Tuesday, August 31, 2010  ...

 

Tuesday, August 31, 2010  We attended a live fire training exercise at our county fire training grounds. The grounds are well maintained and watched over by numerous full time training professionals. Areas depts are permitted to use the grounds under the supervision of the training staff. This particular training ground has a 2 story concrete building that support both Class A burns and propane burns. While training on the second floor (a propane room) the room filled with unburned propane vapors. With two fortunately well trained FF working an evolution the excess gas lit off causing a propane flashover. Injuries were limited to minor burns around the hood, and on the ears.

LESSONS LEARNED: There is some talk that this prop has been "acting up recently" if that is the case the prop should not be used until it's correct operation is verified. Make sure everyone knows that even in the "same old burn building" that you have been in many times before, you can get hurt.

 

Friday, July 16, 2010  We had an incident transpire at our drill tonight which resulted in the injury of multiple firefighters. A malfunction of the deck gun on Rescue 34 sent 2 firefighters falling to the ground and injuring another along the way. A forth firefighter was also injured when the deck gun hit him. Three of these individuals were transported by Chal-Brit Regional EMS to Doylestown Hospital, while one self transported.

All of these individuals have been checked out at Doylestown Hospital and released as of 12:30 this morning. With the exception of one who broke his wrist, everyone else went home with scrapes, bruises and sores. Luckily, this wasn't as bad as it could be.
 

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2010  Our Department was training a a burn building. The intent was to get Probie Firefighters the experiece of actually watching the development of a fire inside a building. After a successful burn, the probationary firefighters that were learning left the building while other firefighters went in to clean up. As the clean up commenced on firefighter with a small booster line that had been used to wash away debris pointed the line out the window to start start a small waterfight with the firefighters on the ground. The other firefighters laughed an carried on with the work. As I, and six other firefighters were in the building finsihing up, there was suddenly a loud roar and the whole concrete building shook. Water flooded in the building. After about a minute the water stopped flowing. I heard a loud shout, ran outside and saw one firefighter clutching his face bloud pouring out his eye. Apparently, a LT and a FF pointed a deck gun at the building and opened it up full boar. The water hit a metal shutter which than struck the FF, breaking his orbital bone, causing severe if temporary damage to his eye. The two firefighters involved recieved a two week suspension, which convintly ened in tome for the yearly company elections, where both of them won positions by default. The LT kept his Lt position, and the FF moved up to the stations only Captain.

LESSONS LEARNED:

DO NOT POINT DECK GUNS AT PEOPLE!!!! I always thought that was common sense, however it seems apparent that not everyone, even fire line officers know that. Furthermore, the Chief of the departments, and the Chiefs of Union Fire, the department that owns the burn building were not contancted, and not aware of what happend for some time.

 

Friday, January 22, 2010  In December 2009 while training a new pump operator,and going through different procedures, they decided to spray a little water out the deck gun. Be aware this is a 2002 pumper in excellent shape and well maintained. As the pressure got up around 180 lbs the deck gun nozzle suddenly shot off and took the telepole scene light with it.If anyone had been standing near the truck they could have easily hurt or killed. Seems the set screw that holds the nozzle where it rotates on a ball bearing got loose and the end shot off.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Truck maintence needs to look at everything and you should prepare for the unusual.

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010  On the evening of January 11th, 2010 our department, as part of a training exercise was going to burn down an older two story home located in the countryside, 9 miles from town. As part of NFPA 1403 "live training burns" regulations, we performed a thorough Walk through of the residence and in doing so we located approximately 80 lbs of dynamite located in two wooden cases stored in the basement of this old abandoned residence. Speaking with the home owner it was learned that the residence belonged to his grandparents and he had no idea that the dynamite was in the basement. Upon our discovery I contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who attended and secured the scene immediately and made arrangements with their bomb disposal team to remove the explosives.

 
LESSONS LEARNED:
By doing this walk through we prevented a disaster!!!
 

Monday, November 23, 2009  We were out at the training academy for our yearly dept ops. We were in full gear in our truck a walk thru heavy rescue awaiting the rest of the personnel. I was standing in the middle of the truck so I could close the back doors if they used the side door. The truck was parked on an incline.. without warning the truck moved forward forcefully at which point I basically ran out of the truck the momentum pulling me to the point I couldn’t even attempt to grab the rail to try and stop myself.. I flew out the rear doors approx 8' landing on my right side and the SCBA. The ladder truck that was coming narrowly stopping would have at the least ran over my legs. EMS was called I was helped up and took my bunker coat off found that I had a sustained a deep laceration thru my coat. The coat was intact. I was brought to the ER x-rays of right extremity were negative. This was a Thurs evening and the following Monday I attempted to go back to work at which point my back became more and more painful. The next day the DR. sent me to an orthopedist. Seven months later I am still on leave from the FD and out of my regular job also with various back neck and shoulder injuries.
Lessons Learned:
The chauffeur and officer both disregarded dept SOP by not checking with the crew and informing the crew the truck would be moving. The crew should not depend on them to do this and should be ready to move at all times and I should have let them place me on a backboard.
 

Tuesday, May 12, 2009  We were performing hose testing at our station. We were using a 5” storz x 2.5”M adapter connected to a 2.5”F X 2.5” F Kochek coupling connected to 2.5” discharge on engine 901. As the pump pressure was approaching 195 psi. An Explorer approached and straddled the 5”. I told him he was in a bad place and needed to come around the other side of the truck. As he stepped around the truck (less than 10 seconds) the 2.5” Kochek fitting failed. The pump pressure was approaching 215 psi. and the discharge pressure was between 205 psi and 210 psi. The 5’ hose and fitting launched into the air with the end of the hose landing approximately 20 feet away. Prior to the hose testing, I held a short safety meeting using examples from firefighter close calls to demonstrate the dangers associated with failure of hose, appliance, and fittings. The Explorer was not present at the safety meeting.

Lessons Learned: Make sure everyone in the vicinity of hose test operations are aware of the dangers and are wearing proper PPE including helmets. It will be a good practice to appoint a safety officer to watch for late arrivals and ensure they make everyone aware of the hazards. Fittings and hose can violently fail without warning. Never walk over or straddle any hose being pressurized for testing. Inspect Kochek FXF fittings for signs of deflection by removing gaskets and looking for wrinkled or missing paint.

 

Monday, April 20, 2009  I was training with a group of volunteer fire academy trainees at a live burn building . We had made it to the second floor and getting ready to enter the fire room. I was on the nozzle when I started to cramp from the heat. I will admit that I should have been pre-hydrating better than what I did but that's not the whole issue. I stood up just a little and my PASS/Low Air alarm went off. I knew that I had 3/4 (or better) of air in my MSA SCBA. Our team leader, tapped me on the should and asked what was wrong. I said that was my low air alarm and he send me out. In Detroit we had always been told if one has a problem that requires a hasty exit from the structure, such as a low air alarm, then all exit. The team leader was chastised by the training cadre for allowing the other three firefighters and himself to leave with me. The Assistant Chief, who is a military fire protection specialist, at the same rank told him that if he could see me leaving the fire building under my own power then the was no need for everyone to leave. This Chief went on to say "my babies are up there burning up". The was the second time that we as a team had "played together" and while in the real world each firefighter would have his or her own radio. We did not. The first time was a first floor evolution and seem to go fairly well.

Lessons Learned: I have asked MSA to check on my SCBA is see if it has the heat sensor built into the PASS/Gauge, if so that was what the alarm was. I will then have to take some of the blame as that I didn't know everything about my equipment and that's a dangerous way to start to start training. Second, it very dangerous to do live fire training with firefighters that you have never partnered with. The two in - two out rule must be strictly enforced, even in a training environment. We must train as we fight and we will only be successful in our fight with the Red Devil if we train safely. Every firefighter must have a fire radio, even it's in a training environment.

 

Saturday, April 18, 2009  Two firefighters were injured during training when a hose line became out of control, striking one firefighter in the head. While operating at a hose line operation drill, one hose team lost control of their 1 3/4" hose line, sending it out of control. A near-by hose team consisting of two firefighters was injured when the nozzle struck one firefighter's head. His partner was hit with the straight stream at point blank, causing temporary blurred vision. The firefighter with the head injury was transported to the hospital via BLS with a deep gash requiring stitches. The second firefighter was evaluated and released at the scene.

Lessons Learned: Know your equipment! The nozzle being used had several "stages" to being opened. The firefighter operating the nozzle was inexperienced with this piece of equipment. Also, Be aware of your surroundings at all times, in order to prevent any future mishaps.

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009  A 52 year old F-282 (Puget Sound Federal Fire Fighters) firefighter from Station 61 (U.S.N. Sub-Base Bangor) suffered a cardiac arrest while conducting training with Station 77 (Poulsbo, WA) personnel on Friday afternoon (3/6). The firefighter dropped right in front of a Paramedic/Firefighter who had also been participating in the drill. Immediate life saving A.L.S. actions were taken including defibrillation. The firefighter was transported to Harrison Medical Center. He is reported to be recovering in the I.C.U. at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton. I understand that there were several occluded arteries and that the firefighter has had some type of invasive intervention stints and may possibly be a candidate for coronary artery bypass surgery.

 

Saturday, October 4, 2008  While performing a vehicle door removal during extrication training last week, I caught the spreaders with the inside of my right thigh.  When the door latch separated from the nader bolt, it popped open, in turn pushing the spreaders back into my leg (yes, the picture is a human leg, not a chicken leg).  The spreader is the Hurst ML-32 which weighs approx. 53 lbs.
Normally, I lean into the tool enough to prevent being struck.  As you can see, it left a nice perfectly round bruise which took five days to surface.  I was wearing full turnout gear with eye protection.  I am thoroughly convinced that this prevented more serious injury, due to some padding provided by the turnout liner.
 

Thursday, July 24, 2008  Training on forward lays with five inch hose: hose clamp was placed on the five inch line, the hydrant was charged, the line broken and connected to the inlet on the pumper. As the Hebert Hose Clamp was opened, the clamp was rapidly pushed along the five inch hose until it hit the next coupling. The firefighter opening the clamp found it to be difficult to unscrew because of the hose pressure on the clamp and was surprised at how quick the clamp moved when the water flowed through the hose.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1.The new rubber supply hose may have been a contributing factor to the sliding of the hose clamp. 

2.There is a potential for an injury caused by the moving clamp if people are not paying attention. The clamp was placed about eight feet from the coupling before the line was charged. Has anyone else had this problem? We were fortunate that there was another section of hose leading to the inlet, otherwise, the clamp would have ended up against the pump connection. 

3.The time it takes to unscrew the clamp actually increased the time it took for the forward lay to be completed. This evolution was with four firefighters(the engineer, the hydrant man and two were manning an attack line). 

4.The hose clamp will not be used for a forward lay with the five inch supply line.  

Saturday, June 28, 2008  While drilling on master stream operations at my career station, we had a very close call recently. I was on the pump panel while my lieutenant and two other firefighters were setting up and operating a portable monitor. While drilling to achieve various GPM flows by removing the nozzle tips, a few of the volunteers showed up to drill as well. After a few evolutions of deploying the monitor and charging the two 2.5 lines feeding it, we had an incident. One of the career firefighters was messing around with one of the volunteers. (Note, i only saw the end result of the accident, these statements are from others present.) The two were wrestling with each other as the career FF tried to jokingly push the volunteer FF into the stream. The volunteer decided that if he was going in, they both were. He let go of his footing and tried to pull the career guy into the stream with him. The volunteer fell into the stream of the monitor flowing approx 800 gpm through an 1 3/4" tip. He was hit in the ribs and launched into the air, landing in the street about 5 feet from the nozzle. The FF then slid across the roadway, knocking his helmet off. The helmet was found about 30 feet from the monitor. Luckily the firefighter was not injured too badly. He only suffered from some bruising and road rash on the side he slid on (under his PPE). His gear was not damage, but he sustained cuts to his buttock and hips. At the time of the incident, everyone froze after seeing him hit. It feels like 10 minutes in my mind, but after a second or two, i shut down the lines. Of course, one of our commissioners was there to watch the whole thing unfold. Instead of disciplining the career firefighter, he made an inappropriate joke about how fire streams used to be used for riot control. Lessons Learned: We play with some big toys. These toys, while meant to be operated in the safest manner possible can still cause accidents. Horseplay has no place on the fire ground or the training ground. We were very lucky with this that no one got seriously injured. Everyone needs to understand that they are accountable for their own personal safety AND the safety of those around them.  

Saturday, June 7, 2008  A recent event has made a few of us aware that refreshing our knowledge about electricity is a good thing. While working on a live-fire house burn preparation, I was confronted with the main panel in the basement that was in the way, making it difficult to put up a ceiling covering near the burn pit. Before starting our preparations, we were told by the contractor of the company that donated the house that the power to the house had been cut. I proceeded to pull lots of wires from the panel, cutting as I went. The last to be cut was the main feed from the powerline that fed into the panel (240 volts). We all know what happened when my sawzall blade went through the galvanized conduit and cut into one leg of the power... a loud, scary "pop" and a shower of sparks! Fortunately I was protected by a well grounded electrical tool but my blade had two big chunks blown out of it. We immediately called the contractor and then the local power company (Puget Sound Energy). PSE had no record of a request to cut power to this house and showed that the house did indeed have power to it (no kidding!). A lineman from PSE immediately came out and cut the power to the house so we could continue or preparations for the upcoming training. LESSONS LEARNED: While the PSE lineman was there we asked a lot of questions. Here are a few things I felt that were important to remember. 1. DON'T TAKE THE CONTRACTORS WORD ABOUT ELECTRICAL ISSUES. They may think that no power to the house means shutting down the main breaker. Obviously this isn't the case. The house is not energized only when the power company tells us it is not energized. They are the only ones who can completely cut the power to a house or business. 2. If there is an overhead powerline running to the house and there is a meter on the house (even though the indicator wheel is not moving) the house has power running to the meter base. To confirm, there is a number on the meter. Call PSE and give them this number. They can tell you over the phone if the house is energized or not. Note: If there is a meter base but no overhead power lines, extra caution should be exercised as the house could be supplied by underground power. 3. Meter bases can become energized! If you are called to lights flickering inside the home or smoke smells in or around a meter base, DO NOT TOUCH THE METER OR THE SURROUNDING METAL CASE!! The lineman stated that the cause is arching or shorting inside the meter base/housing due to faulty or failing connectors. Touching the metal housing can cause an individual to become energized. He also stated that looking at the glass of the meter may show smoke on the inside. This is a good indicator that something bad is going on inside the meter housing. Call PSE. 4. If the meter has been removed, there is no power to the structure. NOT TRUE! Businesses and some residential homes with shops that have 3 phase/240 volt service can continue to be energized with the meter having been removed. Be aware of what you are looking at. If you aren't sure...........Call PSE. Thanks for listening. Let's stay safe.