Driver Escapes Spectacular Blaze

A GASOLINE TANKER LITERALLY CRASHED AND BURNED in Anderson County, South Carolina, Tuesday morning.

Independent-Mail / Kelly

The truck was carrying 9,000 gals. of product when it drifted off the road around 10:20 am.  WYFF-TV tells what happened:

Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Bill Rhyne said the 2009 Kenworth tractor-trailer tanker driven by 46-year-old Jose Emilio Calderon of Easley. Calderon was wearing a seat belt, was injured and was taken to AnMed for treatment, Rhyne said.

Rhyne said the tanker truck was headed south on Shady Grove Road when for unknown reasons it ran off the left side of the road and then off the right side of the road, hitting a fence and a power pole.

The cab of the truck remained upright, while the tank turned on its side. Power lines came down on top of the tanker, igniting the fuel that was on board.

The driver was able to crawl out of the cab before it began burning and two neighbors ran over and dragged him to safety.

WSPA-TV provided some good raw video of the fire:

After the fire department had a foam supply on hand and set up, they had the fire knocked down in about 15 minutes.  About 4,000 gals. of gasoline was saved and it was later transferred to another truck.

Read more at WFYY-TV website HERE.
The Anderson Independent Mail has MORE.

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Ruminations on outcome based research

Spent time as a first-line supervisor on a haz-mat rescue company, when being a "glo worm" was new and cool.

The first response with the rescue was weird. A box alarm dispatch to a mid-rise senior facility was sending four engines, two trucks, an ems unit and the rescue … and my crew was S-L-O-W-L-Y walking to the rig.

Was this a test for the new officer?

Welcome to the Toast Patrol

The chauffer explained that they ran this address two to four times a day. The first due company is a few blocks away.

On almost every incident the first engine is returning the box alarm assignment within a few minutes.

It would be the first of hundreds of times the rescue would pull out into traffic, with me wailing the 2QB and stuttering the air horns. We drove the length of the shopping center parking lot next to the fire station before going in service.

Pretty dumb – why not just send the first engine and truck?

Apparently, we used to … until a 1+1 dispatch during a severe winter storm became a two alarm fire with rescue of an occupant in the fire apartment.

Looking at the details

The mid-rise facility was constructed in 1973, before fire sprinkers were required by the code to be installed within the apartments.

Built in an "in-field" property, truck company access to the rear of the building is tight.

The facility has almost 300 bedrooms.

A smoke detector is mounted in the kitchen, near the refridgerator. Every extra crispy toast and overbrewed teapot generated an alarm … breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Lean Manufacturing Model

Dylan Scott, writing in the February 2012 issue of Governing magazine, described the application of best practices by Patricia Gabow, MD, to improving Denver Health operations.

The lean manufacturing model is based on five principles, according to the Lean Enterprise Institute:

1. Identify the value of the product for the customer
2. Map the process for creating the product and eliminate elements without value
3. Create a flow for the value-creating steps
4. Let customers pull value from that flow
5. Begin the process again and seek perfection.

Put more simply, it’s about eliminating wasteful actions. Anything that doesn’t add value for the ultimate customer is considered wasteful. “The philosophy is that waste is disrespectful to humanity because it squanders scarce resources, and waste is disrespectful to individuals because it asks them to do work with no value,” Gabow says. “We’ve added that waste is disrespectful to our patients because it asks them to endure processes with no value.”

Denver Health Becomes Profitable After Using Toyota As A Template

It it valuable to send seven fire companies two to four times a day for extra-crispy toast?

Wonder what the cost comparison and risk analysis would be if we placed a fire-rescue person at the facility to immediately respond to activated fire alarms? Maybe an ems credentialed responder with AED?

An example from Denver Health Medical Center:

Lean also inspired a restructuring of the Denver Health Medical Center’s rapid response system for patients who go into cardiac arrest. At most hospitals, a dedicated team is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for rapid response, and temporarily assume care of those patients from their primary nurses and doctors.

But in applying the lean principles, the medical center’s staff recognized an opportunity to cut costs while ensuring continuity of care. A regular assessment schedule was established for nurses to monitor their patients, and criteria were developed for nurses to determine if a patient was at risk. Then a specific protocol was outlined for staff to follow if a nurse made that determination, providing guidelines for moving up the chain of command if the immediate attending physician is not available or the patient’s condition did not improve.

An analysis by Denver Health staff found that the number of non-ICU cardiac arrest incidents decreased significantly following the implementation of the new procedures. And it bestowed rapid response responsibilities on staff members who were already working, rather than requiring an entirely separate team.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

This post dedicated to Technician Mark Baban, Rescue 401, B-shift. You left too soon.

Reportedly Tank Cars Involved

Updated, scroll down:

THREE FREIGHT TRAINS ALL TRAVELING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, collided Friday afternoon in northern Indiana, setting off a fire in some cars that could be seen ten miles away, according to some reports.

The wreck occurred shortly after 1 pm when a westbound train that was at a standstill was rear-ended by another westbound freight.  As they were derailing and sending debris flying, the unfolding collision knocked into a third westbound train running on a parallel track.

Chicago Tribune

NBC News has filed this raw video taken from their helicopter after the main body of the fire burned out:

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

The train was hauling several tank cars of ethanol but firefighters did not know initially if they were involved in the fire.  The fire does not appear to have affected any tankers judging from the amount of fire in the wreckage.  Some reports has said that some chemical spill has occurred, but it is all unconfirmed as the fire is still burning in the train at the time of this posting.

The location of the wreck is in an isolated area of Porter County and there are no buildings nearby that could be endangered.  Two railroad workers were slightly injured and transported but are expected to be ok.

The Chicago Tribune is filing reports HERE.

ChicagoAreaFire has one of their ace photographers en route to the crash scene now.  Later on CHECK HERE to get the updates on the situation and view the photo gallery when it's posted.

The CSX locomotives appear to have been substantially burned.
(NBC News photo)

Update:
It has been determined that the ethanol tankers were empty, but there was an unidentified liquid leaking from a tank car in one of the three trains.

The two trainmen in the locomotive of the train that rear-ended the other one were the two injuries.  They are still in the hospital but have been classed as non-life threatening.  The four trainmen from the other two trains were uninjured.

The Chicago Sun-Times adds:

The first train had 77 cars and two engines; the second train contained 60 cars and two engines; and the third train had 48 cars and three engines.

Porter County Emergency Management responder Jim Sherrick said the fire was due to diesel fuel on the trains. Sherrick, who lives about a half mile from the collision, rushed to the scene after hearing it on his police scanner. He described the scene as a lot of mangled train cars, stacked upon each other.

Emergency personnel were hampered by their inability to reach the fire, which poured thick, black smoke and flames hundreds of feet into the air. The heart of the fire is between two large open fields with no ready access. Since the area doesn’t have hydrant access, tankers from every fire department in the county were regularly going in and out of the area.

Read the full updated report in the Sun-Times HERE.

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Ice cream filled tractor trailer splits open during recovery

Around 4 pm Friday a tractor trailer tipped over when attempting to make an off-ramp near Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

The Journal/Gazette has the story and images:

MANDATORY CREDIT Photo: The Journal-Gazette, Michelle Davies / AP

Archie Ingersoll, writing in the December 23rd Journal Gazette article: Ice cream spill closes I-69 lanes at Lima, has the Michelle Davies video of the recovery efforts that lead to the failure of the trailer and spilling of the ice cream.

A member from the Health Department checks the condition of ice cream that spilled on Interstate 69, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011, in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Police said 40,000 pounds of ice cream spilled from a semitrailer closing two lanes of I-69 at the start of the holiday weekend.

MANDATORY CREDIT. Photo: The Journal-Gazette, Michelle Davies / AP

Check your Edy's for container "road rash" (!!)

Mental Floss provides "7 Strange Things Trucks Have Spilled"

I am torn between the 56 foot sperm whale that exploded during transport and the 200 ton marine engine that required construction of a road as part of the recovery.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Why Do So Many of Them Burn Underneath Bridges?

A TANDEM-TRAILER TANKER CAUGHT FIRE on a California freeway in Montebello shortly after noon Wednesday and came to a stop just under a highway overpass.  The incident began just after noon Pacific and the rear trailer's tank burned completely and apparently caused significant damage to the bridge over the fire.

KABC-TV

The driver and passenger were first to realize the problem and called in the alarm reporting as a possible brake fire.  They both safely made it out of the tractor cab.

While the fire was intense, it was relatively isolated and easily contained by the 200 firefighters dispatched to the blaze.  An even bigger problem was the runoff and state Dept. of Fish and Game as well as flood control crews were brought in to help contain the petroleum spill.

KABC-TV

No other vehicles were involved in the incident, but the freeway and the highway crossing it will be closed for an extended time until the bridge can be made safe.

NBC posted some raw video taken from their helicopter:

View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com.

The Los Angeles Times has the STORY.

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Lightning Storm in Area

A TANDEM-TANKER WAS DROPPING GASOLINE at a Melbourne, Australia, convenience store Sunday night when it suddenly ka-boomed and started burning.  The truck's driver was in the cab and he immediately bailed out, dashed away from the flaming fuel and did the stop-drop-roll maneuver putting out his burning clothing.  The store's security cameras caught the unexplained ignition and the river of burning fuel that followed the event:

The fuel started running down the street toward a nearby hotel, setting two parked cars afire as it traveled.  About 100 firefighters from the Country Fire Authority responded and found what one described as "a wall of fire" in the area.  They successfully contained the fire and safely controlled the unburnt fuel that was running down the street.

CFA provided photo

The driver stood in the heavy rain cooling off his burns until the ambulance arrived and transported him. He is in critical but stable condition with burns to his legs, hands and arms.  Approximately 500 guests were evacuated from the hotel and adjoining night club as a precaution, but they were later allowed back inside after the emergency was mitigated.

Two parked cars were burned and a third was damaged
when the panicky driver crashed into a tree while trying
to drive away from the fire.  (CFA photo)

After the fire was out they found a large hole in the side of the lead trailer that caused the fuel to run out.  It is being considered that it may have been a lightning strike that caused it because there was an electrical storm in the area at the time, but it has not been determined if that is what happened.  The remaining gasoline was safely transferred from the damaged truck to a replacment trailer.

Herald Sun photo

The Knox Leader has the STORY.

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Several Compressed Gas Tanks Kept in Van

A MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, PLUMBER WAS KILLED in front of his own home Monday morning after he approached his work van and it exploded just before he got inside.

Joe Cosentino, 25, was leaving the house that he shares with his parents at 6:45 am and was close to the van when it blew, tossing him about 20 feet away with massive "blast type" injuries to his head, chest and abdomen, along with deep cuts from the flying debris and internal injuries from the force of the blast.

Cosentino primarily worked with refrigeration units and kept about seven tanks of gasses in his work truck.  Neighbors say that they heard a loud hissing sound just moments before the explosion which was heard up to 3 miles away.  The AAP reports:

Detective Senior Constable Mick Cashman from the arson and explosives squad praised passers-by who came to the young tradesman's aid. He was amazed no one else was killed.

"A number of people were out for their morning walk in the area and were very close to the explosion," he said. "The fact that a lot of those people tended to the victim in the immediate aftermath of the initial explosion is a credit to them and remarkably brave considering the vehicle was still experiencing a number of smaller explosions and eventually caught fire as well."

The explosion damaged windows and roofs on up to 20 nearby homes and was heard five kilometres away, Det Sen Const Cashman said. "The first fire brigade on scene actually heard the explosion from their shed," he said.

Cosentino went into cardiac arrest just after the ambulance arrived and they were able to restart him a few times, but he died in the hospital about 3 hours later.

The Age

The work safety agency and police are investigating the cause of the explosion.  They are assuming there was a leak, but don't know yet what triggered it.  They will also look into how the bottles were stored in the van.

TenNews posted this very good video report:

Read more details in the Sydney Morning Herald HERE.
The Age has MORE.

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2-Alarm Blaze at Detroit Transit Bus Garage

A 2-ALARM FIRE BROKE OUT IN THE Detroit Dept. of Transportation's westside bus yard this morning (Wednesday) at 4:30 am.  The fire was noticed in its early stage when a mechanic saw the smoke and then alerted the other employees that were there.

When the fire units arrived they found six buses on fire inside a "holding" building.  Early reports say that it appears to have been a mechanical malfunction that triggered the fire in the undercarriage of one of the buses and it spread to the others.  The buses were all new or almost-new and worth $350,000 each.  Some reports are saying that as many as eight buses have been destroyed.

Detroit Free Press

The fire eventually caused a partial roof collapse of the building and possibly included some diesel fuel and hydraulic oils (unconfirmed).  A haz-mat level 2 response was added to the dispatch.

The Detroit Free Press writes:

Problems with water service were hindering efforts to put out the blaze, Detroit Fire Department Senior Chief Michael Herron said. The sprinkler system inside the building did not work properly, and there are few fire hydrants on or near the facility, he said. McNulty said investigators will be reviewing workers' claims that the sprinkler system did not go on until the fire began to rage through the building.

WXYZ-TV filed this early video report while the fire was still burning:

The fire was reported to be knocked down by 7 am, but it is still a working incident and no other information is available yet.

Google Street View of part of the complex.

The property extends back several hundred yards, but has no
yard hydrants or any other water source for fire protection.

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No Ka-Boom – Everybody Goes Back Home

Update, video interview added.  Scroll down.

THE 2-TON BRITISH BOMB LAYING ON THE RHEIN RIVERBED in Koblenz, Germany, was successfully mitigated today and all 45,000 nearby residents have been given the all-clear to return to their homes, hospital wards and jail cells.

A member of the Rheinland-Palatinate bomb disposal team
inspects the 2-ton bomb Sunday morning while preparing
to begin the defusing procedure.  (AFP)

Defusing operations began at 3 pm local time (9 am Eastern) on the large bomb, followed next by mitigating a 275-lb American bomb that was near it.  During the de-watering yesterday a smokescreen bomb was also uncovered and, following the defusing of the two bombs, it was blown up on site.  By 4:30 pm the All-Clear was sounded and the repopulating of the area was begun.

The Local.de described the scene Sunday morning:

Despite the rain which stymied plans some had to spend the day outside, officials said that the evacuation of around 45,000 people by 9 a.m. was successful. It was the biggest such evacuation in Germany since the war.

Some 2,500 fire, police, medical and technical personnel as well as city officials were involved in organising the evacuation. Around 1,000 people spent Sunday morning checking to make sure everyone had left the 1.8 kilometre exclusion zone by 9 a.m. local time.

Bomb disposal experts were able to begin their work on the massive British bomb earlier than expected – and once they had defused that one, then worked on a smaller but more unstable American bomb nearby. After they were successfully defused, a smoke bomb also found in the area was blown up in a controlled explosion, marking the end of the dangerous operation.

Seven shelters were set up in schools in the city and the surrounding area, with space for 12,000 people.

Early in the morning ambulances evacuate 200 elderly residents of retirement homes. A prison and two hospitals had already been cleared over the last few days. All rail connections to Koblenz were suspended from 7 a.m. and roads leading to the city were closed.

Koblenz city center was a ghost town Sunday morning.  (DPA)

 Even after 66 years, finding unexploded Allied bombs is still common in Germany. Authorities believe there are still some 3,000 bombs buried beneath Berlin alone, and World War II devices are regularly discovered in the capital during construction work.  In June 2010 Firegeezer REPORTED HERE on the early explosion of a 500 kg bomb that killed three disposal team members before they began their operation in Gottingen.

Earlier Firegeezer reports on the Koblenz evacuation and disposal operation are HERE and HERE.

Update, 2:15 Eastern:
This video interview with the bomb disposal technician who defused the bomb has English sub-titles:

Special thanks to Christian Lewalter of FWNetz for his assistance.

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Bombs Are Exposed, Evacuation Has Begun

Firegeezer note:  This is a continuation of a story begun Friday about the defusing of more than 20 bombs and mines that were exposed in the River Rhein during a record-dry month in Germany.  Preparations have been made to evacuate 45,000 residents, half the population of Koblenz while two vary dangerous mitigations take place on Sunday.  If you haven't read it, we urge you to read Part 1 from yesterday HERE before you continue.

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THE TWO-TON BOMB WAS surrounded by a sandbag cofferdam on Friday so that the water around it could be pumped out.  The bomb must be out of the water in order to be defused.

On Saturday the water was pumped out, exposing the bomb in preparation for the mitigation operation on Sunday. The bomb has the explosive potential to create a crater 60 feet wide and 16 feet deep and demolish a city block, authorities said.

The evacuation of the city areas affected, a 1.6 km radius, was begun on Friday with a target time of Sunday 9 am for completion.  About 2,500 fire, police and volunteers are guiding the evacuation.   The Local.de reports:

The city has already started getting its people to safety. That includes around 700 people in two hospitals – including some very ill people in intensive care.

The hospital evacuations took place on Saturday  (dpa)

 "This has already started, as it takes a lot of time, but it should be completed on time – most people will be on their way to other hospitals on Friday," (A fire dept. spokesman) said. "The old people’s homes, where we have around 520 people to move, will be evacuated on Sunday itself – we will have around 300 vehicles including ambulances to move them."

Around 200 prisoners will also have to be moved from the jail, which houses people accused and convicted of crimes from theft to murder, spokeswoman Andrea Kästner told The Local.

"We mostly house people in investigative custody, so they have not been convicted, but they are accused of a very broad range of crimes, from theft to murder. Of course some of them could be considered dangerous," she said. "We are gathering information from other prisons in the state about how many spaces they have. It will be a huge operation. We have people working here who have been here since the 1970s and there has certainly not been anything like this in that time."

She said normal prison buses would be used to take the prisoners to other jails where they would spend the night, but then be returned on Monday.

The regular citizens have already begun their self-evacuations and will be gone from the danger zone by morning.  For those without their own transportation there will be buses running from 6:30 am until 9 am on Sunday morning to take them to the designated shelters.

There is a live webcam aimed at the site (not visible until daybreak around 1 am Eastern time) but it will be deactivated during the most crucial time of the defusing operation.  CLICK HERE to watch it.

Updated postings will continue.  Check back on Firegeezer Sunday morning.
If you follow updates on Twitter, the hashtag is #bombeKO

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