Sunday, May 20, 2012  National Prevention Week is a new annual health observance supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Association (SAMHSA) that celebrates the work that community organizations and individuals do year-round to prevent substance abuse and promote mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being.
National Prevention Week will take place May 20-26, 2012 and this year’s theme is We are the ones. How are you taking action?
Below is Strategic Initiative #1: Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness
http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA11-4629/03-Prevention.pdf
Please refer to their web site below for more information: http://www.samhsa.gov/preventionweek/

Sunday, May 20, 2012  Four members of the same family, two parents and two children, were injured Saturday when a fire truck overturned on their car on Tchernikovsky Street in Kfar Saba.

The father was critically injured and the mother moderately injured. Their two children, a boy and a girl aged two and three, were moderately injured as well.

The driver of the fire truck was lightly injured.

Magen David Adom forces arrived at the scene and took the father to Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital. The mother and children were evacuated to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/family-of-4-injured-when-fire-truck-falls-on-their-car/

Saturday, May 19, 2012  It was the worst case scenario come to life for emergency responders - a firefighter directing traffic around an accident scene in the town of Theresa was struck by a car.

"We were involved in traffic control and at that time, one of my fire police on scene was actually struck by a vehicle," said Theresa Fire Chief Mark Savage.

The vehicle wasn't just any vehicle.

It was driven by a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy.

Police said Deputy Shaun Cuddeback struck Theresa volunteer firefighter Lance Willix - a 40 year veteran of the department.

"When it's one of your own, it kind of hits home, you know what I mean? We train, we try to do all the right things and things do happen," said Savage.

Officials told 7 News Willix was airlifted to Upstate Medical Hospital in Syracuse with non-life threatening injuries.

"He has some leg trauma, he has been transported and will be flown to Syracuse to the traum... [ more ]

Saturday, May 19, 2012  One of Carilion Clinic’s Lifeguard helicopters had a near miss with three military aircraft Thursday night.

The aircraft did not collide and no one was injured, but the incident is being reported to the Federal Aviation Administration and the military, said Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart.

It is not immediately clear which branch of the military is involved.

The incident occurred around 8 p.m. while Carilion’s Lifeguard 12 helicopter was returning to Rockbridge Country after dropping off a patient at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Earnhart said.

The helicopter’s collision awareness system sounded, alerting the pilot that the aircraft were within 1,000 feet of the helicopter.

“The pilot took evasive action and landed safely,” Earnhart said. “The collision awareness system acted as it was supposed to.”

Friday, May 18, 2012  A warehouse that lodged two businesses in Fishers sustained heavy damage after a fire broke out Thursday afternoon.

Firefighters responded to the 12900 block of Ford Drive at approximately 12:26 p.m. A spokesperson for the Fishers Fire Department said there was a large volume of fire when emergency crews arrived.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Advance Radiant Systems are located inside the warehouse. Firefighters said the fire started in the ARS part of the building.

Employees inside the warehouse attempted to fight the fire before calling 911. The building had no sprinkler or alarm systems.

First-arriving firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the building and fire in the warehouse. A second alarm was immediately ordered.

Early in the fire, a firefighting crew had an overhead door fall on them but they escaped unhurt. Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries later in the incident.

Friday, May 18, 2012  Thanks to our partners at www.FirefighterSpot.com for finding this close call for us:


Who knew a manhole could be so dangerous? In the shocking KCAL video above, an explosion from a manhole blows a Los Angeles fire caption and a fellow firefighter off their feet.

“I consider myself very, very lucky,” said Captain David Wolf. “The next thing I remember I was in the dirt, a kind of flower bed, across from the sidewalk."

The close call happened Sunday night when the firefighters responded to a smoking manhole in Yorba Linda. After an electrical equipment vault exploded, Wolf was reportedly thrown 10 feet in the air.

Wolf said he was looking down at a small fire in the vault and, "The next thing I know is that when my firemen was kind of dragging me. I found out later it was my firemen. I didn’... [ more ]

Friday, May 18, 2012  A total of four firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion Thursday fighting a house fire in Taylor.

Two of the firefighters were taken by ambulance to Magnolia Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. One was released but the second was to be moved to Arkansas Children’s Hospital for smoke inhalation – ACH hosts the state's only burn injury center.

Two other firefighting volunteers were taken to Springhill Medical Center for heat exhaustion.

Paul Bega owns the house at 210 Washington and was one of the volunteers treated in Springhill for heat exhaustion.

The Taylor, Bussey-Sharman and Walker’s Creek volunteer fire departments responded to the alarm just before 5 p.m. The blaze burst through the roof of the home.

STORY FROM: http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/regional_news/article_53852c5a-a077-11e1-b30c-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story

Thursday, May 17, 2012  A volunteer fire department in Yuma County has agreed to remove kegs of beer stocked in its firehouse following concerns raised by two community members who said alcohol in the firehouse was a potential liability problem; and that firefighters had shown up on calls visibly impaired, an assertion many firefighters dispute.

“We believe the mission was accomplished,” said Sue Jarrett, who, with her husband Dean, had vigorously lobbied for the Wauneta Volunteer Fire Department to remove two kegs of beer that were a fixture in the Wauneta fire hall.

The Jarretts argued that the firehouse beer tarnished the firefighters’ reputation and created a liability issue.

“It really is a no-brainer,” said Dean Jarrett, who was a volunteer firefighter for 28 years with the WVFD. “Why have that liability when something goes wrong? The biggest fear is that a member drinks too much beer and causes an accident.”

The kegs — one called a “keger... [ more ]

Thursday, May 17, 2012  Investigators Tuesday night were trying to determine the cause of blaze that gutted a Wendy's restaurant in Lancaster and left one firefighter with minor injuries.

About 40 firefighters battled the blaze near Avenue I and 10th Street West, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Television news footage showed firefighters atop aerial ladders blasting streams of water onto the flames. The roof of the structure had collapsed.

It was unclear how the firefighter was injured. No other injuries were reported.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/no-cause-determined-in-lancaster-blaze-that-injures-firefighter.html

Thursday, May 17, 2012  City officials want state permission to sidestep a New York Fire Code requirement that they post placards warning firefighters and other first responders about unsafe conditions inside vacant properties.

Rochester is the first city in the state to request a variance — though few if any municipalities have complied. The city took action after the firefighters union filed a complaint. A hearing is set for Thursday in Amherst, Erie County.

Rochester currently has an estimated 2,400 to 2,500 vacant properties, both city and privately owned. A state code section added in 2010 mandates that 2-foot-square red and white placards be affixed to three sides of any vacant structure deemed unsafe based on structural or other concerns. The provision is unique, putting the onus on a municipality to take action rather than property owners.

Mayor Thomas Richards, in a letter to the state, likened the placards to “scarlet letters” that could invite squatters and... [ more ]

Thursday, May 17, 2012  Two Greenwich firefighters were injured late Wednesday afternoon while putting out a fire on Steep Hollow Lane.

Assistant Fire Chief Robert Kick told the Post on Thursday that both firefighters had "minor injuries" and were treated and released from Stamford Hospital. He said he spoke to them on Thursday morning and that they are both "resting comfortably." One firefighter was injured at the scene while handling one of the fire hoses and the other was hurt when he "partially fell" through a floor while attempting to contain the blaze in the home.


http://www.greenwich-post.com/online/daily-featured/local-news/100382-two-firefighters-suffer-injuries-after-batting-cos-cob-blaze-.html#.T7U2cLirdls.email

Thursday, May 17, 2012  Hot shot federal firefighters called in to battle the toughest U.S. wildfires often avoid reporting symptoms of heatstroke because they fear damaging their professional reputations, said a report commissioned after an elite firefighter died in Texas last year.

The report, released on Wednesday as at least four blazes burned in Arizona early in this year's fire season, said the death of Caleb Hamm, 23, was of heatstroke, and recommended ways federal officials can better protect firefighters' lives.

Hamm, who was from Idaho, and was a member of the federal Bureau of Land Management's "Hot Shot" firefighting team, collapsed while working far away from colleagues to fight a brush fire that was threatening dozens of homes west of Fort Worth during the driest year on record in Texas.

On the day of his death, firefighters were working faster and with fewer breaks than normal, the report said.

"Some crewmembers believed that taking extra rest brea... [ more ]