UPDATE: Emergency radio traffic from house explosion injuring 4 firefighters in Sacramento. Listen to the mayday call. PPE concerns.

Listen to the emergency radio traffic from house explosion

This evening shortly after the radio transmissions from a July 5 explosion in Sacramento were released KOVR-TV reported the four injured firefighters were not wearing all of their gear. Here are excerpts from the story by David Begnaud:

Firefighters David Storck, Scott McKinney, Jeff Coats and Mike Feyh lacked protective gloves and were not wearing department-issued protective masks when they approached an Oak Park home on July 5 after neighbors reported a smell of gas.

When firefighters attempted to enter the home, an explosion ripped through the structure, severely damaging the building and burning the firefighters on their hands and faces.

Sacramento Fire Captain Jim Doucette said he won’t know if the lack of equipment was a violation of department policy until the investigation is completed, but said “it probably would have been a good idea” for the injured firefighters to have been wearing hand and face protection.

“They didn’t have a fire, this was a gas leak. They thought it was winding down, so it may not have been appropriate at the time for them not to be wearing gloves,” Doucette said. “Until the investigation is done we really won’t know.”

So the question is how many of you are always buttoned while handling a gas leak? Here’s an earlier article concerning the audio recordings from KXTV-TV’s Kris Vera-Phillips:

The Sacramento Fire Department Tuesday released 911 tapes from a July 5 house explosion that sent four firefighters to the hospital.

Firefighters were responding to reports about a natural gas odor at a house on the 3800 block of 25th Avenue. In the recording, fire crews at the residence confirmed with the dispatch officer the gas had been turned off at the residence. They also confirmed with the dispatcher a Pacific Gas and Electric crew had been called to the house.

Nearly three minutes later, one firefighter on scene calls for more help to respond to an emergency situation at the house.

“Mayday, mayday, we have an explosion,” the unidentified firefighter says in the recording. “I need a full response to the residence. There has been an explosion on scene.”

Fire investigators say physical evidence at the site indicated the explosion was intentionally set.

One firefighter was released from the hospital later that Monday and the other three, who sustained burns to their faces and hands, came home this past weekend.