The number of people dead following the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas last night is still unclear, with varying reports coming from different officials and news organizations. What is consistent in the reporting is that firefighters and paramedics are among the dead and unaccounted for.
A briefing at 8:30 local time again confirmed again there are missing firefighters. At the briefing it was also reported that a police officer/volunteer firefighter initially reported as missing as found this morning at a Waco hospital suffering serious injuries.
Update at 8:30 a.m. Thursday: Sgt W. Patrick Swanton, the Waco police spokesman handling media briefings in West, said at a press conference a little after 8:20 this morning that search and rescue teams are still looking for survivors.
That “is good news to me,” he said. That means authorities have “not gotten to the point of no return.”
Swanton did not update the number of those injured or killed, and he did not release names of any of the casualties. He repeated the earlier figure of five to 15 people killed but said that’s based on “very limited” information from “folks at the scene,” including local, state and federal officials.
One emergency worker who had been reported as missing, a constable serving as a volunteer firefighter, has been found hospitalized with “serious” injuries. Three or four first responders, among the first to fight the fire before the fertilizer plant exploded shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, remain missing, Swanton said.
Swanton also said a “small amount” of looting was reported overnight.
Rescuers continued working Thursday morning in West in spite of a cold rain after a long night of door-to-door searches for victims of a Wednesday night explosion that killed between 5 and 15 people and injured more than 100 more.
Six firefighters and two paramedics are confirmed dead and seven nursing home residents were missing after the blast according to West EMS Director Dr. George Smith, who said earlier Wednesday night as many as 60 or 70 people may have died in the blast at West Fertilizer.
One police officer who was reported missing was located Thursday morning at Waco hospital where he was being treated for several injuries.
Smith said early Thursday morning he expects more bodies will be found during the search of damaged and destroyed homes.
At 4:15 a.m., West, Texas EMS director Dr. George Smith confirmed that two paramedics lost their lives in Tuesday night’s explosion at West Fertilizer Company. He said six firefighters remained unaccounted for.
UPDATE, 8:40 a.m.: Officials say three or four West volunteer firefighters remain missing as they believe between five and 15 were killed in the explosion at West Fertilizer Co.
One law enforcement official who was presumed missing has been found and is being treated for significant injuries at a hospital, said Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.
Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing in the neighborhood closest to the plant and Swanton said there has been reports of possible looting.
A major explosion occurred Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, near Hillsboro in north-central Texas – killing between five and 15 people and injuring at least 160 more.
Waco Police Spokesperson Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said a fire began Wednesday evening at the West Fertilizer plant. Fifty minutes later, an explosion was reported in a frantic radio call from the scene of the fire at the plant at 1471 Jerry Mashek Dr. just off Interstate 35.
At least five to 15 people were killed and more than 160 wounded when a large fertilizer plant explosion rocked a small Texas town late Wednesday, destroying dozens of homes under a cloud of toxic smoke, police said.
Between three and five firefighters were still missing, Waco, Texas, police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton told reporters early Thursday.
Firefighters, including local volunteers, were battling a blaze at the time of the blast, which caused a ground tremor equivalent to a magnitude-2.1 earthquake, the USGS said. In Amarillo, Texas, a seismograph recorded the blast with a magnitude of 2.5, Swanton said.
Monarch’s Fire Marshal Roger Herin said the dog, Gretchen, was found to be approximately 60 feet off shore in water beyond the ice.
“Firefighter/Paramedic Chris Marshall crawled out on the ice, went into the water, grabbed the dog and slid back on the ice, saving the dog’s life,” said Herin.
Like the volunteer firefighter who lost his job as a truck driver while on a storm response, this is another interesting one from Sandy that is making headlines in New Jersey. Four volunteer firefighters from Manville, New Jersey were suspended because, on their own, they went to Toms River, the hometown of one of the firefighters, to assist in the aftermath of the hurricane. While the punishment for three of the four has been reduced, the fourth, Gary Barras, has been in a very public battle over this issue.
Manville officials are making the case that Barras misrepresented himself, got into a heated battle with his chief and violated established protocols for this type of response.
Barras argues that he as doing the right thing. Manville officials also believe they are doing the right thing, but understand the public relations problem that has resulted from appearing to punish someone for doing a good deed. Also, social media has played a role in this case with Barras’ picture on Facebook in Toms River becoming part of the evidence.
All but one of the four North End Volunteer Fire Co. firefighters who were suspended after going to shore to help with Sandy relief were reinstated Thursday night, according to Manville Mayor Angelo Corradino Friday morning.
The firefighters were originally suspended for not following orders and for misrepresenting themselves upon their return, Corradino said. But firefighter Gary Barras became “almost combative and unruly, and that’s why he was dismissed,” the mayor said.
Barras — the firefighter who spearheaded the trip to help out East Dover Fire Co., in Toms River, his hometown — had permission from Capt. Joe Barilla to leave town, but he did not have permission to bring three others with him, according to Manville Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Ken Otrimski.
The firefighters were in violation of the Fire Service Resource Emergency Deployment Act of 2003, Corradino said, which could subject Manville up to a $10,000 fine.
Gary Barras, a former volunteer firefighter, claims his superiors in Manville suspended him for going to Toms River to help residents down the Jersey Shore hit hard by Sandy.
“When he came back, the way he handled the situation misrepresented the truth and almost getting into a fight with the chief,” Mayor Angelo Corradino said.
Fire officials said Barras was told he could go and help hurricane victims, but he was not allowed to represent the Manville Fire Department.
Then they said they saw a Facebook picture of Barras wearing Manville bunker gear in front of a Toms River fire truck, expensive bunker gear that can cost close to $3,000.
The disciplinary action, it was revealed Friday, was more than a local matter, involving officials as high up as the state Department of Community Affairs. The agency’s Northwest Regional Fire Coordinator Timothy Weiss emailed Somerset officials Nov. 4 to inform them that Manville volunteers had self-deployed to Ocean County.
The Manville volunteers had reportedly been spotted by Ocean County Fire Coordinator Brian Gabriel, who told them to leave because they had not been deployed through the proper channels.
Manville officials, however, also dialed back the punishments. Two firefighters who had been suspended for six months were reinstated on probation. Another firefighter who had resigned is welcome to rejoin, officials said. But Barras is likely to remain a man without a fire station.
The last word from Broward County, Florida is the remaining suspect from the training and certification scandal involving Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue is Michael T. Reimer. According to news reports, Reimer recently resigned from the fire department and has continued to run Safety Solutions out of Boynton Beach. Reimer’s firm is accused of providing phony training documentation.
A search of the web shows that Michael Reimer and Safety Solutions also have provided training for the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams. News reports indicate that the other four firefighters arrested, Freddie Batista, Greg Jones, Joseph Perri and Steve Loleski, all worked for Safety Solutions.
A South Florida company has so far been responsible for training more than two dozen of the country’s urban search and rescue teams.
Contracted by FEMA, Safety Solutions, based in Boynton Beach, taught all 28 urban search and rescue teams in Haiti everything they know. “This is a concrete chain saw. It can plunge through solid concrete,” said Mike Reimer of Safety Solutions, as he demonstrates how the machine can cut through solid rebar in a few seconds.
Teams go into the ruins and dig with $3 million worth of equipment. “They need to know building construction, how to use tools effectively, how to prevent further collapse,” said Reimer. “They’re going to shore up the building with lumber that will hold the building in place, and then they’re going to tunnel and dig.”
Broward County Sheriff’s Office photos of (l-r) Freddie Batista, Steve Loleski, Gregory Jones and Joseph Perri via sun-sentinel.com.
Here’s what the articles are now saying about Michael Reimer and Safety Solutions.
Authorities said (arrested firefighter Steve) Loleski allegedly got his training at Safety Solutions Inc., a Boynton Beach company owned by Michael and Tracey Reimer that was not approved to offer the certification.
Batista allegedly also made a phony card for Michael Reimer, a city firefighter who recently resigned and faces charges of uttering a forged document, grand theft and official misconduct, police said. He remains at large.
Other firefighters who also allegedly received the bogus certification were: Gregory Jones, 28, and Joseph Perri, 27, both employed by the city department for six years, and charged with uttering a forged document and official misconduct.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Loleski and the other accused firefighters received their ACLS cards from a company called Safety Solution Inc., owned by Michael Reimer, which was not approved to teach the advanced cardiovascular life support course, stated the affidavit. The cards of Loleski, Reimer, Jones and Perri all contained similar, suspicious characteristics including the name of a non-authorized instructor, Freddie Batista, stated the affidavit.
As a result of the fake cards, the affidavit stated, Reimer and Jones received the 15-percent pay incentive and Loleski received the 10-percent.
Reimer is president of Boynton Beach-based Safety Solutions LLC, an internationally recognized safety company he founded in 1996. Safety Solutions sells products and equipment and specializes in rescue and recovery training.
Batista, Jones, Perri and Loleski have worked for his firm.
The company has provided training to fire departments around the country and abroad. It has also offered training to law enforcement agencies and branches of the U.S. military, as well as foreign government.
At this time, the remaining subject that is still at large is Michael T. Reimer. His whereabouts are unknown at this time. Anyone with information regarding Reimer’s location, is urged to contact Sgt. R. Pelham of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department at 954-828-5700.
The investigation began when the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department discovered what appeared to be a suspicious document during a routine audit of training certificates. The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department initiated an internal auxiliary review, discovering additional fraudulent documents. The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department turned their investigation over to the Florida Department of Health and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
For the second time in a week there is video of a firefighter dropping down from above with a flying kick to push someone threatening suicide back into a building. This one (above) occurred Tuesday in China where a man was sitting on a window ledge holding a baby. The attempt ends when a firefighter suddenly rappels from the roof and kicks the man and the baby back into the apartment.
A few days earlier a firefighter used a similar technique to stop an attempt by a teeanger in Russia (below). I am guessing this is a great technique and the firefighter is a hero until one misses.
While we’ve been butting into the affairs of Detroit and showing you videos from around the country, my old friend and fire buff extraordinaire Vito Maggiolo reminds me I’ve been neglecting my first due. In other words, he’s asking how come I haven’t run any of his videos lately?
For a man who has reported and produced stories from war zones and other trouble spots around the world for CNN we certainly understand what a thrill it must be for Vito to have his work showcased on such a classy site like STATter911.com. But as much as I hate to admit it, Vito is correct. I did miss some good local stories.
The video above goes way back to October 4. Here’s Vito’s account for the website DCFD.com:
A worker dangling from his safety harness after a scaffold collapse was rescued by Tower 3 on Thursday afternoon, October 4th.
The incident took place around 3 PM in the 1400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on the side of the massive Department of Commerce building.
When firefighters arrived, they encountered a scaffold that had dropped on its left side, leaving the victim hanging in midair about three stories above ground.
Included in the high angle rescue assignment was the aerial tower. They raised their bucket, and after cutting off some interfering branches, reached the worker and hauled him to safety.
The man was brought to the ground and evaluated by EMS for any potential injuries.
The second video, above, is a more recent apartment fire in Northwest Washington. Also from DCFD.com:
An occupant hanging out an upper story window was retrieved by firefighters thru the interior of a burning Columbia Heights apartment building late Saturday afternoon, October 13th.
The blaze engulfed an 8th floor apartment at 2900 14th Street NW. As box alarm companies began an interior attack, a panicky female was seen at a window on side D of the building. Other firefighters in the street below encouraged her to remain in place, yelling that help was one the way. She was taken to safety a short time later.
The fire was controlled by a box and working fire dispatch assignment. Two civilians suffered smoke inhalation and were transported to the hospital.
Raw video as citizens, firefighters and police officers teamed up to rescue an elderly woman just in time as her car was quickly sinking in Portland Harboron Friday afternoon. The 84-year-old woman lost control of the vehicle as she was driving on India Street.
Just as the accident happened, Lt. Robert Slaving said the fire department was training a short distance from the site and responded within 30 seconds. He said the rescue squad was able to get in the water quickly and help get the driver the rest of the way out of the car and back onto the land.
Slaving said without the efforts of the emergency personnel and Good Samaritans, the accident might not have ended with a positive result. “It might have been a different outcome,” he said.
Katie Nelson of Biddeford was having lunch at Benkay on India Street when she saw a car speeding by and then heard a crash. She went outside to see what had happened, and saw 84 year-old Ursula Nixon’s car in Portland Harbor.
Nelson wasted no time jumping into the water to help. She climbed onto the car and in the rear window.
“I just remember pulling myself up and and looking in at her and there was water all in the front of the car and she was in the front seat,” Nelson told NEWS CENTER. “so I just, I said, ‘Hi I’m Katie,’ and she’s like, ‘I don’t want to die in here, I’m going to drown.’”
About a month after the events of September 11, 2001 I was asked by journalist Allison Gilbert to contribute my experiences at the Pentagon on that day to a book called Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11. While I knew I was only one of many TV and radio reporters and anchors who would be contributing to the book, and Allison would only be using a couple of blurbs, it was an opportunity for me to write a chronology of the day and put a few thoughts down.
Below is that account. It is a view of September 11 through the eyes of a TV reporter who arrived on Washington Boulevard in front of the Pentagon helipad six-minutes after impact. YouTube has some of the TV coverage from that day broadcast by my colleagues at WUSA-TV in Washington. I have added those clips at the appropriate times.
I conclude with a postscript written 40-days after the attacks that looks at the public’s perception of firefighters following the sacrifice made by 343 members of the Fire Department of New York.
September 11, 2001
8:52 AM: Spending time with my son is always the best way to start the day. Sam, almost two years old, is eating his breakfast. I bring my toast into the den to sit with him. The television is on so we can do what we usually do in the morning, watch my wife, Hillary Howard, Sam’s mom, do the weather on WUSA-TV. Instead of the “Early Show” ending to make way for local news, I see the open to a “CBS News Special Report”. I turn the sound up, but don’t need Bryant Gumbel to tell me that something is very wrong at one of the World Trade Center towers. The thick, black smoke pouring out of many windows and from the roof makes it very clear this is a major disaster in the making. Gumbel says there is a report that a plane hit the building. Those words send me out of the room and upstairs to quickly finish getting dressed.
9:03 AM: I occasionally glance at the TV upstairs. A little slow to comprehend some of what it going on, it dawns on me that this appears to be a crystal clear day. I am starting to wonder if this plane crash is really an accident. As I think about calling the newsroom to suggest we might be dealing with a terrorist attack of some sort, any doubts I had are immediately erased. My head quickly turns toward to the TV as I hear a woman say to Byrant Gumbel, “Oh, there is another one! Another plane just hit! Oh, my gosh! Another plane has hit! Another building! Flew right into the middle of it. Explosion.”
It hit me instantly that our lives have suddenly changed.
9:05 AM: On the phone to the station, I talk to Dave Roberts, our news director. I am convinced that if the people who did this were organized enough to quickly hit two targets like the World Trade Center towers, Washington would be next. We decide I will head into town to start looking around for increased security measures and be ready if another attack occurs.
9:10 AM: No time for our normal goodbye ritual. I give Sam a quick kiss and hug. Sam says something about “Jay Jay”. “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”, Sam’s favorite TV show, comes on soon. Not knowing what he may have already seen on TV this morning, I tell him calmly that “Jay Jay” is having a bad day. With the uncertainty of what was ahead, I didn’t want to leave Sam. I knew, though, he was in good hands with Glenda, the woman who takes care of him while we are at work.
9:15 AM: Realizing my good friend, Dan Patrick, our night assignment manager, is probably asleep and has no idea what is going on, I wake him. Dan doesn’t believe me when I describe the events of the morning along with my concern that Washington is next. Certainly I would have thought this was one of his sick practical jokes if the situation were reversed. Hanging up, I’m not sure he is convinced that this is for real.
9:25 AM: My first stop, the State Department. I circle the block and notice some extra officers being deployed around the building. Other street activity appears normal. Checking out the Pentagon never enters my mind.
9:38 AM: East bound on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, I turn north on 17th Street. At that moment the scanners in my car come alive. On numerous police and fire radio frequencies, people are yelling that a plane hit the Pentagon. Making a fast U-turn, I see the smoke rising across the Potomac River. I get the assignment desk on the phone. It’s a bad connection. I yell into the phone, “Pentagon, Pentagon, Pentagon. Send everyone to the Pentagon. I should be there soon.”
I carefully bust a few lights on southbound 17th Street. Making a right turn, traffic is light on westbound Independence Avenue.
9:41 AM: Anchors Mike Buchanan and Andrea Roane break into CBS coverage to report that there has been an apparent plane crash at the Pentagon. They have distant, but clear pictures of the Pentagon ablaze from our rooftop camera in Rosslyn.
9:43 AM: There is also little traffic heading outbound on the Memorial Bridge. Across the river, I now have a distant view of the Pentagon. The very black smoke I am seeing is surely caused by the fuel, now burning, that was in the plane’s tanks. I call the control room to try and get on the air, but the call cuts out as the anchors lead to me.
9:44 AM: Somehow I end up on southbound Washington Boulevard directly in front of the Pentagon helipad. That is good news, but for the moment it does me no good because there is wireless gridlock. I am unable to get a phone call out.
9:46 AM: I have my home video camera out and on the tripod, rolling off a few shots. The phone still isn’t working.
9:48 AM: Walking down Washington Boulevard is Heather Cabot a recently hired reporter for WUSA. She tells me her phone isn’t getting out either. I ask her to take over my camera and I will work on trying to get a phone call to the station. Heather tells me she is with photographer Mike Trammel. I look back to see Trammel and put my camera away.
9:52 AM: Heather’s phone finally gets through. I describe the scene as firefighters from Ft. Meyer and National Airport put the first water and foam on the burning Pentagon. Some people are looking at the sky, making sure another plane isn’t approaching. I suggest to Heather, that it is probably a good idea for us to do the same. Amazingly traffic on northbound Washington Boulevard has not been blocked and drivers are just whizzing by the burning Pentagon as they head to work.
A familiar red van pulls a few feet past us. It is one of our microwave vans with Bruce Bookholtz at the wheel. I am a bit amazed that, with no communication, we all end up at the same spot.
We hear a number of small pops and explosions. I am guessing those are tires popping from the vehicles that were parked against the building and are now burning, or possibly some small canisters exploding. Among the vehicles on fire is the new crash/rescue fire truck, belonging to the Ft. Meyer Fire Department. It is stationed at the Pentagon and is routinely on hand for helicopter landings and takeoffs, in case of an emergency. It is a fire truck designed for just this rare event, a plane crash, and it can’t be used.
9:55 AM: Heather tells me to look down on the street around us. I was so intent on watching the burning Pentagon, I hadn’t noticed there are what appear to be small pieces from the airplane at my feet. I had already seen the large amount of debris scattered on the Pentagon lawn, but so far no piece is large enough to be easily identified as an airplane part.
9:57 AM: Our first live video is on the air. You see flames crawling up the familiar face of the Pentagon along with some of the first victims as they are carried away from the building.
9:59 AM: I am on the air with Michael Kelly, an eyewitness Heather pulled out of the crowd. Kelly was driving on nearby I-395 when he saw the plane take aim on the Pentagon.
10:00 AM: Anchor Andrea Roane interrupts me, “Dave, Dave, Dave. We want to break in, because we want to go back to New York, where Dan Rather is anchoring our coverage, where one of the towers at the World Trade Center has collapsed”.
These words stop me in my tracks for a moment. I have no TV monitor to see this for myself. Just Andrea’s words. It doesn’t compute in my brain. I had been a firefighter. I had studied high-rise firefighting. There had been a number of major high-rise fires throughout the world that burned for many hours. To my knowledge there had never been a catastrophic collapse of an entire building. This was just one of many things happening today that no one has ever had to deal with.
Knowing how aggressive New York firefighters are, I realize there must be scores of dead rescuers. The last pictures I saw out of New York were from an hour ago. Even then it was pretty apparent, from the amount of fire, that anyone at the impact points and above had little chance of survival.
10:05 AM: They come back to me for our first interview with someone who was in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. Two or three men on stretchers pass by us. It is our first close-up look at the injured and they are severely, if not critically burned over a good portion of their bodies. These victims are flown out by helicopter to a hospital burn unit. Their lives will never be the same.
10:10 AM: A Virginia State Trooper starts moving everyone back. There is concern another plane is coming toward the Pentagon. We don’t move.
10:15 AM: As they come back to our live shot, five floors suddenly collapse around the jet’s impact point. There is now a large gash on the west side of the Pentagon.
10:18 AM: People start running away from the Pentagon. This time, FBI agents are telling us another plane is just minutes out. They order us to move immediately. I am able to get in a few quick words, attempting to explain to Mike and Andrea what is happening, before the transmitter is turned off and the live truck’s mast starts coming down.
10:28 AM: We move just a short distance off Washington Boulevard and down the ramp to Columbia Pike. As Bruce tries to re-establish a signal, I hear through my earpiece that the second tower in New York has collapsed. I just can’t imagine what it going on in Manhattan. The death toll must be staggering. I recall my wife once telling me her grandfather hauled truckloads of steel used to build the Twin Towers. Now those buildings don’t exist.
10:32 AM: We are again feeding live pictures of the burning Pentagon.
10:36 AM: Witnesses are giving different descriptions of the plane that hit the building. Some say it is an American Airlines 757, while others believe it was a business jet. The fire is still burning out of control.
10:38 AM: Mike Buchanan asks me if I have seen any large pieces of an airplane at the scene. As I answer this question, he interrupts me,“Hold on Dave. Hold on just a second. We’ve got a bulletin from AP. A large plane has just crashed in Western Pennsylvania.”
Mike also reads an AP report about a car bomb going off at the State Department. We are just across the river from State and we didn’t hear an explosion.
10:42 AM: An F-16 makes a low pass near the Pentagon. That, along with the plane crash in Pennsylvania, makes me think there was something to the threats that forced us move away from the building. I notice a large group of people huddled under the Washington Boulevard overpass.
10:52 AM: A Lt. Colonel with Air Force Public Affairs passes our location. We snag him. He urges people to keep far away from the Pentagon. If you have loved ones you can’t account for, he asks that you not come to the Pentagon. He has no idea of the number of dead or injured. Not much in the way of information, but it is the first official word.
WUSA anchorman Gordon Peterson, who was originally sent to nearby National Airport for a flight to New York, arrives at our location.
10:54 AM: Mike and Andrea confirm there was no car bomb at the State Department. A little bit of good news.
11:06 AM: Gordon interviews Mike Walter, a television reporter for “USA Today Live”. Mike, on his way to work in Rosslyn, witnessed the Pentagon crash and offers the most vivid description so far.
11:10 AM: We are again ordered to move our live truck further away from the Pentagon.
11:31 AM: Our shot is back up. This time, from a hill in front of the Quick Mart. This Citgo, looks like a normal service station, but it is exclusively for use by military personnel.
11:39 AM: The fire is spreading. Suddenly there are flames showing in a number of windows far from the point of impact.
People again start moving quickly from the Pentagon. There is more talk of another hijacked plane heading our way.
11:52 AM: Again, more people rush from the Pentagon.
12:16 PM: I listen to Dan Patrick, with a phone report, describe his attempts to get from Northern Virginia to the TV station in Northwest Washington. Dan says he had to show identification to a police officer and explain his business in the city. Only then was he allowed to cross Key Bridge into Georgetown. The city is in lockdown.
12:18 PM: Gordon notices an ambulance convoy from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad pull up along Columbia Pike. It was a repeat of a scene I had witnessed, just on the other side of the Pentagon, almost 20 years earlier. The same Maryland squad sent a similar contingent after Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge on January 13th, 1982.
12:20 PM: If I am not convinced how much turmoil there is in the country from these attacks, this does it. Mike and Andrea announce Disney World is being evacuated.
12:28 PM: A Navy public affairs officer officially confirms what has been painfully obvious. Besides the dead on the aircraft, Pentagon workers are dead inside the building. He has no idea how many people didn’t get out.
12:32 PM: Talking on the air with Mike and Andrea, it still isn’t clear which of the four hijacked jets smashed into the Pentagon. Right now, American Airlines believes the hijacked flight from Dulles crashed into one of the towers in New York.
Police move everyone, including the news media, off the hillside. Bruce pulls the truck around to the other end of the service station lot. This fourth move winds up being our last. It becomes home for the better part of two weeks.
1:19 PM: The first official briefing from the Pentagon. Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, announces that this was “a full assault on the United States of America”. The admiral says there was no way to prepare for an attack like this. I am shaking my head at the fact that the spokesman for the military headquarters of the United States of America is forced to talk to the world from a service station parking lot.
1:30 PM: CNN Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins me on the air for a few minutes. Our first time working together was at WTOP radio, 20 years ago, covering the Air Florida plane crash. Jamie says they always anticipated a terrorist attack at the Pentagon, but figured it would be on the other side of the building where all the top brass is located.
Off camera, Jamie tells me that just yesterday his son’s class in middle school had a discussion about the bombing in Oklahoma City. Jamie’s son told the class he always worries about his dad being hurt by an attack like this, because his dad works at the Pentagon. Jamie tried getting word to the school to let his son know he was okay.
1:50 PM: Andrea announces that the Urban Search and Rescue Team from Fairfax County, known as Virginia Task Force 1, has been activated and will be at the Pentagon shortly.
American Airlines now says they aren’t sure where Flight 77 ended up.
WUSA-TV’s Mike Trammel’s shot of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (third from the right) helping carry one of the injured from the Pentagon to a waiting ambulance.
1:56 PM: Admiral Quigley sets the tone for his second briefing by saying “you are going to have a lot more questions than I have answers.” Quigley doesn’t have an answer to the one question all of us are asking. He can only say, “we know there are casualties.”
He tells us Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was among the Pentagon workers hurrying from the building after the explosion. Rumsfeld helped the injured for about 15 minutes, getting several people onto stretchers. Then he went back inside to the National Military Command Center. The command center is reportedly smoky, but not damaged. (NOTE: Approaching the one-year anniversary of the attack, CNN’s Vito Maggiolo contacted me after looking at the raw video from September 11 shot by WUSA-TV photojournalist Mike Trammel. While many people had viewed that video, and all of it played out in front my own eyes, Vito was the only person to notice that one of the men carrying a stretcher with one of the first victims removed from the Pentagon was Secretary Rumsfeld.)
2:10 PM: Virginia Task Force 1 arrives. Normally Fairfax County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team is sent to some far off land by way of military transport. This time it was just a quick drive down Interstate 66 to the county on its eastern border.
2:23 PM: WUSA Photographer Greg Guise is able to provide some details surrounding the hijacked jet that went down in Pennsylvania. Greg grew up a few miles from the crash site and has business interests in the community. Greg relays a description of the scene from a radio engineer friend in Somerset County.
2:43 PM: For the past few hours we’ve seen no ambulances leave the area with lights and siren. We’re pretty certain that anyone alive is already being treated. Now reporter Jennifer Ryan, at the Virginia Hospital Center, confirms no more victims are expected from the Pentagon.
2:49 PM: Mike and Andrea report it’s now fairly clear the plane wreckage at the Pentagon is from American Airlines Flight 77 out of Dulles.
2:55 PM: Rear Admiral Stephen Pietropaoli, U.S. Navy Office of Information, tells us that in the recently renovated wedge of the Pentagon, where the attack occurred, there is blast resistant glass on the windows. In the days to come we hear from many who believe that this very expensive glass saved lives.
3:53 PM: Now briefing us at the Citgo press center, Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clark and Defense Protective Service Chief John Jester. Jester tells us the impact from the jet extends through to the C ring, the middle of the 5 rings of the Pentagon. All we see from our location, is that a portion of the E ring, the outer most portion of the Pentagon, has crumbled.
Clark admits she can’t confirm that all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are accounted for. That news is a bit unsettling. We also hear about a Navy captain who burned his hands rescuing others. Clark says that man is already back from the hospital and wants to be put to work again, helping at the Pentagon.
4:12 PM: Rumors have been spreading that the U.S. military brought down the hijacked plane in Pennsylvania. Rear Admiral Craig Quigley says, “That didn’t happen. I cannot explain to you the cause of the crash of the airplane near Pittsburgh, but it was not engagement by a U.S. fighter aircraft.”
The Pentagon now confirms all the Joint Chiefs are accounted for.
4:54 PM: The second Urban Search and Rescue Team arrives. This one is from Montgomery County, Maryland.
5:04 PM: I see International Association of Firefighters General President, Harold Schaitberger and his press person, George Burke arrive at the Citgo. I grab Harold for a live interview. Harold has been in close touch with his people in New York. We learn for the first time that more than 200 New York firefighters probably perished when the towers collapsed. He calls firefighters “our domestic soldiers”. Schaitberger says the civilian death toll will be in the thousands. Off camera he lets me know that much of FDNY’s command staff was lost, including the Chief of the Department and the head of Special Operations.
5:36 PM: Harold Schaitberger joins me again with the story of two Ft. Meyer firefighters who were at the Pentagon when the crash occurred. They were standing near the fire truck we saw burning this morning. Both men were knocked down and injured by the force of the crash. They helped rescue a group of people through some of the office windows, before the firefighters themselves were hospitalized.
6:42 PM: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield briefs the press. For the first time since the crash, the press conference is held inside the Pentagon. I watch it from our van. Pushed for a body count, Rumsfeld says, “It will not be a few”. The Pentagon “will be in business tomorrow”.
8:45 PM: New information has been slow in coming, but marching up Columbia Pike with the television lights reflecting off his orange vest is a member of Montgomery County’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team. Captain Scott Graham gives us the first solid information about the fire and rescue efforts. Scott becomes a lifeline for information in the days to come.
Despite the large fire still burning, Graham says the USAR team members are always optimistic about finding people alive. He says, “We have to look at it as a rescue effort for us. We have to look at it as a very unstable building. And our job, pretty much, is to take the name of the Pentagon off the outside of it and go in and rescue the people that are in there”.
9:52 PM: Another familiar face shows up at the Citgo. Ed Plaugher is the fire chief of Arlington County. The Pentagon is in Arlington County, Virginia and Chief Plaugher is the man in charge of the fire and rescue operations. None of the other reporters nearby seem to know who Plaugher is, or if they do, they don’t care. Ed joins me live at 10:00 PM with the first solid news about the loss of life at the Pentagon. There are no figures as of yet, but the Pentagon has given him a range to work with. Plaugher says it is believed that anywhere from 100 to 800 people work in the area where the impact occurred. While that is fairly large range, it lets us know that the death toll will likely be in the hundreds at the Pentagon, as compared to the thousands presumed dead in New York. Plaugher’s guess is, when it is over, the number at the Pentagon will be in the low hundreds.
Plaugher later receives some heat when his statements are taken out of context. Some news reports claim Plaugher estimated the death toll at 800. Days later we learn that 125 were killed on the ground and 64 perished aboard Flight 77.
On another topic Chief Plaugher says, “To be honest with you, we always were afraid of the Pentagon as being a target, but never in our wildest dreams to this extent. I am still in disbelief.”
11:03 PM: Fire has broken through in at least four places along the Pentagon roof. Chief Plaugher says aggressive interior firefighting operations will cease until daylight. But, crews overnight, will continue to pour in water from the outside to keep the fire from spreading further.
I relay a phone conversation with Scott Graham a few minutes before our 11:00 PM newscast. Scott and most of the USAR team members from Montgomery and Fairfax Counties worked very closely with Deputy Chief Ray Downey from the Fire Department of New York. Downey, commander of FDNY’s Special Operations, is unaccounted for after the towers collapsed. Scott says Downey commanded all the USAR teams in Oklahoma City after the bombing there. He says Downey wrote the book on urban search and rescue. Skills Downey taught will be utilized in New York and Arlington by hundreds of rescuers in the difficult days to come. His voice cracking, Scott tells me, “We lost a damn good man”.
We lost a lot of good men and women today.
October 27, 2001
11:15 PM: As I am looking back at September 11th, I have just spent a week covering the deaths of two Washington, D.C. postal workers, from inhalation anthrax. Others are hospitalized because of anthrax that was sent through the U.S. Mail. No one knows how this story will play out.
There is a lot of uncertainty since September 11th. Our war efforts, our security in public places, our ability to travel safely by air, our economic future. Like all parents, Hillary and I worry over what this will mean for our young son.
This much I’m sure of. Through the thick smoke hanging over New York and Washington, it became clear that some remarkable people walk among us.
Some are just ordinary citizens who put other people’s lives ahead of their own. Staying behind, trying to make sure everyone gets out.
Others are paid to protect us. But I don’t think anyone believes for a moment that a police officer, paramedic or firefighter’s modest salary is enough to encourage someone to walk into the places that these men and women did on September 11th. It takes much more than money. It takes heart, and courage, and a belief you can make a difference.
I know firefighters the best. Six years in a busy volunteer company during my youth, and almost 30 years making the fire service my beat as a reporter, have given me some perspective.
In many big cities, including our Nation’s Capital, the fire departments have long taken a back seat when it comes to funding. Citizens who can tell you how many times the police patrol car comes down their block, or how many officers are walking the beat, have no idea how many firefighters are on duty in the neighborhood fire station. Political leaders know this to be true and through the years have made drastic cuts in fire protection, often without protest from the public.
Through the years, I have reported many stories where citizens and firefighters have died because of these cuts. Just last week an understaffed ladder company became an issue in Houston, Texas, after a fire captain died in a high-rise apartment building fire.
Firefighters are can-do people. Their skills at making things work under adversity often hides from the public the shortcomings in their staffing, equipment and facilities.
Some of the good that has come from the sacrifices made by the 343 members of FDNY who died on September 11th, is the recognition, by the public, of what firefighters really do.
A recent trip to Arlington County Fire Station #2 brought this home. The firehouse is covered with cards and letters from all over the world. Many are from school children, with drawings of the firefighters in action at the Pentagon and World Trade Center. All say thanks.
Veterans of more than 20 years in the fire service are astounded by the reaction these days as they drive through local streets. People stop and wave. When the firefighters walk into a building in uniform, they are applauded.
On October 7th, I was at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Just two hours before military action in Afghanistan began, President Bush told the stories of some of the 99 domestic soldiers who died in the line of duty in the United States last year. I watched as spouses and children received a flag and a red rose, and heard a bell toll in honor of their loved one, our hero.
I have forced myself on most days since September 11th to read the New York Post, Daily News and Times and the accounts of the daily funerals of New York firefighters. It is difficult to read about the pain their wives and children are going through. It is the least, though, that we can do. It is important to remember this unbelievable sacrifice.
My hope is that people all over the United States are paying very close attention to these same stories of heroism. My hope is that they don’t forget these stories when someone is trying to save a little money and close down their local firehouse.
Right now when Sam sees a fire truck he says, “Evan”. “Revvin’ Evan” is the animated fire engine on that “Jay Jay the Jet Plane” cartoon show he loves. When Sam is old enough, I will make sure he knows a lot more about firefighters. I will make sure Sam understands exactly who those people were climbing up the clogged, smoke filled, stairways, as he sat in his high chair, watching the first pictures transmitted from New York, at 8:52 AM, on September 11th, 2001.
From press release by Mark Brady, PGFD (Still images by Brady & video by William “Hawk” Hawkins, Fire Chiefs Aide):
On a day when storms rolled through Prince George’s County with heavy rains, high winds and threats of tornado’s, the Fire/EMS Department Technical Services Team was kept busy. The team handles complex rescues involving collapse, confined space, high angle and swift water. The teams had to utilize two of those skills while performing the rescue of three teen-aged males from the swollen and swift moving Northwest Branch waterway.
Sometime after 7:00 pm several residents of the Mount Rainier and Brentwood Community came outdoors during a break in the storms. The power of Mother Nature was evident near the 38th Street Bridge in Mount Rainier. One resident saw three teen aged males walking near the shoreline. She turned away for just a moment and when she looked back she saw them in the water frantically attempting to make their way back to the safety of the shore. They didn’t stand a chance swimming in the swift moving water and were carried downstream. They passed a concrete bridge support and each one was able to grab onto and climb on to the wide base. They became stranded and trapped with the water level continuing to rise. The witness called 911 and a response of Fire/EMS Units from Bunker Hill, Hyattsville and Chillum responded to the scene as well as the Departments Technical Services Team and rescue boats from the Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad and Marine Division. Firefighters worked rapidly to devise a plan to retrieve the teens. Another thunderstorm was approaching and the water level in the Northwest Branch continued to rise.
A system of ropes and pulleys were set up with the assistance of the ladder from Hyattsville. Firefighter Joe Ford was placed into a harness and lowered over the bridge and down about 25 feet to the water level. He explained to the anxious teens how the rescue would work; the teens would be raised to the top of the bridge one at a time. Once on the bridge level they were treated for hypothermia by medics. All three were removed at about 8:20 pm and transported to a hospital in good condition.
The successful outcome of this incident was a result of coordination and teamwork by all personnel on the scene. Incident Commanders, firefighters, EMT’s, Paramedics, Technical Services and Marine Division personnel, both volunteer, career and civilian, worked cohesively to bring this potentially tragic incident to a extremely positive outcome.
Six people were injured and hospitalized when an out of control vehicle crashed into a popular bar and restaurant Wednesday afternoon in Little Canada.
The truck was moving with such force that it crashed all the way through a wall, not coming to a rest until it pinned five people against the bar.
NOTE: Some of our readers pointed out the comments were off on this post and wondered why. A very good question. It was completely accidental and was unknown to the editor until the emails arrived. As of 11:35 PM on 4-18 the comments are on.
Prince George’s County Firefighter/Medics rescued a worker that was trapped within a large piece of machinery in what proved to be a very challenging rescue. Firefighters and Paramedics were dispatched to an industrial area in the 5400 block of Van Dusen Road in Laurel at about 11:00 am. A worker at a mulch plant had become trapped inside of a machine that is used to inject colored dye into mulch. First arriving Firefighter/Medics found an adult male that had both legs trapped within heavy machinery and very little to no space to move in the machines “hopper.” Access to the victim was only possible by using ground ladders.
The victim was so entangled in heavy metal machinery that paramedics feared surgical intervention would be required to free the critically injured worker. Paramedics requested a “Go Team” respond to the scene. A GO TEAM is a group of medical professionals that normally work in a hospital environment. When requested, a team of surgeons, nurses, anesthetists and other medical staff will be taken to the scene and if needed do what they need to do to remove the patient from entrapment.
Additional Fire/EMS Department resources including the Technical Rescue Team, Hazardous Materials Team, a tower ladder and additional engine companies operated on the scene for just over 90 minutes. There were a total of 50 firefighter/medics on the scene.
A CRNA was first member of GO TEAM to arrive at the scene. Photo by PGFD’s Mark E. Brady.
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) was the first member of the GO TEAM to arrive. He was brought from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital on board Maryland State Police Trooper 2 to the scene. A combination of Fire/EMS Department Paramedics, the CRNA and the flight medic from Trooper 2 worked together to devise the best course of medical treatment for the victim in conjunction with the members of the Technical Rescue Services.
Parts of the machine were disabled and removed, however, the victim still remained wedged in the machine. The victim was in severe pain and was sedated and intubated. The combination of the removal of parts of the machinery and sedation allowed rescuers enough room to maneuver the victim’s legs out of the machinery without causing additional pain and without surgical intervention. The victim was free of entrapment at about 12:30 pm.
Once extricated the victim was placed into a stokes basket suspended from the extended bucket of the Tower Ladder from Laurel Fire/EMS Station #810 and control maintained by a rope and pulley system established by the Technical Rescue Team.
Once on the ground the victim was treated by a combination of Prince George’s County Paramedics, the flight medic from MSP Trooper 2 and the CRNA. MSP Trooper 2 Medevac transported the patient to a trauma center. The victim was still intubated and suffering from critical injuries to both legs. His injuries, while critical, are not considered life threatening at this point.
Last week we showed you the impact of a major city failing to provide adequate firefighting cability on its waterfront. The bad publicity from the fire department being unable to extinguish a burning yacht at its Dockside community has forced government officials in Melbournce, Australia to address the issue. In Washington, DC, an IG investigation has focused on a similar lack of resources and warns the city may not be prepared for a major waterfront emergency.
The Washington Examiner reports that the DC Fire and EMS Department’s 50-year-old Fireboat John H. Glenn Jr. has been neglected and is obsolete. Reporter Liz Farmer cites a preliminary report from the Office of The Inspector General that indicates the diminished capabilites impact the nation’s capital’s abililty to repond to a terrorist attack on water.
In 2003 I took a ride on the John H. Glenn Jr. during an ice-breaking mission.
The report also says the fire department has not made plans to replace the boat. FDNY launched the boat in 1962 and DC put it in service in 1977.
When asked about the report, at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, said the findings showed the District did “not have the same capabilities” as other major cities. The report notes Boston and San Francisco both applied for federal grant money to update their fleets with boats that are faster and pump twice as much water.
“There’s no reason why, as the nation’s capital, that we don’t have the best in any apparatus for fire and rescue,” said Mendelson, whose committee oversees the city’s Fire and EMS Department.
The department has until Monday to issue its response to the inspector general and a spokesman last week did not return requests for comment
On January 31, 2009 the Glenn’s hull was severely damaged when it was struck by the dinner cruise ship Spirit of Washington (see video above). The fireboat is the primary vessel used for ice breaking on the Potomac during the winter months.
Remember the controversy last Memorial Day weekend over the drowning in Alameda, California when firefighters weren't allowed to go into the water after Raymond Zack because of a lack of training and/or certification by the firefighters? A somewhat similar incident that happened before the Alameda drowning is making headlines in the United Kingdom as part of a coroner's inquest this week.
It happened at Walpole Park in Gosport, England last March. Forty-one-year-old Simon Burgess drowned.
Testimony indicates the firefighters who arrived to see Burgess face down in the water decided from a distance there were no signs of life and waited 11 minutes for a water rescue team. They cited health and safety rules that prevent firefighters from entering water more than ankle deep. The firefighter in charge also ordered others not to go into the water.
How have we got to the stage where our emergency services are so straitjacketed by rules and regulations that they cannot walk into three feet of water to save a man’s life?
It would be easy to blame the fire chief for behaving like a fool, yet he was following a set of procedures that simply defy rational understanding.
A fire chief ordered a policeman and a paramedic to leave a drowning man in a 3ft deep lake 'because they thought he was already dead', an inquest heard.
Police Constable Tony Jones and paramedic Robert Wallace volunteered to jump into the lake but were given strict orders not to do so by fire station watch manager Tony Nicholls.
Adhering to force policy not to enter water more than 'half a boot' deep unless in a life-critical situation, he ordered his crew not to retrieve the body and to wait for the water rescue team, based at Fareham, which arrived at 12.31pm.
Deborah Coles, the control room manager at Hampshire Fire and Rescue, told the inquest that she took the call from Hughes at 12.17pm and, within a minute, had sent a fire appliance, a water rescue trained crew and a water support unit. She told the inquest, "The specialist teams are there to deal with water which is over half a boot in depth. At 12.20pm, the fire crew confirmed attendance and at 12.25 they told us a male was floating face down." She went on, "The water support unit arrived at 12.31pm. At 12.46, we received a message requesting our press officer attend the scene. At 12.52, an update came in saying a male had been recovered, and at 12.58 he was taken to hospital." Burgess was pronounced dead at 13.42.
After the hearing, Mr Burgess's father, David, said: "We will never know if Simon could have been saved, if he had been pulled from the water as soon as the emergency services arrived on the scene or if it was already too late for him.
"When a loved one is involved in an incident like this, you can only hope that everything possible is done to save them regardless of how small the chances of success are."
At 4:01 PM on January 13, 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy Potomac River during a Washington snow storm. Seventy-eight people, including four who were in their vehicles on the inbound 14th Street Bridge, died in the accident. Within a half-hour of the crash into the Potomac, the area’s subway system, Metro, suffered its first fatal accident. It happened just north of the 14th street bridge in a tunnel south of the Federal Triangle station. Three people were killed and 25 were injured.
The video above is a compilation of coverage from Channel 9 in Washington. In it you will see some of the video shot by my friend Bruce Bookholtz who was on the 14th Street Bridge as five survivors were plucked from the icy Potomac by the US Park Police Eagle helicopter crew of Donald Usher and Gene Windsor. Bookholtz and reporter John Goldsmith were at nearby National Airport just prior to the crash and captured a shot of Flight 90 before take off as part of their coverage of the snow storm.
The failure of the plane to be properly deiced, along with a cockpit crew inexperienced in winter weather operations contributed to the accident, according to the NTSB. The most significant factor leading directly to the crash was the failure of the crew to use the engine anti-ice system during ground operation and takeoff. This allowed the engine pressure ratio (EPR) thrust indicators to provide false high readings. Because of it, the crew did not provide enough power to keep the Boeing 737-200 airborne and it came down just 30 seconds after leaving the National Airport runway.
The interaction of the crew and the failure of the pilot to heed warnings of the co-pilot have long been cited in the area of crew resource management for pilots and in other disciplines, including the fire service.
The Air Florida and Metro crashes were important to the fire service, particularly in the Washington, DC area, for another reason. There was little cooperation or coordination that day across jurisdictional lines. On the scene, working somewhat independently were DCFD, the Arlington County Fire Department, the National Airport Fire Department along with other resources. There was not a strong regional plan on how such disasters were to be handled, which brought much criticism.
Among the loudest critics was Channel 9 Editorial Director Rich Adams. Rich, who died in 1996, was also a columnist for Firehouse Magazine and member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Rich did many on-air editorials prodding local fire service leaders to come up with better regional planning in the days and months that followed the twin disasters. Since the mid 1970s the Northern Virginia fire departments were working daily with an automatic aid policy. But that stopped at the Virginia state line. I urge you to listen to some of Rich's editorials related to the Air Florida and Metro incidents (above). Rich was an important voice in fire and EMS in the Nation's Capital and around the country.
Because of Rich and some progressive fire service leaders, the lessons learned from January 13, 1982, allowed for a much better response almost two decades later when the largest and longest DC area fire and EMS operation took place just south of the 14th Street Bridge. That, of course, was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Another friend, Chester Panzer, then a videographer at Channel 7 and now at Channel 4, got the award-winning close-up video of the rescues. His account is above.
Some other notes from January 13, 1982
One story that wasn’t publicly known until I reported it on the 20th anniversary in 2002, is that the actions of another US Park Police pilot possibly saved the day. In 1982, US Park Police did not supply a snow plow for the hanger in Anacostia Park. Pilot Ron Galey took the call about the crash. As Usher and Windsor got the chopper ready. Galey jumped into his own snow plow equipped pickup truck and cleared a path for the helicopter’s take off. Without that effort, the helicopter may have arrived too late for the rescues.
Just short of 20-years later, Galey also took the call from National Airport’s tower for the notification that a jet had slammed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
There were a number of heroes that day. This includes Arland Williams, believed to be the sixth passenger who survived the initial impact. The other survivors say Williams repeatedly passed the life ring from the helicopter to his fellow survivors. Williams drowned by the time the helicopter came back for him. The inbound 14th Street span is now named for Arland Williams.
The other story from that day that has always touched me is of Roger Olian. Olian was then a sheet metal worker on his way home from his job at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Olian saw the survivors flailing in the frigid waters before any rescuers arrived. Feeling he had to do something, Olian jumped in and swam toward the middle of the river. While he didn’t save anyone, the survivors all cited Olian’s act as giving them hope they soon would be rescued.
Olian’s actions were somewhat overshadowed by Lenny Skutnik who also jumped into the river. Skutnik grabbed survivor Priscilla Tirado who had been brought close to the shore by the helicopter, but couldn’t make it in on her own. Skutnik was recognized later that month during President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address. It began the tradition of honoring heroes during the event.
January 13, 1982 was more than three years before I started my television career. In fact, I was unemployed, having been fired as a traffic reporter for KIX-106 because I was concerned about a safety issue with the airplane we were using. But that day turned out to be my first day on the job at WTOP Radio where my wife Hillary Howard now works. If you care, that story of my live audition and hiring is in this month's Washingtonian Magazine, in an article by Cindy Rich titled Pre-Internet Citizen Journalism. You can click here to read it.
Heavy rains on ground already saturated by Hurricane Irene kept firefighters busy in and around Baltimore County. There have been numerous water rescue calls in the western and northern part of the county and northern Howard County. Many of these areas have not seen rising waters like this since Tropical Storm Agnes in June, 1972.
In one operation six firefighters from Baltimore County had a bit of a close call after one rescue boat capsized and another got stuck.Two of the firefighters ended up clinging to trees.
A swift water rescue boat carrying two firefighters capsized in the Patapsco River near Catonsville while they responded to rescue calls near the Howard County line, said Baltimore County spokeswoman Elise Armacost. Four firefighters had to bail out of another boat that got stuck, but all six were eventually accounted for.
Baltimore County firefighter Jason Porrovicchio. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
After the boat flipped in the current, fire specialist Donald Pruitt was able to cling to a tree, but firefighter Jason Porrovicchio said he ended up about 300 yards downstream. There, he held tight to a branch in the water rushing fast enough to knock down trees until it broke and he managed to swim out.
“It was scary,” Porrovicchio said. “It was my first time as a victim.”
Porrovicchio made his way upstream to help rescue Pruitt, who had been holding on to a tree for half an hour. Other rescuers were then able to pull him to safety.
When they got out, Porrovicchio says the men hugged and then they were checked out by medics. Pruitt was taken to an area hospital with a shoulder injury.
Baltimore County fire crews safely rescued six firefighters from the Patapsco River along the Baltimore County/Howard County line.
The firefighters — four from the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Company Swiftwater Rescue Team and two career firefighters from the Texas Station Swiftwater Rescue Team — were involved in those operations.
One firefighter was stranded in a tree surrounded by moving water. Rescue swimmers safely brought him to shore.
Fire officials are still gathering information about what happened to the boat and how the firefighters ended up in the water.
A firefighter was rescued from swift water in the Catonsville area after he became trapped during a rescue operation. Elise Armacost, with the Baltimore County Fire Department, told ABC2 News that one firefighter was pulled to safety after clinging to a tree.
Five other firefighters were able to swim to safety after the went into the water.
As firefighters from Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg went to work yesterday afternoon trying to get to a man stranded in the middle of the raging Rappahannock River, WUSA-TV photographer Kurt Brooks also went to work. Above is Kurt's raw video and below is an interview reporter Peggy Fox did with Kurt.
A man was rescued from the Rappahannock River Tuesday afternoon after he fell from a boat.
A call went out around 1:30 p.m. for a person in the water in a nearby quarry, says the Fredericksburg Fire Department. The Fredericksburg Fire Department responded and found two witnesses who advised the man was in fact in the river on some rocks.
Mark Doyle with Stafford County Fire says the man fell out of the boat and was unable to get to shore. He was standing on a rock and holding on to a tree branch, but even so, the water was up to his knees.
Fredericksburg City fire rescue personnel with assistance from Stafford County went out in a Fredericksburg City Fire zodiac boat from a nearby quarry. Falmouth Fire was on standby.
Fire rescue personnel located the man about 75 yards up river from the I-95 bridge. They encountered some language problems at first because the man only spoke Spanish, but they reached him and pulled him to safety in their boat.
We were originally told the man was transported by Medic 2 to Mary Washington Hospital, but a battalion fire chief with the Fredericksburg Fire Department official later said the man was conscious, alert, not injured and refused medical treatment. He also says the police questioned him and then let him go on his way.
He has been identified only as a Hispanic, 26-year-old man from Fredericksburg.
It is unclear what the man was doing before he fell into the river, but it is believed he may have been fishing in a rock quarry before he wound up in the river itself.
Authorities advise the river is not at flood stage but is much higher and swifter now than normal. Under normal circumstances, there are still dangers associated with the river, but authorities advise they are currently under a flash flood watch. Rain has been heavy all day long in their area. They advise people to stay off of and out of the river at this time
This rescue Tuesday was the first time Fredericksburg Fire Department had used their new Zodiac motorized rescue boat, which they received due to a grant just last month.
At least five people died when a stage collapsed during a storm at the Indiana State Fair, where country act Sugarland was set to perform.
Some 40 people were injured in the Saturday night incident at the fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Strong winds caused the stage rigging for the outdoor concert to collapse, trapping and injuring concert-goers.
No one was performing at the time, witnesses said. The opening act had finished, and the crowd was waiting for Sugarland to take the stage.
Indiana State Police spokesman David Bursten told The Associated Press that a "strong gust of wind upset the rigging above the stage at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and caused a collapse of the structure over the stage."
Bursten said the injuries ranged from "very serious to cuts and scrapes."
Emergency crews were called to the scene, and workers were setting up a command center to tend to those who were injured.
The collapse came as thousands of concert-goers were being evacuated from the fairground grandstand to a nearby coliseum.
The stage rigging fell onto an area where some fans were seated.
"It was like it was in slow motion," concert-goer Amy Weathers told the Star. "You couldn't believe it was actually happening."
Associated Press photographer Darron Cummings was in the audience attending the concert as a fan shortly before the collapse. He said an announcer gave the crowd instructions on how to evacuate if the weather worsened, but said they hoped to get Sugarland on stage soon.
Cummings said he and his friends went ahead and sought shelter in a nearby barn after seeing the weather radar.
"Then we heard screams. We heard people just come running," Cummings told the AP.
Another person at the concert, Emily Davis, told WTHR that there was lightning and the sky had gotten dark but it wasn't raining when the wind suddenly toppled the rigging.
"It was horrible, people were running and going crazy," she said.
A representative for Sugarland could not immediately be reached, but the top-selling, Grammy-winning country duo tweeted about the incident on its Twitter page and released a statement on its website.
"We are all right after our stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair tonight," the website statement said. "Many of our fans and friends in Indianapolis may not be. Please keep them in your thoughts, prayers, or whatever form of strength you are able to send. They need you. Thank you."
The videos above and below show three different views as a car bomb detonates on Friday while a bomb squad technician in Narathiwat province, south of Bangkok, Thailand attempts to open a door.
From the AP:
On the eve of Thailand's national elections, insurgents carried off deadly attacks south of Bangkok yesterday, including a spectacular car bomb that exploded just as police tried to defuse it.
A member of the Thai bomb squad approached one of the bomb-rigged cars in Narathiwat province after a second car, three yards away had detonated, wounding a soldier.
The officer, who was wearing a protective suit, was attempting to open the front passenger door of the parked car when the bomb exploded.
Authorities arrived at the scene after receiving a tip-off about the abandoned car, which was left in a no-parking zone.
The bomb disposal expert despite being lawn away nearly 10-meters by the explosion, picked himself up and walked away. He was treated for minor injuries.
Authorities said the bomb was triggered by remote from someone near the scene.
The NTSB has launched an investigation into today's deadly collision between an Amtrak train and a semi-truck on Highway 95 near the I-80 Trinity exit.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Lopez says five or six people were killed in the 11:30am accident on U.S. Highway 95 about 70 miles east of Reno. The California Zephyr was en route 2,400 miles from Chicago to Emeryville, California.
Amtrak officials say there were about 204 passengers on the train and 14 crew members. It was Train 5, the westbound California Zephyr, heading from Chicago to Emeryville.
Nevada Highway Patrol told FOX40 witnesses told them the train’s crossing lights were working at the time of the collision. The semi collided with the 4th car of the train. The semi was empty at the time, and there was just the driver inside the cab.
Above is earlier video and some fireground audio from the chemical plant fire we told you about in Quick Takes that occurred this morning in South St. Louis. Three firefighters received minor injuries.
Investigators are trying to determine what started a five-alarm fire in St. Louis that shut down a portion of Interstate 44 and forced hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate.
The fire happened at Chemisphere Corp. around 2:30 a.m. in an industrial area of the 2100 block of Clifton. Storage tanks were damaged, but only about 15 percent of the facility was affected.
About 500 residents living within a three block radius were evacuated. Police went door to door in the middle of the night and requested that they leave. Many went to nearby parking lots in their pajamas and waited for the all clear.
They were allowed to return around 6:45 a.m.
Air quality was not a concern during the fire.
St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said three firefighter was injured at the scene. They were transported to an area hospital for treatment of minor injuries. They were released a few hours later.
The fire forced a four-mile stretch of Interstate 44 to close between Kings Highway and Jamieson. The eastbound lanes reopened at times and then were closed again around 6:45 a.m. The westbound lanes reopened about two hours later.
A man taking pictures fell into the rain swollen Potomac River in Georgetown last night. DC Fire & EMS Department photographer Vito Maggiolo was on the scene and shot the video above as firefighters brought the man to safety. According to spokesman Pete Piringer, the man was uninjured and declined treatment.
DC Firefighters and EMS personnel responded to an unusual call for help at a Northwest restaurant overnight.
Fire officials say rescue crews responded to Capital Pizza and Subs on 18th Street for a report of a man pinned. Officials say the victim became trapped by a large dough rolling machine when it fell on one of his legs.
Firefighters were able to extricate the man and EMS transported him to a local hospital for treatment.
Battalion Chief Tim Riley checks in from Virginia Beach, Virginia on yesterday's gas leak and fire sparked by a construction crew:
Construction Crews Struck a 4 inch plastic natural gas line. The gas immediately caught line near the entrance to the US Naval Master Jet Base Oceana. The fire closed portions of Oceana Blvd down for 3 and ½ hours. Fire crews protected the construction excavator valued at $250,000 dollars. VBFD elected to let the fire burn for safety reason, the fire consumed all the natural gas. If the fire was extinguished natural gas would have accumulated in the area making for a potentially dangerous situation. The fire burned for 2/12 hours before Virginia Natural Gas could secured the 4 inch gas line. No injuries and the excavator remained idling during the entire call. It was pretty cool.
Besides Martin Grube's video above from Fire Rescue TV a picture from Chief Riley is below. And below that are three from an excellent series of photos by VBFD photographer Kirk Kellerhals. You can see the rest of Kirk's photos here on Facebook.
Click the image above to see the whole series of photos from Zhengzhou, Henan province, central China carried by the UK's Daily Mail. The unidentified firefighter made the grab of a lifetime, using one hand to snag the clothes of a 33-year-old woman as she jumped from a bridge. He then pulled the woman to safety.
Chinese firefighters are apparently adept at bringing such people back from certain death. Check the video below.
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