When Tropical Storm Charley moved over the southwestern part of Texas in late August, residents in Del Rio prepared for the worst.
"On the morning of August 23, the local weather station was predicting flash flooding in our area. Being a flat west Texas town, when you hear ‘flash flood' you get ready," says Jane Pratt, manager of the American Red Cross Del Rio Service Center located on Laughlin Air Force Base.
A remote border town of 35,000 people located 150 miles east of San Antonio, Del Rio was hit with more than 18" of rain in just four hours, with some areas receiving as much as 22" as a result of the storm system. The torrential rains caused city creeks and canals to overflow, sending walls of water up to 18' high over structures. In all, nine people died as a result of the storms, six are still missing, 500 families were left homeless, and the damage is being estimated at nearly $34.3 million, according to Pratt, whose agency was busy providing food, clothing and shelter to those affected by the storms.
Pratt's agency coordinated with other relief agencies and EMS departments who converged on the scene in the aftermath of the storms. One of the biggest challenges was finding room to house those left homeless.
"The city opened the civic center, which is a convention center and our largest facility in town, to house these people. We got many calls of people being brought in and being saved from the high water," recalls Pratt.
Fortunately, most of those who were injured suffered only minor medical problems such as cuts and scrapes.
On August 26, three days after the storm hit, the area was declared a federal disaster area, paving the way for federal agencies to come in and aid the recovery effort. Representatives from FEMA, the U.S. National Guard and EMS agencies from other states all helped clean up the debris and aid those affected by the storms. While the town suffered badly, Pratt says people have pulled together and construction is underway to house the homeless.
Fierce weather also hit Gulfport, MS, which came under the eye of Hurricane Georges on September 26, 1998. Along with Louisiana, Mississippi was one of the last in a chain of Gulf Coast states to be hit by the hurricane as it moved from the northern Caribbean islands through the Florida Keys, across the Florida panhandle and over the states of Georgia and Alabama.
Three coastal Mississippi counties--Hancock, Harrison and Jackson--were the hardest hit, with more than 87 people being housed in shelters and nearly 1,000 U.S. National Guard troops called in to aid in the recovery effort after the area received federal disaster assistance beginning September 28.
Mike Sturgill, education and training coordinator for American Medical Response in Gulfport, MS, was staged at the Harrison County Emergency Operations Center when the storm hit.
"We coordinated evacuations, and anyone who required EMS support was directed to call us," says Sturgill.
Prior to mutual aid coming into the scene, AMR was the only ambulance service operating in the three counties. After the hurricane picked up force and sent 100 mph winds and nearly 30" of rain into the area, other agencies from Mississippi and the neighboring states of Georgia and Tennessee became involved in the recovery effort, as well as FEMA, the National Guard and the Red Cross.
Miraculously, no fatalities were reported in the area, but the damage was obvious.
"We had buildings that were torn off their foundations from the winds," recalls Sturgill. Moreover, the torrential rains caused nearby rivers to overflow, sending floods throughout the area.
Sturgill says most residents knew the storm was coming because it had started out six days earlier in the Caribbean and the area had experienced hurricanes in the past.
"We've had our share of them, though we haven't had anything significant since 1985. This was a bad storm, but it could have been worse."
Lieutenant Robert Foster, acting engineer Landon West, and firefighters Mike Lachman and Cody Stilwell, all with Engine 3 at the Fort Worth (TX) Fire Department, were named the 1998 winners of the Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Award for Valor by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and Motorola, Inc., the sponsor of the award. The firefighters received their award on September 12 during the 125th annual Fire-Rescue International Conference in Louisville, KY.
Fort Worth Fire Department Chief H. L. McMillen nominated the engine company following its involvement in the May 17, 1998 rescue of a 3-year-old child who nearly drowned in Lake Arlington, near Fort Worth.
The four crew members, along with a separate ambulance crew, were initially dispatched to the lake in response to a seizure call. Finding no seizure victims, the engine company and ambulance circled the lake and came upon a crowd of people who gathered to witness a vehicle rolling into the water.
According to Dale Smith, IAFC Director of Communications, the accident happened as follows: A woman parked the car near the lake and exited the vehicle to use a nearby restroom, leaving her 3-year-old son inside the vehicle, while another child waited outside the vehicle. During the mother's absence, the 3-year-old somehow exited his safety seat and placed the car into gear propelling it forward. The other child had been playing in the trunk of the car, which was left open, and both children were sent into the water with the car. Witnesses on scene rescued the girl from the trunk without incident. However, it was not until Forth Worth Fire Department Lieutenant Foster entered the water to look for more victims that the boy was found inside the vehicle. By this time, the vehicle had submerged up to 10' and was 30' from shore. Reaching through an open window, Foster was able to pull the boy out of the vehicle and bring him to the surface. As Foster initiated CPR on the child, firefighter West swam the pair to shore, while firefighters Lachman and Stilwell handled equipment and radioed for help. With the assistance of the Med-Star ambulance which had also been on scene, the firefighters were able to restore the boy's breathing. The boy was subsequently transported to a local Fort Worth hospital and, following one night of observation, was released with no complications.
Smith says this is the first time in the 29-year history of the award that an entire engine company has been honored for its bravery.
The ARA, which represents agricultural motorists throughout the United States, wants to exempt eight states (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Texas) from meeting specific U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) HM-200 hazardous materials regulations because it feels those states already have existing exemptions on certain limited hazardous materials transports from retail facilities to farms during harvest seasons.
DOT's regulations in part call for the application of permanent placards on the outside of vehicles transporting known hazardous materials. The ARA was recently successful in adding an amendment to the Senate version of the DOT Appropriations bill that would grant agricultural motorists in the above states a one-year exemption from applying permanent placards on certain vehicles used to transport fertilizers and other crop-protection products from a manufacturing facility to a farm. Previously, the eight states had until October 1, 1998 to comply with the regulations, but the exemption, if passed by Congress, would carry over until October 1, 1999.
Floyd Gaibler, vice president of governmental affairs with ARA's Washington, DC office, says it is simply a matter of allowing the states to decide how to regulate the materials.
"It's a state's rights issue to determine whether its citizens can be protected without putting other people at risk or adding regulatory costs," says Gaibler.
He notes that each of the states in question already has existing exemptions for limited, local, seasonal transports of fertilizers and crop-protection products. To force these states to put permanent placarding on vehicles transporting these items would waste time and money as a truck could carry one of nearly 70 different fertilizers on each transport, says Gaibler. He adds that the vehicles used to transport these items-mainly small pickup trucks-are already regulated under DOT standards and that no incidents have yet occurred to cause state transportation offices to rescind existing exemptions.
The NVFC is fighting the amendment primarily because of safety concerns. Anne Wilson, an NVFC government affairs representative, says exempting motorists in the above states from meeting the regulations could have far-reaching consequences.
"It's exceedingly dangerous for fire departments to go on a call and not know what substance they are dealing with," says Wilson. "You're not going to be able to protect your community or yourself if you don't know what chemicals you're dealing with."
Because the trucks in question currently do not contain permanent placarding on the outside to indicate what they are carrying, this could pose a risk to first responders who might be exposed to the materials in the event of an incident, according to the NFVC.
Wilson, who says the NVFC has received support on this issue from other fire service associations, also claims that the additional placarding required to meet DOT HM-200 regulations would not cost that much.
"There's the placarding, which will cost you the amount of the cardboard stick and the holder, and there's the shipping papers they're supposed to carry, which can be the actual invoice sent to farmers and carried with the truck driver."
For his part, Gaibler says in every case the products being shipped are already marked and placarded on the manufacturer's box. While an extra permanent placard may not in itself cost that much, because the drivers carry so many different types of fertilizer, they would need a new placard for each different shipment they transport.
"There would be labor costs to identify what the regulations would be for a wide range of products we'd have to carry."
Gaibler adds that ARA called for the one-year exemption in order to give states more time to meet the DOT HM-200 regulations.
Both sides expect Congress to meet soon in order to discuss the issue further and hopefully resolve how the materials should be regulated in the affected states.
TAC-20 has been operated by AMR for the past six months. It features a 1988 Chevrolet chassis and is manufactured by Sentinal. It is currently one of only two such vehicles operated in Los Angeles County (the other ambulance is run by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department). The main differences between TAC-20 and an ordinary ambulance are its size and the way it is used.
"It's a giant piece of equipment. It was formerly used just for neonatal transport, where you can put a couple of incubators in with a full medical team," says Victor Oseguera, a paramedic with AMR's Glendale division, and a member of the 10-person AMR Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) that is trained to ride in the vehicle.
The ambulance is equipped to carry a full range of ACLS equipment under L.A. County Department of Health Services regulations. Though designed to transport a single patient only, TAC-20 can accommodate two patients lying down and two sitting comfortably in the back.
Lief Nicolaisen, a lieutenant with the Glendale Police Department, says the ambulance is also designed to be used differently than the typical emergency response vehicle. It is intended to be used as a medical response vehicle only during high-risk incidents involving search warrants or potential suspects who are armed and dangerous, not (usually) your typical EMS environment. Beyond the usual medical equipment, one will find ballistic vests and helmets, binoculars and other tactical equipment stored inside the ambulance for use during such incidents.
Not surprisingly, to work inside such an ambulance requires special training. Each member of the 10-person AMR SORT must receive at least 58 hours of training through the Counter Narcotics Tactical Operations Program (CONTOMS) in Virginia. This allows them to work with specially trained Glendale Police Department personnel in handling high-risk evolutions.
While the vehicle would not be used to enter the scene of a high-risk incident, it would serve as a command post, says Nicolaisen. During a high-risk scenario, AMR's SORT team would coordinate with the Glendale Police Department's special response team and Tactical Operations Support Squad (Riot Squad), would be trained to use the special equipment inside the vehicle, would respond to potential medical emergencies if necessary and would be used for triage in the event multiple victims are involved.
In the event a medical response vehicle must enter the scene, the Glendale Police Department maintains a separate armored personnel carrier equipped to carry members of AMR's SORT.
At a total of 4,050 fatalities, the 1997 figures represent the lowest total death toll in 20 years. The dramatic decline follows a two-year increase in the U.S. fire death toll.
"We're greatly pleased that the total number of fire deaths dropped so much in 1997," says Dr. John Hall, NFPA's assistant vice president of fire analysis and research. "It means that nearly 1,000 lives were saved compared to the death tolls in 1995--1996. However, our enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that we have experienced one-year spikes or dips in the past that were reversed a year later."
Susan Siegel-McKelvey, NFPA public affairs manager, says a combination of factors could help explain the decline in fire-related deaths. These may include greater numbers of smoke alarms being installed in homes, increased public awareness and the availability of more fire-safe products.
Although the number of fire deaths in the home also dropped considerably (by 16.7% to a total of 3,360 in 1997), the percentage of fire fatalities occurring in the home increased for the third consecutive year. Home fire deaths now account for 83% of all U.S. fire deaths. In light of this, Siegel-McKelvey says the NFPA has directed much of its efforts toward educating home owners about the possibility of fires in their residences and what to do to help prevent them.
"We're trying to get people to realize that the likelihood of home fires occurring is high," says Siegel-McKelvey.
Home fire prevention is also a major part of the NFPA's Fire Prevention Week, its annual public awareness campaign, which was held this year from October 4-10.
On September 16, 1998, at approximately 9:30 p.m., a 9-ton concrete panel dropped 32 stories from a crane operating at a construction site adjacent to San Francisco (CA) Fire Department Station 1. The panel crashed through the station's roof and bunk room before embedding itself in the station's apparatus floor. Miraculously, no one was hurt in the incident.
"It was by the grace of God, St. Florin and St. Luke that none of our firefighters or paramedics was injured or killed," says SFFD Division Chief Frank Cardinale. "All the bunks that were destroyed belonged to on-duty firefighters and paramedics."
Station 1 is home to 15 firefighters and paramedics and houses Truck 1, Engine 1, Rescue 1 and Medic 1. The station is located near the corner of 3rd Street and Howard, right next door to a construction site for the future 32-story Starwood Hotel. The slab of concrete had been hoisted 32 stories above the fire station when the crane's gearbox failed and the panel dropped and crashed through the station's roof. According to patrons of a nearby drinking establishment, the impact sounded like an explosion and the hotel and crane shook as if there had been an earthquake.
Fortunately, the firefighters and paramedics (as well as the apparatus) who would have been in the station at the time were dispersed to other stations three days earlier in order to make room for work on the station's floor and plumbing.
Firefighter Dan O'Donnell was on Rescue 1 in its new home at Station 36 when he heard the initial dispatch for the incident.
"The slab went through a number of bunks, including mine," says O'Donnell. "It would have destroyed the truck had we been in quarters. As it was, it exploded when it hit the apparatus floor. Part of it penetrated through to the basement and small boulders were hurled everywhere through the house. We all left the station feeling as if we were blessed and had dodged, if not the bullet, at least a bullet."
While the slab did extensive damage to the interior of Station 1, none of the load bearing members were damaged and the station remains structurally sound. Robert L. Demmons, SFFD Chief, reassured the city that the department would continue to provide the same level of emergency response while the station undergoes repairs. Currently, the department is planning a more extensive retrofit than that originally planned, which may include the addition of a skylight.
Prior to the incident, firefighters at Station 1 had expressed concerns that such an incident might happen during the past two years of Starwood Hotel's construction. Several months ago, construction was halted by OSHA after several pieces of lumber fell from the 23rd story and landed on top of the roof of Station 1.
| Norm Rooker, EMT-P, is a rescue paramedic for the San Francisco Fire Department in San Francisco, CA. |
NOV/DEC 1998