Saturday, December 7, 2013  Sometimes a firefighter's worst enemy is water.

A devastating water main break in Castro County, Calif. on Friday caused a massive sinkhole to open up in the street, pulling in a fire truck, Patch reports.

The break occurred at around 7 p.m., dispatchers told the site. Water flowed into several houses, causing damage. The gaping, 10-foot by 15-foot sinkhole was big enough to partially swallow the 40,000 pound emergency vehicle, Contra Costa Times reports.

Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to equipment and nearby homes. Heavy towing machines were used to pull the fire truck out.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the b... [ more ]

Saturday, December 7, 2013  A Bloomington man driving a station wagon struck the back of a fire truck that was at the scene of car accident at Kinser and the Bypass Wednesday evening, police report.

The station wagon driver was arrested on a preliminary charge of drunk driving.

Bloomington police, firefighters and members of IU Health Bloomington Hospital’s ambulance service were called to the scene of a three-car accident at the intersection of North Kinser Pike and the Ind. 45/46 Bypass at 6:48 p.m. Wednesday. The cars had minor damage.

A city fire truck was blocking two lanes of eastbound traffic, when the fire truck was struck from behind by a maroon 1998 Saturn station wagon, according to Bloomington police Lt. Steve Kellams.

The driver of the station wagon, 64-year-old Dana Gayle Farless, was first taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

He was later booked into the Monroe County Jail on a preliminary charge of operating... [ more ]

Saturday, December 7, 2013  For the younger visitors to FireFighterCloseCalls, today, "Pearl Harbor Day" we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. 



188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded in the Line of Duty. We remember them all from "The Greatest Generation" who served along with all those who continue to serve today including the Honolulu FD and Federal FD Firefighters.

PURPLE HEARTS: REMEMBERING THE FIREFIGHTERS KILLED & INJURED IN THE LINE OF DUTY AT PEARL HARBOR: As the Hickam Field firefighting apparatus was knocked out by the attack, Honolulu Fire companies responded to assist with the fires. 


At 0826 a Japanese aerial bomb was dropped on crews from HFD Engine Co.1, 4, and 6. 3 Firefighters, Captain John Carreir... [ more ]

Friday, December 6, 2013  Arkansas' Grassy Knob VFD lost a water tanker on Tuesday when it crashed down a 600-foot ravine near Beaver Lake, totaling the vehicle. Grassy Knob Fire Chief Bob McVey was heading to Springfield, Mo., early Tuesday morning to take the 3,000-gallon water tanker in for repairs to its pump when a light buzzed indicating the air pressure was low.

McVey pulled over on Mundell Road near Starkey Marina, walked around the vehicle to look for an air leak and didn't find anything. He went inside to use the restroom before going on his way, and when he came back, the tanker was gone. "It was idling for five or six minutes," McVey said. "Why it rolled down the hill, I could not tell you."

The tanker had rolled down into a 600-foot-deep ravine on Doug Powell's property and overturned.
"Through the fog and the darkness, I couldn't see it at first," McVey said.
"I was sound asleep," Powell said, adding that his neighbor likened the sound of the rolling truck... [ more ]

Thursday, December 5, 2013  When people find out you're a firefighter, the first question they ask is: "What made you join the fire service?"

This is typically followed by: "My dad, grandpa, or uncle was on the job."

That wasn't the case for me. Instead, interest in a career in public safety came in waves throughout my adolescence. I assure you, I am a first and last generation firefighter.

It first started at age 13, when I was spending the night at a friend's house in the neighborhood where I grew up. After seeing an ambulance race down the street, we went outside to find the house two doors down on fire. The closest fire company hadn't arrived yet.

I had a front-row seat to the entire scene. I heard the sirens, smelled the smoke, saw the rigs arrive, and watched as these courageous men entered the house and pulled three people out of the fire.

They performed CPR on the victims right on the front lawn. Unfortunately, two of them didn't ma... [ more ]

Thursday, December 5, 2013  A fire department command vehicle was destroyed in a police chase Tuesday night after it was stolen from the downtown Olympia fire station.

The drama began at about 10 p.m. when the battalion chief returned briefly to the station after a fire earlier in the evening, said Laura Wohl of the Olympia police.

The chief inadvertently left his keys in the vehicle while he went inside. When he came out of the building to return to the fire scene, he found that the vehicle was missing.

Police were notified of the theft and the vehicle was spotted soon afterward by Tumwater officers as it was travelling at high speed on Capitol Boulevard, a major thoroughfare.

The police officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over. The suspect continued to drive from Tumwater to Tenino, where officers were able to deploy spike strips.

The spike strips disabled the vehicle, which then slid off the road and crashed. The susp... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  It broke out around 6:07 p.m. in the 400 block of Trowbridge Street, which is near Southeastern Avenue and South Keystone Avenue.

Officials say neighbors saw smoke and alerted the occupants.

A Mayday call was made when one of the fire crew's exit was temporarily blocked. Clutter from inside fell and blocked the back door. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters on the scene say six people live in the house. The owner was not home when the fire started. Authorities say that person just had heart surgery.

The house was a total loss and damages were estimated at $80,000.

Firefighters say there were many electrical cords located in the home's basement although the cause was not immediately determined. The fire was under investigation.

Medics took two Indianapolis firefighters to the hospital after a fire late Tuesday.

Fire crews were called to a house on fire on North Bradley Avenue near South Sherma... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  Two firefighters suffered minor injuries battling a fire at a home just outside Naperville Tuesday, according to Lisle-Woodridge Fire District officials.

Firefighters responded to 24W700 Ohio Street after receiving a 911 call reporting smoke inside the home about 3:39 p.m. Tuesday, officials said in a news release.

While most of the fire was put out quickly, it took about six hours to work on hidden fires. Emergency units remained on scene until just after 1 a.m. today.

Three people who were home at the time made it out safely, but two firefighters suffered minor injuries, according to the release. They were taken to a local hospital and have since b... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  A day after an irate Mayor Bob Cashell expressed his disgust with the response to the blaze that destroyed a prominent family’s Hidden Valley home, Reno City Manager Andrew Clinger said the city remains ready to negotiate a workable automatic aid agreement with the county so that the nearest crew to a fire is called first regardless of jurisdiction.

But Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Chief Charlie Moore, who continued to defend his department’s response, said Tuesday that Cashell’s comments have reignited lingering animosity from the ugly battle two years ago to deconsolidate the two fire departments.

“I thought we had started to make progress with melting the ice,” Moore said. “But then the mayor starts with this bombastic crap on this fire and we are right back to where we started.”

On Monday, Cashell and Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said the response to the fire that destroyed the home of Richard and Debbi... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  A North Bangor firefighter injured when an allegedly drunk colleague flipped a fire truck can move toward trial with his claim that the fire company's lax attitude toward drinking on duty led to the crash, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel refused to dismiss a claim by firefighter Stuart Mintz that the North Bangor Fire Company, Chief Frederick Farleigh and President Christopher Louszko put Mintz at risk by allowing a drinking culture to flourish in the firehouse.

Mintz suffered a serious shoulder injury in July 2010 when Assistant Fire Chief Zachary Romano, then 20, rolled a fire tanker while negotiating a turn on the way back to the firehouse from a parade. Attorneys for Mintz and his wife and the fire company did not immediately return calls Monday.


... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  Here is an update to what we had sent on The Secret List a few weeks ago. Needless to say, this NIOSH issue, but in particular, this US Army related testing issue, is extremely concerning. NIOSH contracts with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) and by all accounts, the ball was dropped there-and interestingly, it appears this may have peaked during the Federal Government sequestration. Summary in plain English: Apparently, the ECBC discovered that all chemical agent testing performed per the NIOSH regulations has been incorrect since July 2012 and performed at a lower than required concentration. This not only prevent any certification to the already delayed 2013 edition of NFPA 1981 but affects products already in the marketplace. What is ECBC? (From their website) The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is the nation's principal research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological (CB) defense. As a critical national asset in th... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  Chicago firefighters heard Capt. Herbie Johnson yell, “Get out of here!” before they found him unconscious on a second-story floor during a deadly apartment building fire on Nov. 2, 2012.

A firefighter/paramedic from Chicago Fire Engine 123 was nearby and found Johnson on the floor.

He didn’t have a radio and he couldn’t find Johnson’s radio to send a signal to notify others that Johnson was down, so he screamed the distress call to anyone within earshot: “Mayday!”

The chaotic scene is detailed in the findings of an almost yearlong federal investigation into the death of Johnson, 54. He died of injuries sustained in the fire in the 2300 block of west 50th Street. He became the first Chicago firefighter to die in the line of duty since 2010.

The deaths of all firefighters in the line of duty are probed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Pr... [ more ]

Monday, December 2, 2013  Two firefighters with the New Hanover Township Fire Company were taken to the hospital after they reported feeling nauseous and dizzy while responding to a call for an odor of gas Monday morning.

The owner of a home along the 2500 block of Swamp Pike called 911 around 10:36 a.m. and reported that she smelled gas in her home. When firefighters arrived, the homeowner informed them that two large pet birds, a parrot and a cockatoo, had died in the last day or so and that she was suffering from headaches and nausea, according to Fire Chief Phil Agliano.

Agliano said responding firefighters conducted a check of the interior and exterior of the home using gas meters, but their equipment did not detect anything dangerous.

After the first team that responded entered the home, two of the firefighters began complaining they did not feel well, Agliano said. A paramedic team checked out the firefighters and recommended they be taken to Po... [ more ]

Saturday, November 30, 2013  What will be a lesson for any of us driving fire apparatus, the River Forest (IL) FD had a serious mishap. More details to follow.