The Colorado Professional Fire Fighters Association have advised us of the
death of one of their own. Aurora Fire Department Engineer Jason Murphy
was riding his bicycle to work this morning when he was struck by a vehicle. He
was transported to the hospital where he tragically succumbed to his injuries.
Our sincere condolences to all affected-RIP. MORE HERE: www.cpff.org
OKLAHOMA FIREFIGHTER IS “BACK IN THE SADDLE”
A working house fire this morning was an injured Tulsa Firefighter’s first fire
since returning to work. FF James O’Neal, who was injured in that arson
Dec. 31 and returned to work in February. Today’s 0430 hours fire
destroyed a long-vacant house. O’Neal was part of a crew that entered the house
this morning but backed out when fire conditions got worse. Companies operated
outside when they learned that the house was vacant and no one was inside.
O’Neal, who has been a Tulsa firefighter for nearly 14 years, is part of Engine
19. He was unconscious and not breathing when fellow firefighters rescued him
from that burning house Dec. 31. FF O’Neal took in smoke when there was a yet
undetermined problem with his SCBA during a similar interior attack
in a house.
responsible”
a helicopter crashed in August 2008 in California, killing 9 Firefighters.
Why? It was either a well-known engine flaw or an overloaded craft. The
crash, known as the Iron 44 incident, is considered the deadliest air tragedy
of working firefighters in U.S. history. In December 2010, the NTSB said the
crash was the result of a cascade of failures by virtually everyone involved in
assuring a safe flight. The jury is expected to begin deliberations
Thursday in the case in Multnomah County (OR) Circuit Court.
GE knew for at least 6 years there were problems with a fuel
control valve in the commercial engines the company built for Sikorsky N-61
helicopters, said the plaintiffs’ attorney Greg Anderson. The valve failed in
the Sikorsky that was carrying the firefighters, shutting power to one of its
two engines, he said.
Lawyers argued about the helicopter crash in the Shasta-Trinity National
Forest that killed nine of the 13 men aboard.”GE knew about the problem
and they had a history of knowing,” Anderson told jurors. He showed them
internal GE emails documenting the company’s awareness, including emails to
helicopter companies operating the aircraft and to Sikorsky, the helicopter
manufacturer. GE told them the problem was a service issue, and not a problem
with the engine’s design. “They played the issue like a service issue, but
it was something much more,” Anderson said. “They rolled the dice and
people died.”
But GE attorney Kevin Smith said the crash was caused because the
helicopter was more than 1,400 pounds overweight at takeoff, and that the
pilots were relying on inadequate weight data and inadequate power data of the
helicopter’s lift capacity provided to them by Grants Pass-based Carson
Helicopters, which owned and operated a firefighting helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the helicopter weighed
19,008 pounds at takeoff, which was actually 3,168 pounds heavier than
recommended for safe flight. Smith said investigators found that the helicopter
was at full power when it hit the first tree and remained at full power when it
hit a second tree based on sound spectrum analysis from cockpit
recorders. “It was overweight and it clipped a tree and lost a blade
tip” from the main rotor, Smith said. “This crash had nothing to do
with the engines.”
Killed in the Line of Duty were Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine; 63-year-old Jim
Ramage, a forest service employee from Redding, Calif.; Shawn Blazer, 30, of
Medford; Scott Charlson, 25, of Phoenix, Ore.; Matthew Hammer, 23, of Grants
Pass; Edrik Gomez, 19, of Ashland; Bryan Rich, 29, of Medford; David Steele,
19, of Ashland; and Steven “Caleb” Renno, 21, of Cave Junction.
Injured were Coultas of Cave Junction; Richard Schroeder Jr., of Medford;
Jonathan Frohreich of Medford; and Michael Brown of Rogue River.
The families of eight men who were killed and three who were injured reached
out-of-court settlements with three of five defendants in multiple lawsuits
filed after the crash, including Carson Helicopters and Sikorsky. In December
2010, the NTSB said the crash was the result of a cascade of failures by
virtually everyone involved in assuring a safe flight. The problem, the
NTSB inquiry found, “was compounded by pilots who failed to account for
the helicopter operating at the limit of its performance.” RIP.
