Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Hey,
A Kentucky Wildland Firefighter has been seriously injured with burns and blunt force trauma yesterday morning while working a 12-acre wildfire in Livingston County. Don Lam, Forest Ranger Technician for the Kentucky Division of Forestry is currently in serious condition at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville after being airlifted following the accident. Initial investigations report that Ranger Lam was struck by a rolling log, a burning snag approximately 10 ft in length that broke loose and rolled off a bluff. The impact has left Ranger Lam unconscious and with serious injuries including second degree burns. We'll post updates as they become available on our home page.
FIREFIGHTERS CLOSE CALL: MASS. FF's STUNG WHILE RESCUING A CIVILIAN (SOP Below)
Attleboro Firefighters responded yesterday to a run reporting a woman stung. Turns out, she was stung more than 500 times after she reportedly stepped on a nest. FF David Capraro was one of the first to arrive to the report of a woman suffering from bee stings Monday night. The dispatchers updated responding FF's that the victim was still out and the bees were still all over her. The 53-year-old woman had been stung about 500 times. The yellow jackets were so relentless that they followed her in the ambulance and even into the emergency room at nearby Sturdy Memorial Hospital. 3 Firefighters also treated and released after enduring about a half dozen bites themselves.
One noted expert said nests grow from the size of a thumbnail in April to the size of a baseball in July to the size of a basketball this time of year, often with as many 10,000 inside. The nests grow until frost kills most of them. And yellow jackets don’t need to be provoked to sting. They can be attracted to someone just by their smell, or if the person happens to enter their flight path. Wasps are attracted by food, trash, lights, pet excrement, dried leaves, overgrown shrubbery, or grease built up on a grill.
Take Care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
The Secret List 9-8-10 / 2144 Hours www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
