Story by 9NEWS NOW’s Lindsey Mastis
A car crashes into a house, rupturing a gas line and sending the woman inside out into the rain. But it was what happened to that woman after the crisis was over that has the family outraged.
Vaida “Nanny” Shelton, 93, was at her home on Philadelphia Avenue when a car crashed into the front.
“Oh, it just sounded– a horrible sound– boom,” she says.
Firefighters say the slightest spark could have caused a massive explosion. They escorted Nanny and two dogs out of the house.
“He said to get out of house it was dangerous– it might explode,” Nanny says.
A neighbor says she found Nanny standing outside, without a coat, trying to hold onto two large dogs.
“They were pulling on me. I could hardly handle them,” Nanny says.
“She could have had a really bad fall and been dragged down the street,” says Lisa Tucker, Nanny’s granddaughter.
Nanny lives with Lisa, who was at work when the crash happened. Nanny didn’t know Lisa’s work number by heart. Her neighbor finally found the number online. Lisa is upset that the fire department didn’t do more to contact her.
“I find out about this hours after everything had happened because no one contacted me, no one knew how to contact me,” she says.
9NEWS NOW contacted Captain Oscar Garcia with Montgomery Fire & Rescue Service and told him what happened. He then visited the family.
“I apologize for that,” he told them.
He answered their questions and gave them what’s called a File of Life pouch so in the future, firefighters can get emergency contact details more easily.
He says it includes, “Medical information, an allergies, and any emergency contact information that may be needed.”
Lisa says she wants other families to learn from this situation and have a plan in place for everyone in case of an evacuation.
Also on STATter911 …
- Quick Takes – November 16, 2009
- Investigation into Montgomery County, Maryland firehouse sleepover. Burtonsville VFD member’s Saturday night date discovered after she uses another firefighter’s bed as a toilet. – December 1, 2009
- UPDATE- Maryland firefighter hit by vehicle at fire scene. Ends up on hood of car with serious injuries as she stretched supply line across a street. – November 16, 2009
- Quick Takes – December 8, 2009
A great reminder to treat each “customer” like they are our own family. We should remember to assign these types of human needs in the same manner given other fireground tasks. Kudos to the department for following up afterward. Lesson learned.
There are a lot of firefighters who resist the “customer service” approach… and that’s fine. But our job it to protect lives and property. This includes making sure that occupants are cared for after an incident such as this.
Customer Service is for customers.
My job is to protect life and property of VICTIMS.
When my job is complete, the victim can assume the position of “customer” and Social Services should then begin to help them.
Tying up Emergency Services to perform non-emergent duties (that are the domain of others) is foolish.
And I think it is ridiculous that people perpetuate the notion that it is the Fire Departments “duty” to coddle people
I understandthe families point of view but….. The article didn’t mention if “nanny” even remembered the name of the place her daughter worked, just that she couldn’t remember the number. At what point do we draw the line and start exceeding our scope. If she was mentally competant there was really nothing else they could have done.
I agree with the “Customer Service” aspect.
However, I will criticize the “two large dogs” comment. Having two large dogs as pets was her decision. If she cannot control them maybe she should give them to her caring granddaughter to take care of and downsize to a poodle.
You people are stupid. You say dumb things in this forum and wonder why no one wants to support the fire department when the city hall budget axes fall….If the fire department is driving by and sees an old lady trying to get her groceries in the house I fully expect that truck to pull over and help her. I would rather my guys miss a first due house fire to help a little old man cross a street….WE ARE HERE FOR PEOPLE and you have all forgotten that. Unfortunately the people won’t forget….
“If the fire department is driving by and sees an old lady trying to get her groceries in the house I fully expect that truck to pull over and help her. I would rather my guys miss a first due house fire to help a little old man cross a street….WE ARE HERE FOR PEOPLE and you have all forgotten that.”
Wow…just, wow! You’d rather help someone put groceries away and not respond to a first due house fire? Are you a fireman, or a grocery bagger? Your priorities are sorely, and dangerously, misplaced. Our responsibility is to protect and save life and property, not help the public with everyday tasks & errands. This is precisely the kind of “Call 911 for anything and everything, we’ll send the fire department” ‘customer service’ thinking that is ruining our fire and rescue service. Last time I checked, struggling with groceries didn’t have nearly the potential to kill anyone that a structure fire does.
The same theory can, and should, be applied to 90% of the ‘emergency’ medical responses that fire departments respond to. The large majority of the time, there is no emergency, and a car ride to the not-so-emergency room would suffice. Having 6 fireman and/or paramedics and two pieces of apparatus respond to a stomach ache just because the patient called 911 and said it “hurt real bad” and they had a heart attack 10 years ago is a complete waste of time, money, and resources.
I still can’t believe that you said you’d rather miss a first due fire than to drive by an old lady trying to get her groceries into her house…
i guess with winter coming we will be shoveling driveway of snow or maybe making dinner for them remember we are emergency services.
Once again this was blown way out of proportion by the media. This was a relativly routine call and apparently there wasn’t anything exciting to report so this was brought up.
Let me point out some things.
1) There was a significant gas leak and the occupants life was in danger.
2) She was asked very ncely to leave and was explained why she had to.
3) The firefighter who asked her to leave helped her catch one of her dogs who took off through the house that was filling with gas.
4) There were several neighbors standing outside watching this incident and yet no one offered to let her in their house.
5) Why did this lady not have her granddaughters phone number near by? The same granddaughter that went on Channel 9 news complaining that the FD left her out in the cold. I mean if it was my grandmother she would have had several ways to get in touch with me.
This lady was not mistreated. She was removed from a life threatening situation. Yes she had to stand in some very light rain with her 2 dogs for a little while but I am sure if she had been left inside there would have been a much bigger rise from her granddaughter.
Customer service and the FD are here, I agree, but customer service means treating people with respect, not hauling their groceries through the door and shoveling sidewalks.
Typical, again people won’t take responsibility for themselves, and blame everyone else, ok, maybe they could have helped tie the dogs up etc, but if she can’t handle the dogs, why does she have them !!
Come, take responsibility for yourself, it’s getting beyond a joke.
But then again, won’t be long and there won’t be a fire department soon because the public is happy to see us cut to shreds.
They are happy to see you cut to shreds becuase you don’t wnat to be bothered for anything other then a house fire….dummy..
Did you hear the last comment on the report? It said that the granddaughter wants everyone to “have a plan.” Well, she did a great job of not taking responsibility for having a plan. She got her 15 minutes of fame by deflecting her responsibility for having a plan for her poor grandmother by blaming the FD. To top it off, Montgomery County took the blame!!! Oh, well. Gotta go, there is an old lady who needs help crossing the road.
Customer service just like everything else we do has been blown way out of proportion. We do provide service when we can that is why we are looked at in a better light then the police and why we are considered the most trustworthy and honorable profession. That does come with limits though, you offer your assistance but you dont wait for hours for family to come to a able adult who lives by herself. If another call comes out in your first due you need to handle the immediate life danger not babysit our citizens.
I guess those who think nothing else could have been done for the grandmother, have forgotten what it is like to have one themselves.
The poor lady is 93 for petes sake! Would it have been so awful to sit her in the ambulance or fire department car for a short time during the incident? Would any of the firefighters been put out by taking the two dogs and tying them to a tree or post out of way?
I am sure none of the firefighters there omitted these actions on purpose. I am sure they were businesslike and polite. But we need to go above and beyond in these cases and show alitte extra care. It does not take alot of effort or time, just alittle bit of thought & compassion. Like someone else said, if we treat everyone like we would want our own family members treated, that would go a long way.
And what happens when the Firefighter gets bit? Imagine the Workmans Comp claim from that.
The job of the FD is to mitigate dangerous situations – not mollycoddle every citizen who can’t plan and prepare for themselves.
There are resources that get called when citizens get displaced due to fires and other circumstances that the FD responds to – let them handle things like this. Not the FD.
So let me get this straight, workers comp wouldn’t pay for a dog bite but will if we get hurt playing basketball on duty, or injuring our backs on a public service call or how about getting injuried while begging for money for the MDA?
Once again, we are talking about a 93 year old woman – how about some common sense. I think if a 93 year old woman can hold two of the dogs at once in a crowd of people, I think I could more than likely take their leash and tie it off onto a post nearby. It would take one whole big bad firefighter to make sure this lady was taken care of, would it really ruin your day that much?
Seriously?! You didn’t have one spare person to watch out for this granny? Victim=taxpayer=customer! All the same! Hello! If you’re this hardened to only be in it for the “fire”, then you’ve lost your compassion for people and you need to get OUT!
Ok this is how it is tieing to dogs up 2min asking a nieghbor if the old lady can sit in there warm house 2min..Holly crap that took 4min. And how long did you stand around waiting for the utilitys to be controlled exactly…Its not going out of your way to do a good deed its what your suppost to do “Treat on to others as you wish to be treated” RESPECT PRIDE HONOR how many have died for these words and you guys sound like a bunch of 12yr olds that dont want to clean your room…Have some pride in your job…
Amen WOW. I agree that in less than 5 min this situations could have been avoided without overly taxing the responding crew. However I will give them the benefit of the doubt that at first they were a little busy with the crash and gas leak, but maybe 15-20 min into it check on the homeowner or task a bystander to do so??? I am sure she was out of sight out of mind, as this happens so easily, lets not bash them for learning a lesson, but commend them for an awesome follow up. (i.e. no name calling or finger pointing like is happening here, just a teachable moment used to it fullest, Bravo Capt. garcia!) Hopefully next time Nanny has a problem her granddaughter will be a little more prepared. Unfortunately people rarely think of preparing and expect us to be there to “fix everything” when they call.