Thursday, February 25, 2010 Every wednesday night we have our weekly maintence and drill night. This past weds our Rescue truck had a dead battery. The maintence crew for the vehicle had placed the battery on charge. They had set it on the proper settings and continued with the evening drill. About 45 mins later i was walking by the vehicle and heard that the battery was bubbling a bit. I then turned off the charger and waited a few seconds. I then started to take the charger cable off the battery post. As i was remvoing the cable off the battery, the top of the battery exploded and the battery acid had sprayed all over my face, hands, and neck. When it went off i had closed my eyes and mouth tight. Two other firefighters were about 20 feet to right when this happen. They ran over to me and walked me over to the hose and sat me down on the ground. They started to flush my face, arms, and neck. The also summoned for the ambulance crew for the equipment, etc... I was then transported to the local trauma center where the continued to flush my eyes and face for several hours. I was released later that evening with minimal injuries to my face and eyes. This all happen about 24 hours ago and my face is still burning slightly but it could have been 100% worse. My crew did a wonderful job in performing there duties!!!

LESSONS LEARNED: Never ever take a simple job as charging a battery for granted. I was very lucky this time. I was also lucky that there was member down at the fire station that could begine medical attention on me right away. Remember whenever u are working on a truck always use eye protection and proper equipment.