A Kanawha County volunteer firefighter who drowned last year was wearing improper equipment, a federal safety agency has determined.
Donnie Adkins, 32, a firefighter for the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department, drowned last March after a rescue boat he was riding in slammed into a bridge pier and overturned during flood rescue attempts.
Adkins and two other firefighters in the rescue boat were making their fourth trip upstream when the boat flipped over, throwing all three into the frigid waters.
According to an accident fatality investigation conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Adkins was not wearing proper protective equipment at the time. NIOSH investigators concluded that insufficient risk assessment and the wrong type of equipment contributed to Adkins’ death.
Investigators said all three volunteer firefighters on the overturned rescue boat were wearing neoprene wetsuits at the time of the accident. Adkins was also wearing a cotton shirt under his wetsuit.
But two of the firefighters were also wearing dry suits, which provide better protection from the cold. "Cotton holds moisture and does not provide any insulation when wet, unlike wool and some synthetic materials," investigators wrote.
The two firefighters who were wearing dry suits over their wetsuits were able to escape, but Adkins was swept away. His body was recovered six days later, about four miles downstream.
Investigators at NIOSH, which is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control, recommend that fire departments make sure their firefighters always wear proper equipment for the environment they’re working in.
