Three Killed in Firefighting Plane Crash in Utah

News results for Three Killed in Firefighting Plane Crash in Utah

Firefighting Plane Crashes In Utah, 3 Killed‎ - 23 hours ago

Alamogordo, NM (AHN) - A tanker plane dispatched to help fight a wildfire in southeastern New Mexico crashed in Utah's Oquirrh Mountains Saturday killing ...

Three Killed in Firefighting Plane Crash in Utah

A converted military plane crashed Saturday in heavy fog in the mountains that frame the Salt Lake valley, killing three members of a private firefighting company, authorities said.

Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park said the plane was en route from Missoula, Mont., to Alamogordo, N.M., when it failed to clear a pass in the Oquirrh Mountains.

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This from Firefighter Close calls – Falling down a well

Just goes to show you don’t always know what you will find at the scene of a fire. Watch your footing when you’re out there.

Georgia Firefighter Falls in Well - Close Call

A Bowersville, GA Firefighter is in stable condition after being trapped in a well for 20 minutes April 19.
Michael Certain, who fights fires for the Bowersville Station, was hospitalized with injuries not con-sidered life-threatening after he fell into a well while fighting a fire.
An abandoned house on Redwine Church Road was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene around 2 a.m.
Certain fell into the 12-foot open well as he was fighting the fire on the back side of the house.
Smoke filled the top of the well, leaving Certain's breathing apparatus as his only source of clean air.
Certain said he worked to stay calm and set off an alarm system to let other firefighters know he was in trouble.
"I knew I had to keep my presence of mind," he said.
As he waited to be rescued, he made two failed attempts to get out of the well.
"I tried to climb out, but the walls were too far apart and I couldn't get a good grip," he said.
Certain said he started "filter breathing," after his breathing apparatus alerted him he had only 5-10 minutes worth of air left.
He breathed through a makeshift filter as much as possible to conserve the air in his breathing apparatus.
"I did that until I felt the signs and symptoms of getting close to passing out and then I'd use my pack again until I got my wits about me," he said. "I did that three times before I felt some debris fall down. I heard some of the other firefighters hollering and knew they had found me."
As two firemen attempted to lift him out of the well using a fire hose, Certain said he lost his strength and fell back down.
They tried a second time and he mustered the strength to keep his grip on the hose.
"I knew I had to hold on," he said. "That was my only lifeline."
Both County Fire Chief Jerry Byrum and Certain credit his firefighter training for saving his life.
"Michael is a very good fireman with a lot of training," Byrum said. "I think the training played into helping him get out of that situation."
Certain was transported by ambulance to Cobb Memorial Hospital in Royston and later transferred to Athens Regional Medical Center in Athens.
Certain was in stable condition, awaiting further medical evaluation as of press time.
"I just want to thank all the firefighters that were on the scene and EMS workers for everything they did," Certain said.
The fire department, Hart County Sheriff's Office and state fire marshall are investigating the fire.

What's up with the Swine Flu – What you must do

The swine flu media avalanche is causing an information overload. There are three things pertinent to the fire service that must be implemented immediately to protect your members, provide excellent patient care, and be a good public health partner. Here's the list:
Fire Service Leaders

1. Immediately notify all members and staff of the emerging problem.
   Review your plans using the CDC EMS Pandemic Preparedness checklist.
2. Set up an email list and web site to provide continual updates and info for your members.
3. Monitor news reports and government resources. Communicate with your local public health officials. Use the CDC minute-to-minute swine flu update site.

Communications Center/Dispatch Leaders

1. Implement severe respiratory infection (SRI) screening for all callers with chest pain, difficulty breathing, headache, or general illness (sick person). If using the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS), activate the SRI drop down on ProQA or add the following questions to paper card numbers 6, 10, 18, and 26 for further interrogation: (a) has the patient recently been in Mexico (or other outbreak location) or exposed to anyone who has (paying particular attention to those who stayed for 7 days or longer)? (b) are they febrile or have a fever and, if so, is it higher than 101 F (38 C) and (c) do they have a cough or other respiratory illness symptoms?
2. Relay responses to these questions to EMS units before they arrive on scene.

Firefighters and EMS Providers

1. Request additional information from dispatch when sent to respiratory, sick person and fever related calls if limited initial dispatch information is provided.
2. Perform initial interview of all patients from at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) away to determine if personal protective equipment precautions are necessary.
3. Place a mask on all patients with suspected influenza symptoms before approach. Use a surgical mask or non-rebreather mask (when oxygen is required).
4. Avoid droplet producing procedures whenever possible including nebulizers, bag-valve-mask, suctioning or intubation. If bag-valve-masks are needed, use BVMs with HEPA filters whenever possible.
5. Recommended PPE for taking care of ill/potentially infected patients includes: gloves and N95 or better respirators. PPE should be donned and doffed according to published guidelines to prevent cross contamination, including faceshield/eye and gown protection when splash or airborne contamination is possible.
6. Alert receiving hospital personnel of the possibility of an infectious patient as soon as possible and hold suspected infectious patients in the ambulance until their destination in the hospital is known, rather than immediately moving them into the emergency department.
7. Perform a thorough cleaning of the stretcher and all equipment that has come in contact with or been within 2 meters (6.5 feet) with an approved disinfectant, upon completion of the call following CDC interim guidelines for cleaning EMS transport vehicles.

Remember that this is a continually evolving situation. The most severe flu cases so far have been mostly adults from ages 25 to 45, but patients of all ages have been infected, so the same precautions should be used for all patients. We need to stay on heightened alert until this threat has been controlled. As with all infectious diseases, always remember that hand washing is the number one way to decrease transmission! More at the CDC web site here.

They have been talking about this happening for years and now maybe its here?

Will we be ready, sounds like the new President is getting prepared for it. Guess that’s a good thing.

(CNN) -- The United States government declared a public health emergency Sunday as the number of identified cases of swine flu in the nation rose to 20.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano briefs reporters at the White House Sunday. CNN's Full Story Here

The declaration is part of a "standard operating procedure" that will make available additional government resources to combat the virus, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the White House.

The U.S. military issued a worldwide caution, telling its medical personnel to be on the lookout for troops with signs of swine flu and reiterated the need for public health precautions.

Additional cases of swine flu are expected to be reported in the coming days, added Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No one has died in the United States from swine flu, officials said Sunday.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said eight students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, New York, tested positive for swine flu. More than 100 students at the school were absent with flu-like symptoms last week, he said.

State public health officials in Ohio confirmed one case of swine flu on Sunday. There have been seven confirmed cases in California, two in Kansas, and two in Texas, Besser said.

The World Health Organization advised all countries to be on the lookout for "unusual" outbreaks of flu, after an emergency meeting Saturday as the seriousness of the outbreak became clear.

Do we really need a week to do this, Do it all the time?

 

Good article I though I’d share on my blog site. Worth the read if not just for the spark to get you thinking?

Why Do We Need a Safety Week?

from Mutual Aid by Robert Avsec

Prompted several years ago by the high number of annual firefighter deaths from preventable causes, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and International Association of Fire Fighters called on the American fire service to conduct a “Safety Stand Down.” The stand down was patterned after U.S. military stand downs: a cessation of all daily activity by operational units, except for mission-critical activities, to focus everyone’s energies and efforts on reviewing operational practices and plans to identify and remediate causes of accidents.
Military safety stand downs typically are prompted by clusters of similar types of accidents in a short period of time involving a specific population or operation. For example, the U.S. Navy ordered a safety stand down in response to several crashes of aircraft during training missions in a short period of time. The original fire service safety stand down was an idea in that same vein: we’ve got serious issues that are leading to unacceptable firefighter deaths and we need to get everyone to stop what they are doing for a short period of time and really focus on solving the problems.
So why do we need a safety week? For years we’ve been saying that our fire prevention activities need to happen 24/7/365, not just during one week in October. So why are we now compartmentalizing firefighter safety to one week a year? We still have the same unacceptable deaths and they’re still happening from the same preventable causes. Shouldn’t safety be a 24/7/365 proposition?
For many years, the American manufacturing industry had quality-assurance or quality-control departments with inspectors who examined finished products. If they approved the product it went out to be sold; if they failed the product, it went into the trash heap. The worker who made the inferior product or who operated the machine that produced the product never knew that they had produced a product that left the plant in a Dumpster. They kept making the same defective product and the inspector kept rejecting it, until a problem became so widespread that it resulted in decreased sales or bad PR for the company.
An alternative was to ship the product and let its quality problems become someone else’s headache. At one time it was acceptable for a new car manufactured by GM to leave the plant with 13 quality defects; the dealerships were expected to deal with the after-market defects.
The Japanese automobile industry took a different tack when its leaders embraced the teachings of Dr. Edward Deming in an effort to change the world’s perception that products produced in Japan were cheap or shoddy. Their efforts, later embraced by the Japanese electronics manufacturing industry, focused on making quality everyone’s business. Their plants didn’t have quality inspectors or quality assurance departments; instead they initiated quality circles of employees who were involved in the product production. Those quality circles examined all of their processes looking for ways to remove barriers to producing a quality product every time and took responsibility for indentifying defects and fixing them before they left the factory.
We in the American Fire Service need to figure out how change our organizational culture so that safety is not an activity, but a way of doing business every day, every week, and every year. We don’t need a safety week or a safety stand down to make that happen. We need quality circles looking at every process that has an impact on safety. We need leadership at all levels of our organizations who don’t just talk about firefighter deaths being unacceptable, but work diligently to identify and eradicate safety deficiencies in their organization today. More importantly, however, we do need leaders who focus everyone’s efforts on changing our culture so that tomorrow’s firefighters never know how to do the job any differently.

Kansas firefighter collapsed and died April 21 while returning from a brush fire

Dennis M. Simmons, 63, was a member of Stafford County Fire Department in St. John, Kansas.

He was returning to the station in a fire truck after a grass fire when he suffered an apparent heart attack, according to the USFA.

Simmons was transported to the Central Kansas Medical Center where he died.

Memorial contributions may be made to the County Fireman's Relief Fund in care of the Bryant Funeral Home, 1425 Patton RD, Great Bend, Kansas, 67530.

Funeral Information

Service will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Bryant Funeral Home, Great Bend. Military Honors conducted by Kansas National Guard, Topeka, and Fire Department Honors will be conducted.

Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

Please visit www.bryantfh.net to leave personal condolences.

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More info on that manifold that failed in Lambertville NJ

Read report from Snap-tite Hose, Inc.

You might remember the story about the exploding manifold pictured above. It failed at a fire in Lambertville, NJ on March 28 slightly injuring two firefighters.

The IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section has been looking into the incident and talking with the manufacturer Snap-tite Hose, Inc. The company reports it has looked closely at the damaged manifold and tested it. It has issued the report above, passed on by FirefighterCloseCalls.com. The report comes to the following conclusion:

It is apparent from the evidence provided that the cause of this failure was a severe over-pressure condition, such as water hammer. Fire Department personnel state that they were careful not to create any conditions that might result in water hammer. The actions of the water authority should be closely examined as they did admit that they had caused an overpressure in the system. Improper operation of a valve in their system could have set up a water hammer condition which travelled through the hydrant and to the manifold.
For more information on water hammer there are many articles on the web. Two comprehensive articles can be found at http://www.pump-zone.com/pumps/pumps/the-causes-of-water-hammer-part-one.html and http://www.pump-zone.com/valves/valves/water-hammer-part-two-causes-and-variables.html.