Firefighter Close Calls

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Submit Your Close Call / Near Miss Navigation Home Secret List Gallery EMS CloseCalls Drills Firefighter Staffing Personal Survival Safety and survival SOGs Links Modern Fire Behavior About Us Never Forget Fire Communications Pass it On LODD STATS Yearly Totals Year Totals 2014 67 2013 101 2012 83 2011 81 2010 87 2009 93 2008 118 2007 118 2006 107 2005 115 "In Memory Of" Click this patch   Custom Search Contact Info Email BillyG info@ firefighterclosecalls.com Email Weekly Drill Suggestions to Drills@firefighter closecalls.com Click Here for The 9/11 Widows' and Victims' Families Association Click Here: Skyscraper Safety Campaign       Also check the most current issue of THE SECRET LIST for related News and Updates-(Click Here) Tweets by @alertpage CLOSE CALL IN DETROIT - BRICK THROWN AT FIRE APPARATUS WINDOW Friday, October 17, 2014  FROM FIREHOUSE.COM AND CAPT. DAVE! I happened to be in Detroit last night and rather than documenting a fire or two or three in a blazing single family dwelling, I stumbled into something uniquely Detroit--a brick-pitching from above that fractured the windshield of Squad 3 and had it hit a bit a bit to the west, could have seriously injured the boss, Lt. Mike Nevin. The fire to which they were responding was minor, so after being released, they headed back to East Grand Boulevard with the Detroit Police to look at the situation. Officials surmised that persons unknown rained down projectiles for most of the night on unsuspecting motorists on East Grand Boulevard, driving by the old abandoned Packard automobile plant--a  hulking three square block rotting complex that is symbolic of all that is wrong with the Motor City. Around 4 a... [ more ]     Tweet   CHICAGO FFs NOT FIT TESTED IN HEPA MASKS Friday, October 17, 2014  Despite the burgeoning Ebola epidemic, the Chicago Fire Department has never “fit-tested” its 4,645 firefighters and paramedics to make certain that disposable face masks used to protect them from fluid transmissions are properly sealed. The Massachusetts manufacturer of the N95 respirator recommends — and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration demands — that first responders be tested annually to make certain the mask fits tightly enough to filter out small particles. The tighter the fit, the more resistant the mask is to bodily fluids, which is how Ebola is transmitted. But until the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 sounded the alarm this week, the Fire Department had distributed masks without fit-testing any of its employees. “I can’t say who dropped the ball, but we’re taking this very seriously. You have to have a solid seal to prevent permeation. This is an obvious concern to all first r... [ more ]     Tweet   CANADIAN LODD REPORT: FF KILLED BY EXPLODING CARGO CONTAINER Friday, October 17, 2014  A crew of firefighters responded to a fire at an industrial building. The crew had worked for about an hour and had the fire under control when there was a large explosion inside the closed metal shipping container next to the building. The explosion blew the container's doors off. One of the doors struck and killed a firefighter. While there was no fuel stored in bulk inside the shipping container, the container's contents did include a collection of gas-powered tools. The fuel reservoirs of these tools held small amounts of gasoline. The container also held about a litre of another flammable liquid. Firefighters tried to keep the container cool and were aware of its contents, but did not recognize the explosive potential of such small amounts of flammable liquids. Safe work practices: Inform and instruct firefighters about the hazards of flammable liquids. Even very s... [ more ]     Tweet   ENGINE VS AMBULANCE CRASH IN MOCO, MD Thursday, October 16, 2014  A Montgomery County fire truck and ambulance crashed into each other while responding to a hazardous materials situation in Rockville, Maryland Thursday afternoon. The crash occurred at Parkland Drive and Aspen Hill Road in Rockville Several people were injured, though no other information was available. The road is closed during the investigation.     Tweet   FF SUFFERS SERIOUS HAND INJURY AT STL FIRE Thursday, October 16, 2014  One firefighter was injured Thursday fighting a two-alarm fire at a four-family home in the Shaw neighborhood Thursday morning. The fire started at the home in the 3900 block of De Tonty Street around 11:30 a.m. Firefighters say they had a "bad hydrant," meaning water pressure wasn't coming out of it. Trucks had to go to the other side of Interstate 44 to hook up to a working water supply to fight the fire in the two-story brick building. The fire started in the basement and heavily damaged the home. Authorities say an elderly man was inside the home when the fire started. He smelled something electrical and called firefighters. The St. Louis Fire Department said in a tweet one firefighter suffered a hand injury and was urgently transported to an area hospital.     Tweet   AIR TANKERS WING MAY HAVE CLIPPED TREE PRIOR TO CRASH Thursday, October 16, 2014  he wing of an air tanker that crashed while being used to fight a wildfire near Yosemite National Park last week may have struck a tree before going down, according to a report by federal investigators. The S-2T tanker was destroyed on impact Oct. 7 when it went down near El Portal fighting the Dog Rock fire, killing veteran pilot Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt. The report, released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday, describes an account from a controller airplane crew, which said the tanker may have struck a tree, causing its wing to separate before the crash. Earlier that day, Hunt had departed an air base in Hollister. When he arrived at the fire, he made a drop and then headed to Columbia Airport in Tuolumne County to fill up on fire retardant. Hunt returned to the fire and coordinated his next drop with an orbiting aerial controller while following a lead plane, which defines a route and drop point ahead of the... [ more ]     Tweet   FFCC STAFF PARTICIPATES IN F.I.R.E. FROM KNOWLEDGE TO PRACTICE Thursday, October 16, 2014  FirefighterCloseCalls.com Staff Members Brian Kazmierzak and Forest Reeder are in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the next 10 days participating in F.I.R.E. - From Knowledge to Practice which is a grant from the Canadian Government also supported by US DHS and US DOD to develop a STANDARD fire behavior curriculum worldwide.This is an exciting project that will be built out by over 40 firefighters from throughout the world over the next 3 years.     Tweet   PINK HEALS FIRE TRUCK FLIPS IN TX Thursday, October 16, 2014  Victoria's pink firetruck, Debbie, is a little shaken up after a minor wreck Tuesday evening, but is eager to get back on the road. Debbie was heading out of Port Lavaca toward the Victoria Chick-fil-A to help students on the Victoria East and West high school swim teams raise awareness about breast cancer. The teams came together to raise money to give to school district employees facing cancer, said Victoria West Booster Club treasurer Tammy Murphy. They had planned to sell their Breaststroke 4 Hope T-shirts during Family Night at Chick-fil-A. Debbie, unfortunately never made it to the event. The pink firetruck was northbound on Farm-to-Market Road 1090 about 5:30 p.m., when she left the roadway in an attempt to avoid colliding with a vehicle, said Calhoun County Sheriff George Aleman. The truck hit some mud and tipped over. The driver, Victoria firefighter Timothy Dodge was unharmed. Debbie, however, s... [ more ]     Tweet   5 FDNY FFs HURT IN BROOKLYN MAYDAY 7online.com Video Thursday, October 16, 2014  Five firefighters suffered minor injuries while battling a two-alarm fire Wednesday morning at a building in Brooklyn. The FDNY responded to the call at about 8:30 a.m. at 781 Washington Avenue, a 7-story residential building in Prospect Heights. The fire was placed under control about 90 minutes later, with about 100 firefighters responding. The blaze broke out on the fourth floor of the building. One civilian was taken to Cornell Hospital for a minor injury. Residents, many of them elderly, said that because there is no central fire alarm in the building, it was a miracle that they got out. Conditions in a third floor hallway became unbearable in a matter of minutes. "No alarm, the alarm don't ring, the alarm started ringing when everybody was out already," said resident Angelita Rivera. "The hallway was literally, you could not see your hand in front of your face. Also very heavy heat conditions, they were faced with a... [ more ]     Tweet   2 PHILLY FFs INJURED AT HOUSE FIRE Tuesday, October 14, 2014  Two Philadelphia firefighters were hospitalized after fighting a fire in Tacony. The blaze broke out before 4:30 a.m. Tuesday at a home in the 4700 block of Vista Street. Firefighters arrived to find heavy fire and smoke coming from the 2-story row house. It took them about 30 minutes to put the blaze under control. Two firefighters were taken to Aria Health/Torresdale to be treated for heat exhaustion. Both were expected to be okay. Fire officials say three homes were damaged. Nine people have been displaced and are receiving assistance from the American Red Cross. Investigators are working to determine what sparked the blaze.     Tweet   MCDFRS FF HOSPITALIZED AFTER APT FIRE Tuesday, October 14, 2014  An overnight two-alarm fire in a Derwood apartment building has hospitalized a firefighter and two residents, one of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. According to Pete Piringer, spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, firefighters responded to a building fire at the Mallard Cove apartments in the 8100 block of Needwood Road around 1:00 Tuesday morning. Once on scene crews found fire showing from a terrace level apartment of the three-story structure and received reports of people trapped inside. A second alarm response was requested as firefighters were able to rescue one of the residents.     Tweet   2 CHICAGO FFs HOSPITALIZED AFTER MAYDAYS CBS Chicago Video Monday, October 13, 2014  A tricky fire burning in Bridgeport trapped several Chicago firefighters and two of them ended up in the hospital Sunday afternoon. CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports those firefighters are being observed after being trapped in two separate areas while barreling this blaze. Though fortunately there are no significant injuries to report crews say this was a nasty blaze to battle. Crews described the fire as stubborn and unpredictable. The Bridgeport house fire started in a three flat and spread to two neighboring homes. Members of the Soto family arrived on scene to see their home engulfed in smoke and flames. “I spoke to everybody by more ]     Tweet   Fire Engineering Sponsors Webcast on Firefighter Mental Health Monday, October 13, 2014      NEW WEBCAST   more ]     Tweet   CA Man Becomes Combative With Firefighters After Vehicle Crash Saturday, October 11, 2014  At roughly 7:09 pm Friday, a man who crashed into a tree on E. 18th near Phillips Lane became combative with members of Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Antioch Police were called where they took the subject into custody and placed him in an American Medical Response Unit where he will be taken for a blood test. It appears no firefighters were injured in the exchange. According to witnesses, the man was driving along E. 18th without headlights swerving in and out of lanes while even hopping the curb. The vehicle was out of Oakley according to radio traffic. No further details were provided on scene.     Tweet   CLOSE CALL IN HOUSTON LEADS TO MELTED HELMET Click2Houston Video Friday, October 10, 2014  Houston firefighters battled a house fire on Garden St. near Fir Street in southeast Houston on Friday. No one was hurt, but there was a close call for one firefighter who briefly became trapped inside the front door.  Other fire fighters quickly pulled him to safety and no one was not injured. The firefighters was badly burned and  his helmet melted from the intense heat. No one was home at the time the fire started. The homeowner, Alejandra Oliva, and her husband were both at work. Their two kids were in school. “My husband called me and said: ‘The house is on fire,’” she said to Local 2. The home is complete loss. Neighbors saw the flames just before noon and called 911. Investigators said something about this fire seemed unusual. They discovered a broken window in the back of the house and some blood on the ground nearby, like maybe someone had been trying to break in. more ]     Tweet