All I know about this fire is that firefighters from Miami-Dade arrived to handle it. No date or location given. It turns out the citizen journalist in this case is a child (thanks to one of our readers for solving that mystery).
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Floating restaurant becomes dinner cruise. Jeff Ruby’s Waterfront in Covington, KY floats away. Plans to stay open during flood hit a snag & a bridge.
2 commentsThe management of Jeff Ruby’s Waterfront thought they had it all figured out. Instead of having their floating restaurant in Covington, Kentucky shut down every time the Ohio River spilled its banks they bought a floating ramp five-years-ago that allowed staff and customers to come aboard. Because of this, unlike neighboring restaurants, Jeff Ruby’s Waterfront stayed open last night.
On Thursday, WCPO-TV in Cincinnati featured the fact that the restaurant would be open despite the high waters (see third video down). Some nice, free publicity. But the cameras returned last night, along with the live trucks, for a different kind of story.
Around 10:15 PM, the floating restaurant turned into a dinner cruise after the building broke free from its moorings. Luckily the cruise didn’t get very far and you have the news media to thank for that (sort of). The runaway restaurant hit the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. The bridge is named after a prominent local reporter (see, all of us aren’t bad).
The rescue operation was a slow one and the bridge had to be shut down until it was inspected. The man whose name is on the restaurant showed leadership and found a way to get on board to calm his customers (one of the customers was former Bengals wide receiver Cris Collingsworth). Jeff Ruby also faced the cameras after it was all over.
There is raw video of the Covington Fire Department’s rescue operation at the bottom of this post.
From WCPO-TV (WCPO also has more clips of its live, breaking news coverage of the incident):
The restaurant was lodged under the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, which kept it from drifting down the river. Tugboats surrounding the restaurant kept it in place, as well.
Crews used ladders and ropes to rescue everyone on board. A walking board was placed on top of the ladders in an effort to evacuate more guests at a faster rate. Authorities say the restaurant drifted about 100 yards from the dock.
People could only be rescued one at a time, which is why it took several hours to evacuate the boat. No injuries were reported.
Water rescue teams and Covington Police and Fire Departments immediately responded and were able to secure the boat. Then they had to get 83 people off the boat. They used a ladder from the shore to the boat because the ramps were no longer usable.
The people had to come down one by one on the ladder with life jackets on. Many women had to take off their high heels so they could walk on the runged ladder.
Restaurant owner Jeff Ruby said he went to the restaurant after hearing about the incident in phone calls from an assistant manager and his lawyer.
Ruby said they didn’t know what happened, but that once he got to the scene his priority was to get on the boat to be with his customers and employees. Once he managed to get on board, he went from table to table to meet with customers and said that everyone on board was very orderly.
Asked if the high water had anything to do with what happened, Ruby said,” We’ve been open in higher waters.”
Police indicated it could take several hours to get everyone off the boat, and about 25 had been removed by 12:30 a.m. By 1 a.m., most of the customers had been taken off, Ruby said.
The bridge was immediately closed to traffic. Ervin said it would remain closed until a state inspector could check out the bridge, since the boat had hit one of its supports.
More from Firegeezer
A tour bus overturned early Saturday morning on the New England Thruway in the Bronx, killing 13 people. Six others have been transported with critical injuries.
More than 60 firefighters were on the scene. A spokesperson for FDNY told WCBS, “The bus flipped over on its side. The roof of the bus was sheered off by that light pole. This is very bad.”
There were 31 passengers and a driver aboard, headed to New York City from Mohegan Sun, a casino in Connecticut.
Screen grab from WABC‘s video:
More from WABC here. WCBS’ coverage is here. The New York Post report is here.
Japanese firefighters in Menlo Park, California for search & rescue training are trying to get home.
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In Menlo Park, California, a dozen Japanese firefighters have been learning and practicing search and rescue skills for the past week. Now they are desperately trying to return home and use what they have learned, but getting a flight out hasn’t been easy.
Excerpts from an article by Diana Samuels, Palo Alto Daily News:
“I’ve never seen such big damage in Japan,” said Maiku Muramatsu of the Shizuoka City Fire Bureau. “We want to go home as soon as we can.”
One day after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated the northeastern part of Japan, the group in Menlo Park practiced techniques for shoring up collapsing buildings. Appearing relaxed and focused, the firefighters hammered together wooden structures and wedged them between the roof and floor of a small shed.
The Japanese firefighters came to the Bay Area for a weeklong training program with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and were originally set to leave Saturday, Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.
The fire department was working Friday with the Japanese consulate to find flights for the firefighters, Division Chief Frank Fraone said. As of about 5:30 p.m., Schapelhouman said it appeared most of them would have seats on commercial airliners early Saturday afternoon.
One of the firefighters has made contact with his family, but the other has not been able to reach anyone.
“He’s devastated,” Schapelhouman said. “It’s a stressful time for these guys. They want to be home with their families, working in their communities, serving their countrymen.”
The firefighters are in touch with the Japanese consulate and will continue training this afternoon as officials help them try to find a way out of the U.S.Teams from around the world come to Menlo Park’s training facility to learn rescue operations from its staff, which has responded to disasters ranging from floods to earthquakes to terrorist attacks, Schapelhouman said.
Fairfax County USAR mobilized. Virginia Task Force 1 readying to help out in Northern Japan.
2 commentsCoverage of VATF1 in Haiti
The Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team has been mobilized to respond to the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan.
Dan Schmidt, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Fire Department, says they received word just minutes ago. He says mobilization means the team prepares for deployment, but it does not necessarily mean it will be deployed.
The Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team, also known as Virginia Task Force 1, is one of two teams in the nation deployed by USAID to assist countries who have experienced large scale damage due to natural disasters or other causes. The other team is from Los Angeles, California.
Two groups from Fairfax’s team were dispatched after Haiti’s earthquake in January, 2010. They pulled more than a dozen people from the rubble.
FireCritic.com has a second video from Lafayette County
Lafayette County Fire Department
This is from a fire Wednesday in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
San Antonio chief hands out suspensions for speed & seatbelts after Ladder 35′s crash. One firefighter remains on medical leave.
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Click here for FireTruck.com’s coverage last month of the findings of the investigation & video of the rollover
It is something that apparently had not been done before in the San Antonio Fire Department. Following the rollover of a ladder truck on the way to a reported fire last November, two firefighters and their captain have received suspensions ranging from five days to 60 days because of the speed of the rig at the time of the crash and that seatbelts were not being used. A fourth firefighter, who remains on medical leave after breaking his neck in the crash, was not suspended. Chief Charles Hood told Eva Ruth Moravec at mysanantonio.com the firefighter’s injuries were punishment enough. The cab of the rig is scheduled to be on permanent display at the department’s training academy.
Here are excerpts from Moravec’s very detailed article (click here to read it):
“Seatbelt issues are cultural issues in the fire service,” Hood said in an interview at his office Wednesday. “I’ve never had to discipline for a driving infraction since I’ve been here, but a strong message needed to be sent to the members of the department.”
“I was taken aback, I was surprised, I was disillusioned, I was disappointed, he said, recalling his emotions as he approached the scene. “It was a surreal experience for me, looking at that truck upside-down.
“I thought, ‘Man, I’m glad they had their seat belts on,’ and as it turned out, they didn’t.”
Full disclosure: I produced this seatbelt message as part of my work for NFFF.
In the days after Ladder 35′s crash, Hood took other steps. Seat belt drills now are required, drivers are getting additional training, and all 1,674 operations employees were ordered to go take a look at the demolished fire truck.
Hood, who admits he didn’t always wear a seat belt as a firefighter in Phoenix, said the desire to get to a scene quickly may cause crews to forget to buckle up. Bulky gear makes it a hassle; firefighters often still are getting dressed while the truck is moving, he said.
But now, he said, the captain or lieutenant on a truck must ensure all firefighters are belted in before they leave, even if it takes an extra 30 seconds.
Fire vs. EMS in Cleveland over firefighters struck on I-480. Union says EMS delayed transport as first unit set up command.
20 commentsRead the EMS view of this story on the JEMS Facebook page (you need to scroll down a few posts)
IAFF Local 93 president Tom Lally told Cleveland’s Safety Committee that the first EMS transport unit to arrive after three firefighters were struck on I-480 on Sunday would not immediately take the most seriously injured firefighter to the hospital. Instead the ambulance crew set up a command post. Two-years-ago the city decided that EMS should have command at such incidents.
Excerpts from story by Paul Kiska, WEWS-TV:
Lally told the safety committee the change means that the first EMS ambulance on the scene of a multi-injury crash does not have to transport any victims, but instead takes over incident command and triage until a second EMS unit arrives.
Lally called the change a “flawed policy” and said there was a dispute between fire fighters telling EMS to transport the most seriously hurt fire fighter at the scene instead of waiting for the second ambulance.
A firefighter ended up driving another injured firefighter to the hospital.
The city has been talking for years about merging EMS and the fire department, which has created some disagreements over policy. Later on Wednesday, Safety Director Marty Flask asked the fire chief and the EMS director for an investigation into what happened on I-480 and see if a policy change is needed.
Raw video: Two-alarm townhouse fire in Loudoun County, Virginia. One resident burned in Sterling blaze.
8 commentsLoudoun County Firefighters battled a blaze in a townhouse in the 20800 block of Trinity Square Wednesday just before 9 p.m.
Loudoun County Department of Fire and EMS Spokesperson Jan Mitchell says the fire went to two alarms shortly after crews arrived.
The fire spread to the townhouses on either side of the original fire building, displacing a total of 13 people.
A resident of the townhouse where the fire started suffered burns and was taken to Medstar. The severity of her injuries is not known at this time.
The cause of the fire is being investigated, and there is no damage estimate available at this time. The Loudoun County chapter of the Red Cross is helping those forced from their homes.
They are delinquent, and now the community is paying for it. The Kinloch Volunteer Fire Department is behind on its electric bill, and now they say it’s hurting their ability to do the job.
Tax dollars and donations support the volunteer fire department. These days, those dollars aren’t stretching as far. The firefighters say they feel powerless, because they don’t have what they need to do their job: electricity. According to them, a generator is all they have.
“It only gives us enough electricity to run the radio system and maybe one light,” said volunteer firefighter Edward Darden.
For now, the firefighters navigate through the station with flashlights. To keep warm, they bundle up in fire-fighting gear. Darden says it’s been this way for about a week.
The fire department got behind on its payments late last year. They worked out arrangements with Ameren Missouri. Officials paid $1,000 to keep the lights on in January and agreed to be paid up by the end of February, but that did not happen.
The firefighters say they behind on bills because they were paying for expenses from the previous year. Since they service the community, Ameren agreed to limit them to 15 amps of power.
“It’s just to provide power for essential functions,” said director of Ameren customer service Bruce Fritz.
Darden says the power died about a week ago and Ameren Missouri refused to restore it.
“We would not jeopardize the safety of the public,” said Fritz.
Fritz says he didn’t know the power was off and that it should be working on the limited basis.
For now, firefighters say this is the only alternative. They just hope it doesn’t hinder their response time.
Must see mayday video: Bedford, Virginia firefighter’s helmet-cam captures his fall from attic to basement.
3 commentsMore on this fire from FireCritic.com
Some quite dramatic video from a fire in Bedford, Virginia on February 10 of this year. The fire was at the home of a firefighter from Huddleston. A Bedford firefighter who was in the attic was given another assignment. As he attempted to leave via the fold-down attic ladder it broke, sending the firefighter into the basement. He was wearing a helmet-cam. Thanks to our loyal reader Taylor Goodman of VirginiaFirePix.com for sending this along. Here’s the description from the Bedford Fire Department website:
Bedford Communications alerted Companies 7 (Huddleston-1st due), 8 (Moneta-2nd due), and 1 (Bedford-RIT) to 2548 Bethesda Drive for a report of smoke coming from the eves of a private dwelling. Ladder 1 (with six) responded to fill the RIT assignment but once on scene quickly went to work as the Search Group and Vent Group because of a lack of manpower. Division 1 located and extinguished fire in the walls on the first floor and requested that command assign an attic division to check for extension above. A ”Mayday” signal was declared early on into the incident when a Company 1 firefighter fell approximately 20 feet when the fold-down attic ladder he was using to access the attic broke sending him down a flight of stairs into the basement. Fellow firefighters assisted him to the exterior where he was treated and transported for non-life threatening injuries. The attic division did locate extension in the attic and once extinguished the fire was marked under control. Units operating: P-7, L-1, T-7, W-8, W-83, T-8, T-10, W-1, R-1, County 10, County 3, County 1, Medic 14-8, and Medic 8. Total Company 1 personnel: 14. The home belongs to Company 7 firefighter Hayden Nichols. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Haden and his family.
UPDATE: Four firefighters hurt in Bronx fifth-alarm. Fire spread to exposure. Now under control.
1 commentFDNY’s Ladder 81 & bus collide on Staten Island killing 1 civilian & injuring 14. Click here for coverage from FireTruckBlog.com
FDNY firefighters had their hands full with a fire in both a six-story apartment building and a two-story brownstone next door. Four firefighters were injured. Firefighter Close Calls reports the firefighters suffered electrical burns.
The fire was reported just after 2:00 PM and the fifth-alarm was requested at 3:13 PM. The fire was reported under control shortly after 4:00 PM..
A large fire in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx has grown to four alarms. It started around 2 p.m. and was still burning out of control an hour later.
It started in a six story apartment building and has spread to a two story building next door. There are four injured firefighters.
UPDATED – Three dead in New Haven, Connecticut fire. Clearer video of FD rescues. Early indications of arson. Just hours earlier fire chief met with citizens about closing an engine company.
2 commentsThe story above from NECN seems to have the clearest version so far of the rescues from the balcony made by New Haven firefighters early this morning. Watch it closely.
Under heavy fire conditions, New Haven firefighters were able to grab at least two from a multi-home fire early this morning that killed three people and injured eight others. News reports indicate that there are early signs the fire may have been set.
(NOTE: Just a few hours before the fire Chief Michael Grant and Assistant Chief Patrick Egan met with citizens irate over the planned closing of Engine 8. The New Haven Independent reports Engine 8 was one of the companies on the call early this morning. Click here for that story.)
Latest from the New Haven Register (9:30 AM):
The three fatalities were found on the third floor of 48 Wolcott St., a 4,000-square foot, multiple-unit apartment building dating back to approximately 1900.
An accelerant sniffing dog from the state fire marshal’s office detected an accelerant and a potential burn pattern on an internal staircase, raising the prospect that the fatal fire was homicide.
The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. on Poplar St. at the intersection with Wolcott.
Report It video (seen in the video above) taken by neighbors shows fire shooting through the roof of the building.
People were trapped on the second and third floors. Some people jumped from the building to escape the fire.
It is believed the fire started in the stairwell on the second floor and spread to the third floor. Fire officials are not releasing the identities of the three victims, who were found on the third floor of the home. Chief Michael grant:
Jadine Small said she witnessed the fire
“I was sleeping and woke up to the sound of screaming, people screaming ‘my baby, my baby’ and I saw people lowering children out of the second floor balcony,” said Jadine Small. “I saw a 6 year old dropped down from a second floor balcony.”
Earlier from the New Haven Register:
Grant said firefighters removed two people from a second-floor porch “under some very extreme conditions.”
“Also they made a very aggressive attack on the fire into the apartment on the second and third floors,” Grant said.
Blaine, Pennsylvania house fire kills seven children. Bodies found in Perry County farmhouse.
2 commentsMore from Firegeezer
A fire at a farmhouse killed seven children Tuesday while their mother was in a barn milking cows and their father was taking a nap in a milk delivery truck, a state trooper said.
One child survived. Those who perished ranged in age from 7 months to 11 years.
The children’s father had left the two-story home, on a working farm not far from the state capital, to get his truck around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Trooper Tom Pinkerton said. Two children, ages 2 and 3, were watching television at the time.
The father drove a short distance away to pick up milk and nodded off in the truck, Pinkerton said.
Soon after, one of the children smelled smoke in the home and ran to the barn to alert the mother, Pinkerton said. The mother called 911 and ran with the child the short distance to the father’s truck and banged on its windows, screaming that their home was on fire, he said.
By the time the father returned to the home in Blaine, about 20 miles north of Harrisburg, it was fully engulfed by flames, Pinkerton said. Firefighters had arrived and were battling the blaze.
No cause or origin of the fire had been determined. Fire marshals were investigating.
Garage fires coast-to-coast. Video from San Bernardino County, California & Montgomery County, Maryland.
2 commentsTwo videos from opposite ends of the country show initial attacks on garage fires.
The clip above is helmet-cam video from the first arriving company on a fire in an attached garage in San Bernardino County, California. I believe it is a fire on Saturday night around 8:45 PM in a vacant house on El Molino between Elm and Lime Avenues in Fontana.
Below is a fire in another attached garage. This fire was on Monday at 5900 Coral Sea Avenue in Rockville, Maryland. Here is what is written on Montgomery County Fire Rescue Services Chief Richie Bowers’ blog:
There was heavy fire involvement in the attached garage. MCFRS Fire Fighters made an aggressive attack holding the fire to the garage area.
There were no injuries. A total of 3 adults and 1 child were displaced as a result. The cause of the fire is undetermined and under investigation at this time.
The video was taken by MCFRS Lt. Erik Couse. There are pictures from this fire on thewatchdesk.com.
Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com has been staying on top of the crash Saturday of Youngstown, Ohio’s Squad 33. The site has links to fireground audio and new pictures of the damage following the rollover. Click here.
Raw video: Early & extensive look at FDNY three-alarm fire in Brooklyn. Basement fire in Crown Heights laundry.
No commentsClick here for parts 4 to 7
More pictures from Lou Minutoli at FirstOnScenePhotos.com
This video was posted on YouTube by forevrblsd1 of the three-alarm fire in Crown Heights, Brooklyn a week ago. There are still pictures from the fire by Adam Alberto at NJFirePictures.com. The website has this description of the fire:
At around 10:30 A.M. on March 1st Brooklyn Box 1016 was transmitted for a fire in the basement of a laundromat at 325 Troy Ave between Union and President Sts. Upon arrival the 10-75 was transmitted and the fire quickly went to all hands. Firefighters were forced to withdraw from the building due to a partial collapse. A second alarm followed shortly by a 3rd Alarm was transmitted. Heavy fire conditions raced through the 1 story taxpayer.
It took about 150 firefighters nearly three hours to battle the flames at Laundry World on Troy Avenue. They say it began in the basement at around 10:30 a.m. and gutted the Laundromat, but did not spread to neighboring homes.
Fire officials say no injuries were reported.
Fireground audio: Mayday in Fairfax County, Virginia. Firefighter had trouble getting out of basement in Vienna house fire.
48 commentsBoth AlertPage and FirefighterDispatch posted this audio from a two-alarm fire Sunday evening handled by the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department at 206 Oak Street in Vienna, Virginia. A firefighter apparently became separated from her crew in the burning basement of the home and had difficulty finding a means of egress. A mayday was called and it sounds like the RIT quickly found her. The firefighter was uninjured.
The only article I have seen on the fire is from Vienna Patch and I am not sure what to make of some of what is written. The article calls it an electical fire caused by a gas leak in the basement. It also has this about the mayday:
When units first responded, however, dispatchers reported a man down, repeating “mayday” three times. (Battalion Chief Greg) Bunch said a female firefighter got disoriented by the smell of the gas and separated from the group as they entered into the basement; she evacuated unharmed.
Eight-year-old close call video worth watching again. Chimney collapse at Irving, Texas apartment fire.
1 commentBoth Firefighter Spot and I saw this video posted to YouTube over the weekend. Pretty dramatic video. Doing some very quick research I found this was from October, 2003 at the Rochelle Plaza apartments in Irving, Texas. The fire went to three-alarms.
More video from Chicago motel fire: We showed you news video Saturday of this fire at the Saville Motel in Stony Island. The fire left seven citizens and a firefighter injured. Our friend Steve Redick has daylight video of this fire. Click here.
A story that is more than just a drunk guy behind the steering wheel of an out-of-service fire engine: The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office says the driver of the fire engine was a volunteer firefighter with the Hamilton VFD who forced a deputy to head for a ditch early Saturday morning to avoid the speeding rig. But it is the passengers that make this story even more interesting. They are all volunteers in Loudoun County (or were, since the driver and two of them have since resigned). They include a 19-year-old woman, an off-duty Leesburg cop and two men who are in positions of authority in the county fire service. According to news reports all had been drinking. Loudoun County Fire-Rescue Chief W. Keith Brower, Jr. and Fire-Rescue Commission Chair Douglas G. Rambo briefed reporters on the unpleasant details yesterday afternoon. Here is our coverage from Sunday.
Born from RIT: I asked a new STATter911.com advertiser to write a guest column on his interesting product. Greg Turnell, a lieutenant in DC, invented TURK, a cart that has a number of applications, but was built to help firefighters transport all the required RIT gear to the fireground without killing yourself. Clck here to learn more.
Antique of the Week, rig hit in Massachusetts, Ohio rollover & a lot of news: Glenn Usdin goes back almost 75 years for the rig featured in the video for the latest Antique of the Week. Click here. Of course there is lots more apparatus news from FireTruckBlog.com.
Three Cleveland firefighters struck, man arrested: It happened Sunday morning on I-480 and two of the firefighters remain hospitalized. According to WKYC-TV, ”one firefighter suffered a lacerated kidney and rib injuries. The other fireman has significant lower body injuries and underwent surgery Sunday afternoon.” Here’s more.
A bad bill or just bad reporting?: I don’t know the answer for sure, but my hunch is a politician’s exaggeration of the problem and the failure to read the bill by reporters has people believing they are going to ban all photography within 500 feet of a crash scene in Illinois. I could be totally wrong, but my read from far away shows it is nothing of the sort. Check it out and tell me what you think.
A trip to EMS Today is already saving lives: Mike Ward over at Firegeezer has a wonderful story about two people we spent part of Thursday night with (no, not Rhett and Willie, yet). Take a look at how these paramedics got a free breakfast on their way home from Baltimore.
Now it’s Rhett and Willie time: Both IronFirmen.com and FireCritic.com have rundowns from the JEMS & FireEMSBlogs.com Meet-up sponsored by Physio Control Thursday night. The good news is I was able to get to some quality time in with the Roanoke crew during dinner. I even took some video of Rhett and Willie screening the movie that debuted on STATter911.com while they were driving to Baltimore. In case you missed it, the movie was a dramatization of the dinner before it even happened. Click here to watch it. Rhett seemed so pleased by it all he paid for the meal. And I thought he hated me. Here’s Rhett’s report from Baltimore and here’s Willie’s.
Firefighter spots burglary in progress: A firefighter watched as a man broke into a store across the street from a firehouse in Hooksett, New Hampshire. The firefighter’s call to police brought a quick arrest of a burglar. Here’s the story.
Chicago firefighter in classic photo retires: It is a photo of more than 30-years-ago that many of you will recognize. It shows Firefighter John Steinmetz, just two years on the job in Chicago, holding the body of a girl in the fourth floor window of a burning apartment building trying to get help. Yesterday Captain John Steinmetz was honored as he arrived for his final shift before retiring. Read the story.
TURK: A product born thanks to rapid intervention. Lt. Greg Turnell tells us more about his invention.
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Click here for contact information and to learn more about TURK
We have a new sponsor at STATter911.com this month: TURK. It’s an invention by Greg Turnell, a lieutenant and 25 year veteran with the fire department in our Nation’s Capital. Through his career Greg has been assigned to Engine 33, Rescue Squad 1, Truck 8, Engine 6, Truck 13 and Truck 11. TURK filled a need that had become evident in recent years for any company assigned to RIT on the fireground. But rather than have me explain I asked Lt. Turnell to provide a guest column about TURK. Besides giving you more info on TURK, I thought this might be helpful for any firefighter with a product they’ve come up with, or is thinking about it, to hear first hand from someone who has been in their shoes.
TURK
“There’s got to be a better way Lieu!” ………Those words were expressed more than once when my men had to deploy the RIT basket to the front of a burning building. And generally there were a few more colorful words added to the statement. Watching four of my five man truck team navigate this 150lb basket down the street, sometimes a couple blocks, seemed impractical for several reasons:
- Manpower. A one person device could free manpower to run other equipment such as ladders.
- Fatigue. I’d much rather have my men conserve their energy and stamina for an actual RIT deployment than exhausting themselves while hand carrying a basket down the street.
- Safety/Injury. In one incident we had a firefighter lose his footing and fall, subsequently bringing the basket and a few of his comrades down with him.
Our new SOPS thoroughly explained our new RIT procedures and the equipment we had to have at the ready in the event a MAYDAY was declared. How we got that equipment to the building was up to us. Identifying a capability gap is an easy thing to do; it’s done every day in the sitting room of most firehouses. However, filling that gap with a viable solution is the challenge. We toyed with different methods but they all proved to be problematic and inefficient. We had to come up with a solution that was simple to put in operation and fast to deploy. Being an avid kayaker, I remember while shark fishing at Assateague one summer, spotting a fellow pulling his kayak down the beach with a device made of PVC pipe and two tires. It appeared the device was binding with the kayak holding it in place while the unit rolled down the beach atop a set of tires. It was a simple concept that I felt with a few adjustments could be emulated and applied to a stokes basket.
Several prototypes and months later I came up with a device that I patented and named the TURK. Some thought the name derived from the 1985 movie “TURK 182”with Timothy Hutton and Kim Cattrall but it was much simpler than that: Turnell. Universal. Rescue. Kart. The TURK was evaluated by the local 36 safety committee and was accepted as a practical device to be used by the DCFD. It was during the TURKs 90 day trial period that it was put to use on the METRO train accident on June 2, 2009. Faced with the dilemma of having to move heavy hydraulic tools down the track to the train, RS-2 squad wagon driver along with T-6 technician loaded 500lbs of hydraulic tools into a stokes basket. With the TURK the two were able to move the equipment approximately 1000 feet down the track bed to the train. The TURK continues to be a proven asset on the fire ground, mass casualty incidents, and just recently in underground mines. The TURK has been a welcomed device among many fire departments and mine rescue teams because it possesses two important attributes: it’s fast and simple. The fact that firefighters continue to discover different uses for the TURK beyond the initial intention of what the device was designed to do is testimony to its simplicity. Today, watching a team deploy the RIT basket with the TURK is uplifting. However the greatest pleasure I receive is when a firefighter or miner comes to me and says, “Hey, thanks for doing this, it makes it a lot easier”. That makes it all worthwhile.
NEW INFO: Resignations from Hamilton, Virginia firefighter charged with DUI & others. Five volunteers said to be on a joyride after night of drinking. 19-year-old on the rig along with a cop.
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VirginiaFirePix.com photo of retired Hamilton VFD engine officials say was used in joyride. More apparatus photos from VirginiaFirePix.com can be found here.
Read press release from Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue & Emergency Management
UPATE at 6:08 PM: Evening news reports indicate that the four volunteer firefighter passengers on the rig are a 19-year-old female, a police officer in Leesburg and two who are volunteers in positions of authority in Loudoun County.
UPDATE at 2:30 PM: Loudoun County Fire-Rescue Chief W. Keith Brower, Jr. and Fire-Rescue Commission Chair Douglas G. Rambo will be answering reporter’s questions this afternoon about the incident Saturday morning. The department issued a press release shortly after 2:00 PM that added some new information. Here are excerpts (there is a link above to read the entire release):
Early Saturday morning, a deputy with the Loudoun Sheriff’s Office witnessed a retired fire engine owned by the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Company operating in a dangerous manner. Upon learning that there were no active fire incidents in the Hamilton area, the deputy stopped the engine. After a subsequent investigation, it was determined that all five off-duty volunteer firefighters in the engine were intoxicated. The driver, a volunteer with the Hamilton Fire Company, was arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and Unauthorized Use of Vehicle. The other four occupants of the truck were released to an officer of the fire company.
The volunteer members of the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Company involved in this incident have resigned. Two volunteers from other companies who were riding in the truck have been suspended while the internal investigation of this matter continues.
The County’s Fire and Rescue Commission, the Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Management, and the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Company are grateful for the prompt action of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. The behavior of these individuals does not represent the values of Loudoun’s fire and rescue service and will not be tolerated by any of our volunteer companies or the Department. This incident involved off-duty personnel and a retired fire engine, so fire and rescue readiness was not jeopardized.
EARLIER COVERAGE:
At 2:00 Saturday morning in the Hamilton, Virginia area a Loudoun County Sheriff’s deputy spotted a truck weaving on Harmony Church Road. It wasn’t just any truck. It was a fire engine and according to the Ashburn Patch the deputy ”veered into a ditch to avoid a collision with the westbound fire truck”. The Washington Post reports the deputy’s radar indicated the rig was going about 10 mph over the 50 mph speed limit. It turns out, according to the news reports, the 1989 Pierce Lance pumper was being taken for a joyride by the 27-year-old firefighter at the wheel and four other volunteers after a night of drinking.
Here are more details in excerpts from an article by Martin Weill of The Washington Post:
The vehicle, described as a spare belonging to the volunteer fire department in the Loudoun town of Hamilton, had apparently been taken on a joyride, said Investigator Vincent DiBenedetto, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
Sean Swanson, arrested by Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.
After checking for fire calls, the deputy turned his car around and stopped the truck.
Officials of the Hamilton department could not be reached immediately. DiBenedetto said the 1989 truck was not the one kept at the ready at the firehouse to answer alarms.
Sean Richard Swanson, 27, a volunteer with Loudoun Fire Co. 5 was given a series of field sobriety tests and placed under arrest.
Deputies released the other passengers – all Loudoun fire and rescue volunteers who the Sheriff’s Office reported were drinking – to a sober driver following the incident. Deputies released the truck to a supervisor with the Hamilton fire station.
The Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate and will work with the Commonwealth’s Attorney to consider additional charges.
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