Wednesday, November 30, 2011  Today we were dispatched for a wires down call. First arriving units observed a primary electric wire coming from an insulator on the apex of the electric pole into a nearby street side pear tree. The pear tree has strings of holiday lights in it which are wired into about 2 dozen more trees with lights in the block. A second wire which was broken from the grid at both ends was dangling from another tree about 50 feet down the street. We always consider the wire energized which was confirmed Atlantic City Electric on their arrival. If energized, the primary line voltage in our area is 7,200 volts.

AFTER the primary power was cut and rendered safe by Atlantic City Electric, we approached and found the wire had contacted the concrete and vaporized the sidewalk. In the picture, small black balls are visible around the hole. We suspect these are molten concrete which were melted by the energy and cooled as glass. The hole is larger in diameter that the quarter (placed for reference) and is at least 6 inches deep. Additionally, a section of concrete has “spalled”. This is the part of the sidewalk in the photo that looks like a golf divot. The concrete around the hole was superheated causing some water molecules trapped in the concrete to expand with enough energy to pop of sections of sidewalk. The wire pictured is the actual wire end that contacted the concrete. Please note the wire is 0.25" diameter solid copper with NO INSULATION. It's just bare metal.

This is why we tell everyone to stay away from downed wires.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: Could the wire have energized the holiday lights in the tree? In every tree on the circuit? ***Please note, this photo was taken AFTER the electric utility made all repairs and gave the section of broken wire to the FD as a training tool.
 

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011  My crew and I were called out to investigate a low hanging wire in the side yard of a residence. Upon arrival we noted an oak tree limb had fallen onto the service line serving the home. The lines were saging and the anchor points on the home had been pulled causing the siding to open up. The service line was energized, as power was on in the home. In an effort to assist the reporting party, I utilized a 10 foot fiberglass pike pole to pull the limb from the lines. The tree limb was shaped like a "V" and was caught on the line in the upside down position. I had to grab one side of the limb and raise it high enough to cause the limb to fall free of the service lines. The limb was much heavier than anticipated. While I did not want any member of my crew to assist with this task, I needed another member to stabilize one end of the branch while I manipulated the other end off the lines. At one point, my firefighter came very close to making contact with the service line. He thought he was a distance away, but I could clearly see how close he actually was. Fortunately, I was able to stop him in time. In the end, the limb was removed and the power company called out to follow up. The reporting party was advised to stay clear of the area.

LESSONS LEARNED:
After the fact, I feel I had at least 3 red flags that should have caused me to take differnt action. #1, there was no immediate issue to mitigate. The wires and tree limb were stable and roping off the area with fire line tape and refering to the power company would have been sufficient. #2, when the limb did not come off the wire easily the first time, we should have stopped. #3 When the firefighter got close to the wires we should have stopped. I could have very easily left the situation as is and just let the power company take care of the problem. Fire line tape is all that was required. I felt bad that we had a close call, especially since I had involved another member of my crew and I know better. I should have known better, but sometimes my efforts to want to help others goes beyond. The end result is the problem would have been rectified, it just would have taken a little longer. This incident has taught me that while I strive to lead by example, I set a poor example on this call. We set out to help others, but the priority of this incident should have been downgraded and the power company directed to handle the incident. I figured the oak limb had sufficient insulation as did my long fiberglass pike pole, but the reality is this was a guess on my part. I felt I could clear the branch safely. When my firefighter almost touched the powerline, I was reminded I don't always have total control over the actions of others. Consider situational awareness, the priority of the incident and what the potential is if no action is taken.
 

 

Saturday, October 29, 2011  Our near miss is about to begin. In its "wisdom", the board of directors for our fire department has decided to continue fully funding reserve accounts to the tune of 1.36 million dollars while taking 1.2 million in staffing, pay, and benefit cuts from the suppression side of the department. The biggest failure here is downstaffing a station which currently houses 3 full time firefighters manning a type one structure engine and a type 3 wildland engine and replacing it with a 2 person squad- no pump, no ladders, no hose, no capability. Here is a link to the news story. The board is gambling with public safety...


Remains to be seen. As you can see in the news story public pressure was pretty harsh- worse yet, three of the board members are current employees of other local fire departments- one is a deputy chief and the other two are captains in a neighboring jurisdiction. Someone's going to get hurt.

 

Wednesday, June 29, 2011  A medic woke up during the night with diarrhea and low and behold, the station was full of carbon monoxide. The heater was cycling on and off to try and get rid of humidity and some how pumped the building full of CO. The CO detector was designed to chirp at 40ppm, but not to go into alarm until 400ppm. The alarm was chirping when the medic woke up, so it was obviously somewhere in that range. The entire shift (5 personnel) ended up being transported to the hospital to be checked out.
LESSONS LEARNED: Just because we are emergency personnel, doesn't mean we are immune to emergencies! Make sure you have working detectors in your station and make sure they are set at good levels! My department had a CO incident 6-8 months ago as well. The CO alarm at Station 1 was sounding, so the dorm resident had the FD duty officer come check it out. Sure enough, CO levels were high. It was due to a combination of an ambulance left running and heater issues. After this incident, CO detectors were purchased and placed in all 4 of our stations.
 

Sunday, June 26, 2011  More of a "close call" with my family, but still this is the last kind of phone call a fireman wants to get while he's at work: SUMMIT POINT - Capt. Dan Fritsch is used to rushing to the scene of a fire in order to fight the blaze. However, fire struck close to home for Fritsch late Thursday night. Fritsch, a professional firefighter, is also a volunteer at Citizens Fire Co. in Charles Town. While he was working, a fire occurred around 11:30 p.m. in the basement of his home at the 4400 block of Summit Point Road. "I got the phone call at work from my wife going, 'Something's not right.' ... I said get out of the house and call 911," Fritsch said in a phone interview Friday morning, explaining that his wife told him she opened the basement door and saw smoke. He said the fire caused "smoke damage throughout the house, a lot of smoke damage in the basement." There was heavy black smoke coming from the basement when crews arrived on scene, and the house's dehumidifier had caught the water heater and surrounding objects on fire, Fritsch said. The fire was contained to the residence's basement by responding departments, which included units from Independent, Citizens, Middleway, Friendship, Bakerton, Blue Ridge Mountain, South Berkeley and Clarke County, Va. Fristch, whose wife and youngest son were home at the time of the fire, said he wanted people to know how much he and his family appreciated the quick response by the county's fire companies. "They saved my house last night," Fritsch said on Friday about the emergency responders. "I'm glad that all my family's safe and the pets are safe." Fristch added that his wife had never called 911 in her life before this week. She had to call it twice on Thursday - once for a neighbor experiencing chest pains and again for the fire. "She ended up calling for the ambulance for our neighbor, and I think some of the guys that were on the ambulance were actually back on the firetruck later on in the evening," he said.

The fire initiated in the motor of a portable dehumidifier, creating a thick smoke from all the plastic. I have hardwire w/ battery back up ionization smoke detectors throughout my residence. The smoke in the basement created a zero visibility environment, however the detectors failed to activate. (All were tested afterwards with the test button and canned smoke and worked appropriately). If my family would have been asleep, I'm certain the outcome would have been different. We will be changing all detectors to photoelectric (or combination photoelectric/ionization) before we spend another night in the house. I hope to improve public awareness of the vulnerabilities of ionization detectors to smoke conditions.
 

 

Sunday, June 26, 2011  At a training fire firefighter turned on his air pack seconds later the high pressure hose in the shoulder strap failed causing rapid loss of air pressure.
 

LESSONS LEARNED:

Better daily checks of equipment in volunteer company, hose was abraised believed to be from pushing straps under head rest, had this been inside of the fire would have been a differnet story
 

 

Friday, March 11, 2011  On Tuesday, March 8th, 2011, my fire department was toned out for a CO without illness call in our district at 0724 hrs.
Chief gets on scene and establishes command. I was on the first-due engine with a driver, a firefighter and me as officer. I advised the firefighter to turn on the multi-gas meter while responding non-emergency.
As I call arriving, my chief advised me to check with the homeowner and investigate. I took the gas meter (which is capable of detecting Cyanide (HCN) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) ) from the firefighter and my chief gave his single gas Carbon Monoxide meter to the firefighter so we had two meters going in.
I met with the homeowner, who was waiting outside and had his family and the pet hamster in the car, due to the cold weather. I asked the homeowner if he had his vehicle running in the garage and his answered no to the question. Then he went on telling me that he has five CO detectors in his house that went off intermittent throughout yesterday afternoon and overnight and into this morning. At one point, he did take all the batteries out of the detectors to silent them and then he notified the fire department.
After receiving some of that information, I motioned the firefighter to follow me and investigate by going through the attached garage entrance and into the house. Both of us had full PPE and SCBA but had our masks dangling and didn’t have our air on due to the nature of the call. I led the way into the house with the firefighter following behind me. I opened the door leading into the house from the garage and took two or three steps into a small hallway when my gas meter started to alert. I looked down at the screen and noticed that Carbon Monoxide was at 8 ppm but Cyanide was at 50 ppm and counting even higher.
We backed out into fresh air. I ran the gas meter in fresh air to zero out the sensors. We went back in and still got high readings of Cyanide in the same area as before. Again, we backed out and talked to the chief face to face to let him know that we were getting high readings of Cyanide and barely getting Carbon Monoxide. Chief advised the fire investigator, who was still responding. I advised chief that the firefighter and I will be going on air and continue with the investigation inside the house.
On air now, both the firefighter and I continued back into the house with our gas meters at the ready. Again, my gas meter read 70 to 85 ppm for Cyanide and 24 ppm for Carbon Monoxide and the other gas meter was reading 24 to 28 ppm for Carbon Monoxide. This was consistent on the first and second floor of the residence. We continued our investigation by going down the staircase leading to the basement. While walking down the stairs, my gas meter had Cyanide exploding off the chart by having the screen read “+++”. Carbon Monoxide was holding at 28 ppm. Even checked around the furnace and hot water tank, which the firefighter was getting 28 ppm for Carbon Monoxide on his gas meter. I advised chief on our investigation over the portable radio and pulled back out.
I advised the fire investigator to not enter due to the high levels of Cyanide and at one point the firefighter felt light headed due to being exposed the first time. Met with the homeowner and started questioning him on any other factors that could be letting off Cyanide. He made mention of the natural gas fed fireplace and his hot water tank leaked last Tuesday. After the hot water tank leaked, he called in a company to cut and remove parts of the damp carpet and let electrical dehumidifiers to help dry up the basement on Wednesday. On Thursday, the homeowner installed the new hot water tank himself and powered it on Friday. The fire investigator and a representative from the utility company started to think that the Cyanide could be coming from “fake embers” used for natural gas fed fireplaces or the damp carpet and synthetic matting could be giving off Cyanide. The cleaning company didn’t use any chemicals and that there could be false readings messing up the sensors.
At this time, we had a second multi-gas meter with a Cyanide sensor to assist in verifying my gas meter. Again, Cyanide was still present and both multi-gas meters were showing high readings of Cyanide and low readings for Carbon Monoxide. Ventilation was performed to lower the levels to a safe atmosphere for the fire investigator and the utility representative inside. Both of them has gas meters, which were multi-gas but didn’t have any Cyanide sensors. They checked the fireplace and hot water tank and furnace to check for any leaks and see if they could recreate the levels of Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide.
The fireplace was tagged out of service due to a small leak by the utility company. Unfortunately, the fireplace wasn’t the correct source of the Cyanide. The highest the levels returned to were 0 to 5 ppm for Carbon Monoxide and 28 ppm for Cyanide in the basement.
After two hours being on scene, chief decided to turn the house back over to the homeowner and advised the homeowner that we’ll be back later in the evening to check if everything was okay for the homeowner and family.
Later on that evening, the chief and I went back to the scene and checked the readings with our multi-gas meter and single gas meter. CO was barely 5 ppm and Cyanide was at around 49 to 50 ppm. Though, the family looked well and didn’t exhibit any symptoms of Cyanide or CO poisoning and did have their batteries back into their CO detectors again. Even the family’s hamster was alive and well.
This just goes to show you that you have to think outside the box and explore every parameter before declaring the scene safe for the people. Remember that the gas meter is a tool but a valuable tool in the fire service, which shouldn’t be taken for granted.
 

 

Sunday, February 6, 2011  We were dispatched Working mutual aid house fire where I fell on ice fracturing my right tib / fib.  I was transported with a 2 hour delivery to ED due to snow and ice conditions and had no pain med - until arrival at ED. I spent 4 days in hospital post injury / surgery and am now facing a12-14 week recovery.  As the Safety Officer I never had time to warn others of the ice.  Be aware of water run off from the interior.

 

Monday, December 20, 2010  This story was submitted to FirefighterCloseCalls.com from one of our followers:

During my annual physical my blood work came back abnormal. It was just off what is considered normal but we are lucky we have a PA who looks after us. He told me to have a follow up with my primary care doctor as a precaution but nothing to worry about. I hand carried my work physical results and delivered them to my doc. She reviewed them and said almost the exact thing, nothing to worry about it's probably contaminated blood tubes. Went through the whole work up again and was out the door. Three days later while attending NFPA training in Baltimore I get a message to call my doctor office. So at the first break I call the office and get put on hold. And then my doc gets on the phone and tells me she is sending me to a specialist but it is probably nothing to worry about. Well, this is where I started to worry. I go to the specialist and then go to the local cancer center for more blood work and a bone marrow extraction. I find out I have Leukemia. I am told if I have to have it the type I have is the one to have. I would prefer not to have it. I am still able to do my job and have to get blood work a few times a year. Hopefully I will be doing what I love for a long time.

LESSON LEARNED:

1) get your annual physical

2) review the results with your doctor

3) If they say it's probably nothing to worry and recommend a second test or third test, go get them

4) ask questions and bring someone in the meeting with you. As soon as you hear cancer the rest of the conversation gets lost pretty fast, you get the feeling you just got pushed off a cliff

5) don't be afraid to share with your family and close friends. I tried keeping it a secret and it became worst then the news itself. Open up and speak to someone, remember it's the beginning NOT the end!

 

Sunday, December 19, 2010  Captain John Prentiss of the Bangor Fire Department (Bangor,ME) was responding on an EMS call and became unresponsive in the officers seat of Engine 6. The crew recognized there was a problem and pulled over. They began life saving measures and determined that the Captain was in cardiac arrest. ACLS was performed and he was revived and transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center where he was admitted to the CSU and is under close observation. Engine 6 and Rescue 6 were responding together which allowed the quick response and care. Great job done by Firefighter/EMT Bruce Johnson (E6), Firefighter/Paramedic Nate Snyder (E6), Firefighter/Paramedic Joe Wellman (R6); and Firefighter/Paramedic Melinda Caldwell.

LESSONS LEARNED: Capt. Prentiss is a very healthy and active guy. It reminds us all to have regular check ups and stay on top of our health.

 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010  Our Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call where the neighbor could hear the smoke detector going off and could also see smoke in a single wide trailer house. 1st arriving command units observed the same reported conditions with still no fire. Neighbor was certain that the occupant was still inside the residence. 1st in interior mask crew immediately abated the hazard during their primary search, (turning off the oven and closing the oven door), and proceeded down the hallway in search of an occupant. Upon initial entrance and during the search, mask crew was verbalizing their presence in hopes of hearing a response from the occupant. The crew made it about half way down the hallway when the back bedroom opened and there was the occupant exiting the bedroom with a shot gun pointed at the crew. The outcome of this situation was positive. The occupant was extremely hard of hearing and did not hear the detector sounding in the hallway. He did hear voices coming down his hallway and assumed he had burglars in the house. Fortunately the occupant identified the fully donned crew as firefighters and any mishap was avoided. The occupant was very apologetic and was very grateful for his neighbors alertness and the crew that escorted him to safety. I do believe we are washing 4 sets of soiled turnouts today. Simply a lesson for crews to continually identify yourselves and be aware of unexpected conditions.


LESSONS LEARNED: Continually verbalize your presence Be prepared for unexpected conditions. Don't get caught off guard by "routine calls"
 

 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010  We were dispatched for reported construction material on fire in a parking lot at 01:41, by a third party caller. This call seemed a bit out of the ordinary due to the location, time of day, and who generated the call. En-route we noticed a small column of smoke from that area. We arrived (still district engine only) and proceeded down a side drive to the rear of a large industrial building. The area is the south side of the structure in the rear of building. What we found was a midsized enclosed cargo type trailer fully involved. The length from the road to the back of the parking area was approx 500’. We did not have a secure water source at this time and worked off of tank water. The side of the trailer listed the company information; the company was a mobile radiant ground heating system. With the knowledge that radiant heating systems use some type of a boiler system we were aware of the potential hazard of a pressurized vessel. Our decision was to use the deck gun to knock down the blunt of the fire. We then stretched our trash line (1 ¾) to the trailer, used our bolt cutter to cut the lock and finished knocking down the remaining fire. We noticed a large hot water tank and a large reel line of radiant tubing. We also noticed the tubing and electric cords exiting the trailer going into the building. We had a prominent hissing sound which was getting louder. We figured this sound to be the relief valve on the hot water tank. All of this was happening in a short time, 1-2 minutes at most. Suddenly, the trailer flashed back into a ball of fire from inside the trailer. We exited the area, backed the engine around the corner of the brick building, made sure all others evacuated the area, and upgraded the alarm to a structural response. We choose to let the fire burn out. It was not known what exactly was in the trailer but we surmised it was most likely a flammable compressed gas. We gained a secure water supply from the next in engine and used multiple hose lines in a defensive manner. One hand line was used to cool the trailer/tanks, the other to protect exposures. After the fire burnt out (2 hours) we investigated the fire. What we found was a series of 5-100# propane tanks that had relieved as the hoses connecting the tanks in series had burnt through. This allowed the gas to free flow which then re-ignited. Our first thought was that the hissing sound was the relief valves, we now believe it was the burnt through hoses.
LESSONS LEARNED: Lessons learned; approach suspicious fires with caution. Use the resources available, in this case the type of company this was. It was pasted all over the side but not once were we aware that large volumes of compressed flammable gases were stored inside. Follow that “gut” instinct. We felt something suspicious from the start. Hold to the risk vs. benefit theory; we had a brick building next to this trailer, no life safety and with the consideration of a BLEVE we used defensive measures.
 

 

Sunday, December 5, 2010  Early this morning my partner and I responded to a call for a fire on the front lawn at a row house. When we arrived there was a small fire at the base of a cedar tree. We grabbed the pump tank to extinguish the fire but it flared up when the water hit it. On closer inspection I noticed broken glass and and a bottle with the neck broken and a partially burnt rag attached. Suspecting that someone had thrown a Molotov Cocktail at the home I called for the police. Seconds later a ball off flame erupted several meters behind us, we could feel the heat. It turns out that a mentally duranged women with a grievence against the police had set up an ambush.

LESSONS LEARNED: Always wear your full turn out gear no matter how innocent a situation first appears. We live in a small community and have never run into this type of situation before. We were just lucky that it was a near miss.

 

Sunday, November 21, 2010  I recently faced my own mortality when I had a medical procedure known as a cardiac catheterization. During this procedure, my cardiologist found that my distal Right Coronary Artery was blocked by plaque by over 95%. This lead the cardiologist implanting a stent in my heart that potentially saved my life and prevented me from having a major heart attack. I still have one more artery that is over 75% blocked that will also require the placement of a stent to improve my heart condition. Hopefully, I will have the next procedure as soon as possible and begin the healing process of having heart disease. I want to tell you about the mental, physical and career impact that this has caused me to face during the past few weeks. I am a father of two great boys and just imagine lying in the Cath Lab thinking about the impact if I wouldn’t have caught this in time. Being the best father that I can is important to me and I just wonder how they would live their lives without having me around. I had to tell my 14 year-old son that I couldn’t go shoot basketball with him a few days ago because of my heart condition. Also, imagine leaving this world at age 41 and all the things that I would have missed; their graduation from high school and college, getting married and having grandchildren, etc. Physically, I haven’t suffered any heart damage from the two blockages in my heart but I will have to stay on medicine for the rest of my life to prevent damage to the stents. Also, I had to stop the minimum amount of exercise that I was getting each week until I am cleared by my doctor. I enjoy hiking the trails along Greensboro’s Watershed and I haven’t been able to do that for awhile and I miss doing it. In addition, every heartburn pain or even having a small back pain makes you wonder if you are having a heart attack. Carrying around a bottle of Nitroglycerin for chest pain is no fun and makes me feel older than I am. As for my career as a firefighter, it has caused a major impact to myself and to my organization. I am unable to perform the physically demanding tasks related to fire and rescue operations and have been placed on light duty. Being off of Squad 50 has been tough to handle emotionally because I have always wanted to be a firefighter. Being unable to perform firefighting tasks due to a heart condition is frustrating and depressing. On the other hand, I am very satisfied how my chain of command has handled my health problems and I am very blessed to have light duty work to keep me busy. I truthfully don’t know if I will ever again have the pleasure of serving my community as a firefighter and it weighs heavily on me but I know that everything will work out, one way or the other. Please, no matter your age or current health status, keep heart health a top priority and be proactive in keeping your good health! Eat healthy, exercise often, stop smoking if you do and take care of your personal stress in your life. I am no expert in living a heart healthy life but please seek out those experts such as your personal doctor, fitness trainers and nutritionists. I wrote this to share my personal experience and to explain how having heart disease affects you and your loved one’s lives.

 

Monday, November 15, 2010  In the past six months the Columbus Division of Fire has experienced several problems with Eddy-Clow fire hydrants. All of our incidents involve the valve stem breaking and we have had one firefighter injured when the stem broke.

LESSONS LEARNED: Personnel need to make certain that they are standing behind the hydrant or to the side when operating the valve stem and at no time should place their body directly over the top of the hydrant (bonnet). I would be interested if any other fire department has experienced this problem and if so what have you done to remedy the problem.

For more information on this:

Capt. Kevin Reardon
Columbus Division of Fire
Acting SO-1, Office of the Fire Chief
3675 Parsons Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43207
(614) 645-4253 or (614) 221-3132 ext. 4260
KReardon@Columbus.gov