Morning Lineup - August 9

ONCE AGAIN, THERE WAS A NEWS STORY this past Tuesday from Kingston, Ontario (HERE) about a firefighter dying in a vehicle crash while responding on a call. Here’s the key paragraph:

William Salmond, 65, was driving a fire department tanker truck, heading eastbound on Flinton Road to respond to a motor vehicle collision on Highway 7 in Kaladar. As the truck approached the intersection with Highway 41, Salmond was unable to stop the vehicle and it went through the intersection, struck a parked, unoccupied vehicle and rolled into the east ditch. Salmond was ejected from the vehicle.
(emphasis mine - ed.)

No doubt you’re thinking the same thing that I was when I first read it. Why wasn’t he wearing his seat belt? Hardly a fortnight goes by that we don’t read about a similar event.

Back in late May, two fire apparatus in Waterbury, an engine and a truck, collided while both were responding to the same call. The Capt. on one piece was killed and the driver of the other was seriously injured. Both were ejected from the impact for lack of seat belts.

click thumbnails for full pic

What a sad way to cut a good life short, and so unnecessary. It’s a simple thing to do and yet so many fail to practice it. Most FD’s have a regulation somewhere that requires seat belt usage at all times, but it is seldom enforced. Why not? Just, why not? Buckle up, dammit !!

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Last month FossilMedic posted a heads-up on a new Fire and Rescue-related social networking website called Firefighter Nation. I took a peek at it yesterday and it seems to be going, and growing, just fine. It’s well designed and has a lot of good features. There are several forums for members’ interactions as well as videos, photos and news items. I’m going to continue reading it, maybe even sign up with a secret code name.

Anyway, check out Firefighter Nation HERE.

But first, let’s get that equipment checked. I’ll see you at the coffee table.