WOMAN DIES AFTER BEING STRUCK BY RESPONDING APPARATUS HOSE LINE:

An 82-year-old woman who was struck by a hose line from the back of a Cambridge (MA) fire apparatus has died. She died today after that hose on the side of the Cambridge engine struck her on Tuesday. 
The apparatus was responding to a call at about 1140 hours when one of the lines apparently slipped and then became dislodged – trailing behind the rig. When the engine company turned, the trailing hose struck the woman who was standing on the median island allowing the apparatus to pass.

GEORGIA FIRE REPORT: Fire Officers Failed To Follow Procedures-Civilian Dies In House Fire

We have posted the official findings of the investigation where it identifies that DeKalb County Fire Officers, Acting Officers/Firefighters failed to do a thorough investigation on a reported house fire.
Firefighters and Officers reported they found no signs of a fire when they arrived. Essentially they acknowledged that companies drove by the civilians home, didn’t see smoke and that the Firefighters never got out of their apparatus to investigate further. The report states that “they drove around the cul-de-sac, slowly, command was never established, no one exited the apparatus or walked up the driveway to investigate further and then (they) left”.

5 hours later-the house was a “working fire” and a civilian was killed.

Clearly-the fire and resulting loss of life was THE LAST THING these Firefighters meant to happen-but it did and there is a lot that can be learned from it by all of us.
The REPORT is linked on our home page. www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

FIREFIGHTER FACE PROTECTION – ARE YOU AWARE OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES?

Goggles vs. Face shields – One of the proposals for the next edition of NFPA 1971 is to make goggles mandatory and faceshields optional-and it’s an interesting debate. Some groups advocate that traditional face shields offer the best approach for us while others insist that goggles must be mandated.

HERE is an article: http://tinyurl.com/yfbkuf5

Special thanks to www.firefighterclosecalls.com for the news updates!

Any firefighter interested in taking the METH LAB DETECTION class offered through the University of West Alabama needs to contact Firefighter Flowers (UWA PD Officer) wflowers@uwa.edu in order to register.  Space is LIMITED for this class.

DATE – February 16-17 (o800 to 1700)

Location – ALFA Hall (UWA Campus)