Read entire NIOSH report
Listen to fireground audio
NIOSH has issued its report in the May 7, 2009 explosion at the Penn Mar Shopping Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland that left eight firefighters and a gas company employee injured. The blast, fueled by natural gas, was captured on a camera mounted on the dash of one of the rigs parked near Side A of the structure.
Here is an excerpt from the reports findings:
NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should
- ensure that standard operating guidelines for natural gas leaks are understood and followed
- contact utility companies (natural gas and electric) immediately to cut external supply/power to structures when gas leaks are suspected
- ensure gas monitoring equipment is adequately maintained and fire fighters are routinely trained on proper use
- ensure ventilation techniques are conducted after ignition sources are mitigated
- ensure that rapid intervention teams are staged at the onset of an incident
- ensure that collapse/explosion control zones are established when dealing with a potential explosion hazard
Although there is no evidence that the following recommendations would have prevented these injuries, they are being provided as a reminder of good safety practices.
- provide manual personal alert safety system (PASS) or tracking devices to locate potentially missing fire fighters when SCBA are not utilized
- ensure standard operating guidelines for communications are understood by dispatch
- ensure adequate staffing for emergency medical services and rapid intervention teams (RITs)
- ensure training is evaluated for rank and skill levels across the combination department personnel
Also on STATter911 …
- Update (Fireground audio): As many as 6 missing in Allentown, Pennsylvania explosion. Thirty homes damaged or destroyed. – February 10, 2011
- UPDATED – New video added: Allentown, Pennsylvania explosion update: 5 dead, including infant. – February 10, 2011
- Early video & fireground audio: House explosion & fire in Schenectady, NY. – January 5, 2012
- UPDATED – Early video of house explosion: Fairfax County firefighters responding to leak when natural gas blast levels home in Chantilly, Virginia. – December 20, 2010
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I am sure the action taken by PG will be the same as has been taken on the NIOSH reports that have been issued in the past- throw it in a drawer and forget about it until the next incident.
That is the most unique DriveCam recording I think I’ve ever seen!
(for those who don’t know, DriveCam cameras “record” continuously in a vehicle and sense unusually high G-loading, and then “save” the previous 10 seconds, record the following 10 seconds, and store that data. This is used to capture the data surrounding a potential crash or harsh driving incident, which is often represented by high lateral or longitudinal G-forces.)
That is a pretty awesome video, what are some departments protocols for situations like these?
-Jason Meredith
http://www.theforehousecookoff.com
Unfortunately Mike is right.
Dave you oughta thumb through some of PGFD’s hilarious Post Incident Reports each company has to complete after every fire.
Thank God ‘the Teacher doesn’t check spelling or grammar’…
Anyway, it’s obvious you have hundreds of individual fire departments trying to do the same job. Yeah, thats a bad thing.
Didn’t the County do a report? Whatever happened to that one?If the same incident happened today most companies would not have the equipment to check the LEL. Its one thing to cry poor, it’s another not give the personnel the tools to do the job. Maybe they should stop going to fires, think of the money they could save.
PGFD is the biggest joke of the fire service. Actually it is several small fire departments which are each individually jokes compiled to make it one big one. Unfortunately, Eugene thinks that the department is running great, so he keeps the joke fest going. One of these days the golden horseshoe will fall out and I just hope I, nor anyone I know, will be on the call when it does.
Ever see an incident that NIOSH investigated and they didn’t find fault/flaws. You can have 100 fireman on an incident, RIT team in place, do everything right and somethings goes wrong, they’ll find something no matter how miniscule. That’s what they do to justify existence.
The vast majority of depts (probably in the country) don’t have the staffing or funding etc…to implement what is suggested by NIOSH or NFPA. They both have an ideal, sitting at a conference table, if money were no object idea of how things should be done. The plain, flatout, hard to swallow truth is: It’s not gonna happen…we barely have enough to do the basics everyday and we “do what we have to do” to get the job done!
It’s frustrating to constantly have Do-gooder suits sitting in California or where ever, scrutinizing the FD as a whole and making up codes, requirements or what ever they come up with.
Every time a change/standard comes about costing more money in apparatus or gear or equipment…anything…their profit margins increase because they represent those products they just pushed through into the standards.
Sorry…just pisses me off that they don’t have a real world friggin clue about what goes on out here everyday and money IS an object!
The Comments seem to speak volumes about what is right what is wrong. The NIOSH Report points out there were some issues with for whatever reason (s) the SOG’s were not carried out. Now before anyone thinks to criticize the PG Fire and EMS Dept. Let us first recall the Battalion Chief who was Incident Commander had the Depts ICS in place and he pretty much carried out the situation as the unforseen Explosion occurred.
Yes things could have/should have been handled probably in a different manner/approach. The SOG’s that were not handled as the Dept. has in place, were a contributing factor as to the cause. However let’s be mindful of the fact,The ICS did make sure that injuries were not Life Threatening nor any Fatalities. The ICS Command had to make some immediaate quick snap decisions when May Day, May Day, dreaded call happened.
In reading the NIOSH Report it also states that insufficient Staffing Levels werenot in place on the scene. This was through no fault of PG Fire and Ems. It clearly was/is the sole Responsibility of the County Gov’t. Lack of necessary funding to Hire new Firefighters/Paramedics. The Staffing issues unfortunately still exist today. Sufficient Staffing would have placed the necessary Apparatus Staffing and thus would have allowed the 2-out Safety Team readily available.
Overall the PG Fire and EMS Operations did what could be said was a respectable job in this terrible Flash Point Type Incident. I am quite sure everyone now from The Fire Chief’s Command Staff down to day to day Career and Volunteer first Responders realize that any SOG, SOP and understanding the importance of why, who, whynot when, where these Dept Policies are in place. In Service Training should be the issue of the day to ensure any future incidents with Natural Gas/Explosions with Fire can/must be Managed accordingly.
Everyone Have a Nice Day.
“In reading the NIOSH Report it also states that insufficient Staffing Levels werenot in place on the scene. This was through no fault of PG Fire and Ems. It clearly was/is the sole Responsibility of the County Gov’t. Lack of necessary funding to Hire new Firefighters/Paramedics. The Staffing issues unfortunately still exist today. Sufficient Staffing would have placed the necessary Apparatus Staffing and thus would have allowed the 2-out Safety Team readily available.”
No offense, but you obviously are not familiar with how PGFD and the County operate. These are the facts……..Every year, the volunteers tout that they have 1000-1500 volunteers. Obviously, this is not the case when you listen to stations fail to respond, or go out understaffed. The County Govt. knows this, but they also know that since they can’t raise taxes, there is no way they can afford to hire the proper amount of career staffing to sufficiently supplement the system. This IS the FAULT of PGFD for not raising the concerns to the public that they are sorely understaffed in most areas. Yes, there are a few volunteer departments who not only have enough bodies to properly staff apparatus, but they also do a good job on the scene. For the most part however, that is not the case, and they continue to feed BS to the fire chief and county government. And if you look at the derelicts currently leading the circus on the career side, you would know that the last thing they care about is proper staffing, much less properly running a fire department. The current fire chief is just the County governments puppet and is there to save money wherever he can. This department is one box alarm away from seriously hurting or killing a fireman.
Hay arm chair quaterbacks. I Wasnt there but listening to the tape it sure sounded like the BC did a good job. Power was cut, vent was a priority, ICS was perfect, he was odering equipment the whole time and air monitoring was continuous if i heard correct. I learned one important item, Cut power to the whole complex from a remote source. From the outside, PG county did a good job and it could have happended to us or YOU. Sign a humble BC.