeo, Electro Motive Designs’ VP of Engineering, says, “I was impressed with Tommy from the get go. He understood the problem and how to solve it.”
Demeo says Accardi can now connect the controller to his computer with a USB cable and program it on his own. Thus, the amount of time that the system allows before engaging the brakes can be varied. Because the box has flash memory, it can record incidents where the anti-rollaway system was activated and store the data for later download to a computer. Future programming and hardware tweaks would enable truck owners to get a GPS reading on exactly where such incidents took place and either email or text the data to management.
The 3″ X 4″ programmable controller box is about an inch thick and was purchased “off the shelf.” The controller can be installed in either a truck’s cab or under the hood, as long as it’s no more than four feet from the vehicle’s diagnostic port. Accardi says that installation takes between two and four hours and can be done by truck manufacturers, companies with a fleet of trucks or “anyone who can fool with air brakes.”
A volunteer fireman for more than 20 years, Accardi’s day job is supervisor of a waste transfer station. He is clearly proud that all but one part of his anti-rollaway system was manufactured in the US.
“It’s a great country,” he says. “I want everything made here.”
With a $2,500 price tag, the system may seem pricey for the prevention of accidents that are somewhat rare, but as HTK Engineering’s marketing director, Victor Yannacone III, points out, a rollaway accident can be quite costly for an insurance company: a single accident involving a fatality can result in millions of dollars of liability and injuries or property damage can cost hundreds of thousands. HTK expects insurance companies to offer premium reductions around 5% to 10% to truck owners who install its anti-rollaway system. For owners who shell out $20,000 to $30,000 a year for insurance, such savings would pay for the cost of the unit in two or three years.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Reminder–If you didn’t hear
FEMA, FCC Announce Nationwide Test Of The Emergency Alert System
Link HERE -Nationwide Test
Similar to local Emergency Alert System Tests, this Test is Scheduled to Take Place on
November 9, 2011 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The nationwide test will occur on Wednesday, November 9 at 2 p.m. eastern standard time and may last up to three and a half minutes. The EAS is a national alert and warning system established to enable the President of the United States to address the American public during emergencies. NOAA's National Weather Service, governors and state and local emergency authorities also use parts of the system to issue more localized emergency alerts.
Similar to local EAS tests that are already conducted frequently, the nationwide test will involve broadcast radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services and wireline video service providers across all states and the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
On November 9, the public will hear a message indicating that "This is a test." The audio message will be the same for both radio and television. Under the FCC's rules, radio and television broadcasters, cable operators, satellite digital audio radio service providers, direct broadcast satellite service providers and wireline video service providers are required to receive and transmit presidential EAS messages to the public. A national test will help the federal partners and EAS participants determine the reliability of the system and its effectiveness in notifying the public of emergencies and potential dangers nationally and regionally. The rest of the release HERE
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
LODD
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Fairfax, VA
Horace "Chris" C. Pendergrass of the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department in Fairfax, VA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-10-22
Initial Summary:
Firefighter Pendergrass was discovered deceased in bed by fellow firefighters at shift change, having passed away during the night in his sleep from a cause still to be determined. Incident Location: Station #41, 9610 Hampton Road, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-2813
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Atlanta, GA
Harold Gregory Gibson of the Fulton County Fire Rescue in Atlanta, GA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 1993-06-19
Initial Summary:
Firefighter Gibson contracted Hepatitis C after coming in contact with blood while treating a patient injured in a traffic accident in 1993. Due to medical complications related to Hepatitis, Firefighter Gibson left the fire department in 1998 and passed away in July, 2011.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Future of auto extrication?
Would, could, should this type of machine be used for auto extrication,
building collapse? Could be the future of rescue tools?
Raytheon-Sarcos Prototype Power Loader
from MAKE Magazine by Sean Michael Ragan
It rolls on tracks instead of walking, but this ditch-witch style tracked chassis retrofit with a pair of giant waldos is pretty much the power loader from Aliens. This video showing it in action is a great news segment from Ed Yeates of Utah’s KSL-TV, right up to the point where they start talking about the system as an “equalizer” opening up jobs to women “that might’ve otherwise been closed just based on strength issues.”
Last time I checked, guys, there aren’t a lot of men running around out there who can wave 200-lb steel I-beams around with one arm, either. Still, in all, an extremely cool toy developed by Raytheon-Sarcos (Wikipedia), the same folks who produced the XOS-series powered exoskeletons we’ve featured here before. [via Gizmodo]
LODD
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Cape May, NJ
Andrew "Andy" K. Boyt of the Cape May Fire Department in Cape May, NJ has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-10-03
Initial Summary:
A few hours after working a twenty-four hour shift, Lieutenant Boyt's personal vehicle was observed parked on the side of a local road. Boyt was inside of the vehicle, slumped over the steering wheel. Police, EMS and medics responded, found Boyt unresponsive and started CPR. He was immediately transported to Cape Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Lieutenant Boyt had responded to fire calls within 24 hours prior to his passing. The cause of his death is still under investigation.
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Hagatna, GU
Vince Cruz of the Guahan (Guam) Fire Department in Hagatna, GU has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-09-28
Initial Summary:
Firefighter Cruz passed away while onduty from a cause still to be determined. Cruz, posthumously promoted to Fire Lieutenant, was reported by authorities to have responded to a number of emergency calls the fire department answered the previous night.
Friday, August 5, 2011
LODD reports
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Whiteriver, AZ
Deon "Dino" Jason Classay of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort Apache Agency in Whiteriver, AZ has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-23
Initial Summary:
The lightning caused Diamond Fire was reported to Show Low Dispatch on 06/23/2011 at approximately 1200hrs local time. The location of the fire was confirmed by a helicopter to be north of the Black River on Fort Apache, approximately 2.5 miles northeast of Ten of Diamonds Ranch. The Fort Apache Helitack and Fort Apache Hotshots were dispatched as Initial Attack resources and were flown to a helispot located on a ridge top on Paddy Butte near the fire start. Terrain in the area is steep and rocky with a dense woodlands fuel type. Following completion of a handline around the approximately 35 acre fire all resources hiked back up to the helispot (spike camp). As resources returned to helispot, the Incident Commander determined that one firefighter was not accounted for and initiated a search to locate the missing firefighter. The firefighter was in possession of a handheld radio and attempts to contact him throughout the evening were not successful. After several sweeps of the area, law enforcement from local, county and state agencies were requested to assist with the search efforts. Search efforts continued throughout the night until the missing firefighter was found deceased at 0618hrs. Incident Location: Vicinity of Paddy Butte, AZ (USNG: 12S XC 292 230)
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Stone Lake, WI
Ronald Dwane Ruprecht of the Stone Lake Fire Department in Stone Lake, WI has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-10
Initial Summary:
Lieutenant Ruprecht responded to a false alarm call at approximately 1200hrs. The following morning, he was found by family members having passed away during the night.
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Salisbury, MA
Timothy Oliveira of the Salisbury Fire Rescue in Salisbury, MA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-07-29
Initial Summary:
Lieutenant Oliveira passed away from injuries sustained when the fire department vehicle he was working under fell off of a jack and struck him. Incident Location: 37 Lafayette RD, Salisbury, MA (USNG: 19T CH 4783 4537)
Monday, August 1, 2011
LODD notices
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Asheville, NC
Jeffrey Scott Bowen of the Asheville Fire Department in Asheville, NC has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-07-28
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Baytown, TX
Gaston Gagne of the Baytown Fire Department in Baytown, TX has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-07-25
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Waterloo, IN
Travis Lee Miller of the Waterloo - Grant Township Fire Department in Waterloo, IN has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-07-19
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Valley Forge, PA
John Lackovic of the Valley Forge Volunteer Fire Company in Valley Forge, PA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-07-11
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Four LODD’s to post
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Lake City, FL
Brett Fulton of the Suwannee Forestry Center, Florida Division of Forestry in Lake City, FL has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-20
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Lake City, FL
Josh Burch of the Suwannee Forestry Center, Florida Division of Forestry in Lake City, FL has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-20 :
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Du Quoin, IL
Corey Shaw of the Du Quoin Fire Department in Du Quoin, IL has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-17
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Muncie, IN
Scott Davis of the Muncie Fire Department in Muncie, IN has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-15
Monday, June 13, 2011
LODD Notices
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Wenatchee, WA
Garet Rasmussen of the Chelan County Fire District 1 in Wenatchee, WA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-12
Initial Summary:
Shortly after returning home from a motor vehicle accident response, Battalion Chief Rasmussen passed away from a cause still to be reported. Incident Location: Pending
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: San Francisco, CA
Vincent A. Perez of the San Francisco Fire Department in San Francisco, CA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-02
Initial Summary:
Lieutenant Perez and Firefighter/Paramedic Valerio passed away from injuries sustained while operating at a house fire in the Diamond Heights district of San Francisco. Incident Location: 133 Berkeley Way (USNG: 10SEG49407706)
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: San Francisco, CA
Anthony M. Valerio of the San Francisco Fire Department in San Francisco, CA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-06-02
Initial Summary:
Firefighter/Paramedic Valerio and Lieutenant Perez passed away from injuries sustained while operating at a house fire in the Diamond Heights district of San Francisco. Incident Location: 133 Berkeley Way (USNG: 10SEG49407706)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Embarrassing to say the least!!!!!
Mo. Fire Trucks Collide, Five Firefighters Injured
Platte County firefighters were headed to a house fire when the wreck occurred at an intersection early Monday morning.
PLATTE CITY, Mo., May 9 (UPI) -- Five firefighters were seriously injured in the head-on collision of two firetrucks in a rural area of Missouri's Platte County, authorities said. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/05/09/Missouri-firetrucks-collide-five-injured/UPI-90791304961653/#ixzz1Lt8R2T2F Video at this link too!
LODD
Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Olive Branch, MS
Charles Foster of the Barton Volunteer Fire Department in Olive Branch, MS has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2011-04-25
Initial Summary:
Firefighter Foster passed away in the hospital from a heart attack he had suffered several days earlier while working debris removal related to severe weather incidents in the region. Incident Location: Hwy 309, south of Deer Creek RD (USNG: 16S BD 544 684)