Yesterday we brought you a brief story about a freak accident that happened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. A fire engine that was responding on a call made a left turn on a city street and the force of it apparently pitched a pre-connect out of its hose tray onto the street. I am only speculating on how it happened from how the local newspaper described the incident, but whatever caused the hose to fly out, it is certain that it struck a pedestrian standing in the median strip while the engine went by. The 82-yr.-old woman was seriously injured and required surgery, but the trauma was too much and she died yesterday morning.
WCVB-TV has this video review of the incident:
It was truly a tragic accident and I have no doubt that the firefighters assigned to that engine are extremely upset over it. But it was just that … an accident. What caused it will be the theme on the investigation that has already begun, but I hope that the city officials who will be leading this don’t use it to dredge up a scapegoat to direct any blame for it. We all know that packing a hoseline is a team activity that involves a minimum of two people and usually three or four. Any mistake of that magnitude is caught immediately and corrected.
When they are done, the captain does not drop by and inspect it for any problems and when the batt. chief visits the station he does not triple-check to see that it was packed properly. But lately it seems that city managers and attorneys, who know very little of what a hose pack is, are intent on punishing somebody, anybody, as a way to mollify the citizens who are naturally concerned about the incident.
We can all empathize with the members of the department. This is a major event that causes them as much grief as anybody. But lacking any evidence of criminal carelessness, I hope that there isn’t any finger-pointing here. If it was just an accident, then please say so and then carry on. Unless Cambridge is pitching preconnects off their pumpers on a monthly basis, let’s skip the make-believe “solutions” like building special gates on the hose trays, or some such. A lot of how this turns out will depend on whether the politicians begin meddling in it or not. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.
In yesterday’s Lineup I said that I would offer some comments on the National Hockey League current standings. I’ll be doing that in a separate posting today instead of here at the Lineup. We need to get this equipment checked out. And I need to get some more coffee started. See you back in the day room.
