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Overnight Fire Displaces 100 Residents

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A 2-ALARM FIRE IN A NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, apartment building has left nearly 100 people homeless this morning.

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The Day / Jensen

The blaze broke out on the 3rd-floor of the 36-unit building and quickly got up into a false attic where a peaked roof had been built over the original flat roof.  When the first-alarm units arrived, the fire was growing rapidly and they FF’s were faced with a major rescue challenge with 30 to 40 people trapped in their apartments.

Fire attack was delayed as all hands were devoted to the evacuations.  “While we were doing that, we couldn’t extinguish the fire, so it did get ahead of us a little bit,” New London Fire Chief Ronald Samul told reporters.  Approx. 6 people were brought down via ground ladders and so far only three injuries have been reported, all of them civilians suffering smoke inhalation.

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The fire started around 10 pm Tuesday night and it was called under control at 2:30 am Wednesday.  Chief Samul said the city’s hydrants were running at maximum capacity and “we’re taking every drop” as firefighters battled the blaze.

This video report from The Day has good fire footage and an interview with Chief Samul:

The Day also has a written report HERE.
New London Firefighters L-1522 WEBSITE.

Posted by firegeezer on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, fire • Tagged: , ,

Crane Collapse Traps 12 in Mud

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A CONSTRUCTION CRANE COLLAPSED WEDNESDAY MORNING ONTO a scaffolding in the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany.  The accident buried and trapped about a dozen workers under the debris and in the mud flats below.

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MDR

They were working on a 6-mile-long causeway for the ICE, the high-speed rail line, that is being built over a flood plain that has mud and standing water on it.  It is not yet known why it happened, but the crane suddenly tipped over and crashed onto the work scaffold for the bridge which is about 40 ft. above the ground level.  Altogether, about 1,000 tons of equipment and scaffolding were covering the trapped workers.

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DPA

The area is inaccessible to wheeled vehicles, so the FD had to special-call a water rescue team to bring inflatable boats and a hovercraft to get access to the injured workers.  According to the police, five workers were rescued with minor injuries while another six were trapped beneath the wreckage for some time before rescue services were able to dig them out.   Most of them suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.

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MDR

MDR has a video report showing the collapse scene and rescue efforts  HERE.
MDR’s print story is HERE.

Sourced by Christian Lewalter

Posted by firegeezer on March 4, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, rescue • Tagged: ,

Killer Storm Rakes Western Europe

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A FAST-MOVING STORM CARRYING GALE-FORCE WINDS of 90 mph came out of the Atlantic Ocean Saturday that has led to more than 50 deaths, much flooding and structural damages. 

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The storm, named Xynthia, entered Portugal traveling northeast and raced across a tip of Spain, then across the Bay of Biscay and slammed into the west coast of France where it inflicted its heaviest damages.  Then it moved across Belgium, northern Germany and into Denmark.  The catastrophic storm created ancilliary damage to the southeast coastal areas of England, all of the Netherlands,  and southern Sweden.

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The storm surge caused heavy flooding along the French coast with many areas wrecked by the waters.  As of Monday morning there were 51 known deaths and at least 30 more unaccounted for.  After the storm passed, police and firefighters in boats went house-to-house and searched each of them.  In some cases they found the occupants drowned inside.

This video shows some of the rescuers at work:

La Vendée frappée de plein fouet par la tempête sélectionné dans Actualité et Culture

France has deployed 9,240 firefighters from across the country to the disaster zone.

On Sunday France’s President Sarkozy took the helicopter tour over the coastal disaster zone.  This video has some good views of some of the flooded area.  The people in the orange jackets are fire / rescue people.  The civilians at the end of the video are people who lost everything they owned to the flood waters:


Tempête : N.Sarkozy se rend à l’Aiguillon-sur-Mer.
Uploaded by lemediascope3. – Up-to-the minute news videos.

The other countries weren’t as hard-hit.  Portugal had one death, Spain 3, Germany 3 and one in Belgium.  However, damage was still high in all countries both from flooding and inland trees falling.

Here are more views from France

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Some scenes from Germany

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Prepared by Laurence Delorme
Additional information provided by Christian Lewalter.

Posted by fireball on March 2, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Rescues, Special Operations, Videos, current events, rescue • Tagged:

Ontario Firefighter Charged With Careless Driving.

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A VAUGHAN, ONTARIO (York Region) FIREFIGHTER HAS BEEN CHARGED with careless driving following a crash on February 2 that left a civilian dead.

Gianmarco Solimena, 30, was driving a Vaughan Fire and Rescue pumper to an emergencycall with his lights and siren on when he approached a green light at an off-ramp intersection.  As he was about to enter the intersection, the light turned and a 54-yr.-old driver who had been waiting at the light pulled out into the path of the fire engine.

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Vaughan firefighters work to extricate the 54-yr.-old
driver from his car.  (CTV photo)

The impact caused the car to spin and strike a light pole leaving the car a tangled wreck with the driver trapped inside.  The four firefighters were all slightly injured, but they immediately went to work extricating the driver.  He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

CTV Toronto has the original story and a video report HERE.

Solimena was charged Thursday with one count of careless driving — a Highway Traffic Act offence.  He will appear before the Provincial Offences Justice Court in Newmarket on March 29.

Vaughan Fire & Rescue WEBSITE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 26, 2010 • Filed under: Law & Justice, Rescues, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, rescue

Indian Office Bldg. Fire Leaves 9 Dead, 50 Injured

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A FIRE IN INDIA’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HUB OF BANGALORE, raced through a 7-story office building today trapping hundreds.

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The fire started around 4:40 pm local time on the fifth floor of the building located in Bangalore’s central business district.  The extending fire drove many people to the windows where several of them jumped from to escape the flames.  So far, 9 have died and at least 68 have been hospitalized with at least 15 of them in serious condition.  All of the injured are suffering from smoke inhalation.

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As the fire was growing, thousands of spectators poured out of nearby office buildings and packed the streets, impeding the progress of fire apparatus and hampering the rescue efforts. 

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The firefighters had the fire knocked down in less than two hours and then did a full search of the building.  There was no report of any additional victims being located.

The Hindu newspaper reports:

Rakesh Ramachandran, part of a fire rescue team said the exit doors on every floor were locked. He rushed to Carlton Towers upon receiving a call from his friend who was trapped in the building. The locked doors made it impossible for people to use the stairs that led to the ground floor, he claimed. Along with seven others from his team, he broke the locks on six such exit doors, thereby enabling many people to use the escape hatch. “We were shocked to see that these doors, that are critical exit points at such times, were kept locked. It took us nearly an hour to reach the fourth and fifth floor where many were trapped.”

Read the complete story from The Hindu HERE.

This video from News9 caught some of the early chaos and fatal jumpers:

Posted by firegeezer on February 23, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Major Incidents, Rescues, Videos, fire • Tagged: ,

Mass Casualty Bus Crash in Austria

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BFK

SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT MONDAY MORNING a chain-reaction crash involving a bus and two trucks killed at least 6 people and seriously injured more than 30 others.  The accident happened on the outer ring highway just outside of Vienna, Austria, when a bus rear-ended a double-trailer truck which in turn rear-ended another tractor-trailer ahead of it.

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BFK

The alarm was dispatched to the local Sittendorf and Sparbach fire stations at 00:06.  On their arrival they were met with large numbers of injured people, some wandering and other laying bleeding.  So the call went out for more assitance and a total of 60 firefighters were dispatched from the Brunn am Gebirge, Gaaden, Modling, and Perchtoldsdorf departments. At one point,  four hydraulic rescue tools were operating at simultaneous extrications.  All the FD’s are volunteer departments.

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BFK

A triage zone was set up in the adjoining traffic lane and within an hour everybody had been freed and transported.  Nobody on the bus was uninjured.

BFK News has the story and more photos HERE.

Hat tip:  Christian L.

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The tow truck from the Vienna FD was special-called
to help clear the roadway.  BFK.

Posted by firegeezer on February 22, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, Rescues, rescue • Tagged: , , , , ,

“And Laying a Finger Aside of His Nose…”

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“……AND GIVING A NOD UP THE CHIMNEY HE…..FAILED.”

A 23-yr.-old Seattle burglar, who takes things too literally, attempted to enter a mansion via the chimney Friday afternoon while the owners were away.  Unfortunately the young man wasn’t familiar with chimney things like, flue and damper.

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KOMO-TV

Just as he neared the end of his descent, he became stuck as the chimney narrowed near the bottom and he was left dangling with his feet projecting into the firebox.

Police believe he was stuck there for at least 3 hours before neighbors heard his screams for help and called 9-1-1.

When the PD and firefighters entered the house, they found him with his feet hanging from the chimney.  Using air chisels, the rescue squad dismantled the bottom of the chimney from inside to free the man who was soon dubbed the “Santa Claus burglar” by the homeowners.

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KOMO-TV

Nothing was stolen, thanks to an alert chimney, but the man had to be taken to the hospital for minor injuries.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:  “Investigating officers determined that the 23-year-old male suspect had no connection to the residence and had no legal right to be there,” according to a Friday night police statement. “Officers are guarding the suspect at Harborview and will be booking the suspect into the King County Jail for investigation of burglary upon his release from the hospital, which is expected soon.”

KOMO-TV has the STORY.

Posted by firegeezer on February 20, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, crime, rescue • Tagged: , , , ,

Austin Plane Crash Updates

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austin2 a car dewey coffmanAS DERANGED PILOT JOSEPH STACK was approaching the office building and taking aim on the  2nd-floor IRS offices, his landing gear grazed the top of a car that was driving nearby.  Perhaps a foot or two lower and the plane might have tumbled and never reached the mid-rise building and destroyed it.  Instead, it broke the car’s windshield and smashed out the sunroof without harming the driver.

NewsChannel8 Austin interviewed Dinesh Mallam and he told them:

He said he saw the plane coming at him and the wing nearly clipped his car.

“In a split second, it hit the ground floor of the building on the right side. The impact was so huge that my car was treading and totally out of control,” Mallam said. “I was trying to control my car. My windshield was broken and all the debris piling on my car. I could hear all the noises from the explosion. I blacked out for like two seconds.”

He said he regained composure and got control of the car. As soon as he could, he brought it to a stop, but Mallam said he couldn’t see from the thick black smoke surrounding him. He also said he almost wished he couldn’t hear.

Read the full article about his near-miss HERE.

*  *  *

One of the good stories to come from the plane crash is about the passing glazer.  Robin Dehaven was driving his glass company’s truck to a job site when he saw the plane approaching the building.  He told Fox News:

“I first assumed it was a toy plane someone was messing around with, because it was flying really low and kind of going back and forth, turning left and right.”  He soon realized the “toy” was actually a small passenger plane; moments later, he saw black smoke billowing from the building.

“I immediately drove my truck over there, got the ladder off, went up to the side of the building and I saw people up on the second floor with their heads out the window for air because the room was filled with smoke,” Dehaven said.  

Dehaven extended his ladder up to the stranded workers and tried to instruct them on how to secure it, but they were unable to. So, rather than have them climb down an unsecure ladder, he climbed up.  “I climbed inside the broken-out window into the building with them,” said Dehaven.

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Robin Dehaven (Binswanger Glass Co. photo)

Read his complete accounting of his actions to rescue the five trapped office workers HERE.

KXAN-TV Ch.36 has the video report on this story:

*  *  *

austin2 hunterDESPITE THIER BELIEF YESTERDAY that the pilot was the only casualty, a second body has been found in the building.  The remains of Vernon Hunter, 67, an IRS collections manager were found yesterday afternoon in the secondary search.

The Austin Statesman-American has the updated STORY.

 

KTBC-TV has the update video report on this discovery:


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Posted by firegeezer on February 19, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, fire, rescue • Tagged: , , , ,

Belgian Train Crash Update

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FOLLOWING MONDAY MORNING’S COLLISION of two passenger trains in Belgium (see yesterday’s Firegeezer video report HERE), the following  disclosures and events have taken place.

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*  The death toll from the accident has been revised downward to 18 dead, 15 men and 3 women.  It appears that this will be the final count.

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*  The driver of the train that passed the stop signal survived the crash but is in serious condition.  After throwing on the emegency braking system, he started sounding the horn rapidly until the last moment when he then dove out the door of the cab.  He is in the hospital but unable to be interviewed by the investigators due to his extensive injuries.

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*  Part of the accident investigation is focused on how and why the train passed the stop signal.  The London Times reports:

Mr Spiessens could not say whether the driver had missed a red signal in the snowy conditions, or whether the signal had been obscured or faulty. An inquiry is under way after the black box recorders of both trains were recovered.

There are also claims that automatic braking equipment had not been fitted to the smaller commuter train, which should have prevented it from passing a stop signal and colliding with the 12-carriage express.

Luc Lallemand, vice-chairman of Infabel, which manages the rail network, said that, if both trains had the automatic equipment “it could have been avoided.”

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*  Late Monday, a statement from Belgium’s national rail company SNCB and infrastructure operator Infrabel said the crash had been “lateral” and not head-on as previously reported.

“For reasons that are still unknown, the two trains collided laterally at points at the exit of Halle station on the way to Brussels,” the statement said.

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lesoir

*  A spontaneous strike by Belgian railway workers began Tuesday morning in protest of poor working conditions.  BBC News reports:

Train workers were striking on Tuesday in protest at what they described as deteriorating working conditions, which they said could lead to accidents such as the one at Halle.

SNCB said the “spontaneous” strike was being widely followed and that there would be widespread disruption to train services in southern Belgium, or Wallonia, throughout Tuesday.

There is a 26-image photo gallery of aerial views HERE.
A 90+ image photo gallery (3 pages) HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 16, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, Videos, rescue

Dramatic Rescue Attempt by Chattanooga FF’s

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TWO CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, FIREFIGHTERS LITERALLY WENT into the flames in a dramatic rescue attempt of two infants Monday afternoon.

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WTVC

When the units arrived on the scene there was fire coming from the windows of both floors of a 2-story apartment unit and reports from people outside of two infants still upstairs.  Two firefighters immediately charged up the stairs and found them in a bedroom with a 7-month-old baby in a crib and a boy age 3 nearby on the floor.  Snatching both of them, the FF’s dashed outside as the turnout coat of one of them caught on fire.

Unfortunately, the baby was already dead from smoke inhalation.  The older boy was also burned and died a few hours later at the hospital.  The babies’ mother had left them in the care of her 9-yr.-old autisitic son while she visited with a neighbor three doors away.  Investigators are working to determine the cause and are also considering criminal charges against the mother.

This video report from WTVC-TV Ch. 9 includes some gripping home video showing the rescue and the FF coming out of the apartment with the baby tucked inside his running coat that is burning at the same time.  Later in the video they show his colleagues using a handline to extinguish his burning coat:

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the full story and additional video HERE.

Hat tip to Nathan C.

Posted by firegeezer on February 16, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, fire, rescue • Tagged:

Multiple Rescues in the Bronx

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Update, Wednesday AM:  Video added, scroll down.

A FIRE IN A BRONX, NEW YORK CITY, HIGH-RISE Monday afternoon presented FDNY firefighters with a rescue challenge.  When they first arrived at the 2 pm fire there was a woman trapped behind window safety bars holding a 7-month-old infant out of the window to give it air to breathe.

*Feb 15 - 00:05*

Vanessa Scott holds her infant cousin out of the
4th-floor window while they await the arrival
of the firefighters.
(New York Daily News photo by Maya Tucker)

The firefighters immediately laddered the 5th-floor window securing the baby and then removed the bars, freeing eight more people who were trapped by the flames.

The fire is believed to have started in a closet and spread into the foyer preventing them from escaping.  Another occupant, a man, survived by jumping from another window in the apartment, but he suffered serious injuries from the fall.  Twelve people altogether were injured, mostly from smoke inhalation, and were transported.

WNYW-TV later filed this video report:

The fire took about an hour to be extinguished.

NY1 has more and a video report HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 16, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, fire • Tagged: , ,

Multiple Rescues in France

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A HEAVY FIRE IN TOURCOING, FRANCE, EARLY THIS MORNING has left at least three people dead and ten more injured or missing.  The fire broke out in a 12-unit apartment building and when the first units arrived the building was already well-involved.

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photos by La Voix du Nord

Greeting them were the severely burned bodies of a man and a woman who had jumped out of a 2nd-story window.  Shortly after, the entire 2nd floor collapsed onto the first floor.  First alarm firefighters were able to rescue six people from inside the building before it became untenable and they also found the charred body of a third victim.

Four of the six people rescued were seriously injured and all six have been transported to hospitals.  Including some injuries that were treated on the scene, there are 13 victims accounted for so far. 

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The severity of the fire and the overall destruction lead to fears that there will be more victims buried in the rubble inside.  The 50 firefighters on the scene had the fire under control in about three hours.  Investigators are on the scene now trying to determine the cause and location of the origin.

La Voix du Nord has the story and a 10-image photo gallery HERE.

Posted by fireball on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, fire • Tagged: , ,

And It Wasn’t Even Snowing Down There

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NOTICE:  Since this video report was posted we have learned that this incident occurred in 1995.  The tv station was apparently running a reprise for some reason.  But we’ll leave the video posted for now because it is interesting.  Read the Comment from Brian for some good insight.

We’re sorry for any misunderstandings, but they began here.

AS INTERSTATE-10 APPROACHES MOBILE, ALABAMA, it traverses Mobile Bay on a causeway known locally as the Bayway.  Early this morning (Monday), shortly before 7 am a fog bank drifted into the bay and blanketed the Bayway bringing visibility down to zero instantly.

As the rush-hour traffic was building up, the Bayway was getting congested when the fog rolled in.  It didn’t take long for the chain-reaction accidents to start happening.  Within a few minutes there were five separate pile-ups on both eastbound and westbound lanes involving 130 vehicles, including a Mobile FD fire engine.

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WALA-TV

By the time it was over and the fog lifted enough for rescuers to find their way to all the wrecks, there was one person dead and several dozen injured.  Packaging and transporting all those injured victims from an isolated location was a genuine challenge for the EMS  and fire units.

WALA-TV Ch. 10 has a good, comprehensive video report on the entire incident that covered a 2-mile stretch of the causeway in each direction:

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, Rescues, Videos, rescue

Well-Placed Tree Saves a Life

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A EUCALYPTUS TREE IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, GREW UP in just the right place along a roadway near the city’s famous amusement park.  Wednesday afternoon a young man was driving along the street when he suddenly began having seizures.  A witness who was driving a car just ahead of him noticed the car start swerving back and forth, then drive into and through the metal fencing along the sidewalk, ending up against the tree.

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Santa Cruz Sentinel

The fence separates the sidewalk from a 50-ft. cliff that drops down to the San Lorenzo River, but the tree stopped the car from making the plunge.  The witness, Mike Bethke tells the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

“I hear this horrendous crash. I look back and this car’s just sitting in the air,” Bethke said. “It was unbelievable.”  Bethke and several others stopped to help the driver. The car’s engine was racing so they turned off the car and tried to calm the man, who was still having a seizure, Bethke said. 

“This guy had to have a guardian angel because few feet either way he would have been down in the river,” Bethke added.

Santa Cruz FD Battalion Chief Matt McCaslin was with some units just across the river running some driver-training evolutions in a parking lot when the incident occurred and were able to make a rapid response to the emergency.  The car’s driver was transported to the hospital.

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Santa Cruz Sentinel

Read the complete story in the Sentinel HERE and view the photo gallery of the wreck HERE.
Santa Cruz Fire Department WEBSITE.

Posted by fireball on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, rescue • Tagged: , , ,

Tall Bus + Low Tunnel = Crash

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A BUS IN ROUEN, FRANCE, CARRYING 34 SCHOOLCHILDREN and four adults, plus the driver, was destroyed when it was driven into a tunnel that was lower than the bus needed for clearance.

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The wreck ripped the top off of the bus and brought down some of the brick lining in the tube.  The children were ages 6 to10 and ten of them were injured, two of them seriously enough to be admitted to the hospital.  One of the adults was also seriously injured and had to be extricated from the wreckage.

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The bus driver said that he had taken to the underpass to avoid traveling through an intersection.

A total of about 80 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

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France3 has the story HERE.

Prepared and assisted by Fireball

Posted by firegeezer on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, Rescues, rescue • Tagged: , ,

Successful High-Angle Rescue

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FARMINGTON, MINNESOTA, FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDED THURSDAY MORNING to a grain elevator for a man trapped in a corn silo.  The elevator worker had fallen into the silo and was buried to his armpits with only one arm free.  He was about 40 feet below the top of the silo.

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ThisWeekLive.com

The regional high-angle team, the Dakota County Special Operations Team, responded and set up an operation from above.  After first cutting a larger hole in the silo cover, they lowered firefighters down with plywood sections who then built a protective barricade around the trapped man.

Railroad traffic was halted during the operation so that there wouldn’t be any vibration that could cause further shifting of the corn.  Later into the operation, they cut another hole in the side of the silo to allow product to spill out and lower the level after the man had been secured.  After nearly eight hours of work, mostly by hand, he was brought topside and successfully brought to freedom.

KARE-TV has a good video report from the rescue scene:

The Pioneer Press has more DETAILS HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, Special Operations, Videos, rescue • Tagged: , ,

3 Alarms in Toronto

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A FIRE DEEMED “SUSPICIOUS” BROKE OUT in a Mississauga (Toronto area), Ontario, office building late Wednesday afternoon.  The fire that started on the third floor of the 7-story building sent thick smoke to the upper floors and filled the fire towers with smoke, trapping more than 100 workers on the upper floors.

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City News

While the fire was contained to a relatively small area, the people above were understandably stressed at not being able to exit while smoke was filling their offices.  CityTV reports:

(Fire) crews managed to free more than 100 people who couldn’t initially get out due to heavy smoke.

“We were trapped. We went into the conference room and closed the door. But the smoke started to come into the conference room, so we were getting kind of nervous,” described office worker Gana Kran.  Fire crews broke windows and cleared out a stairwell before leading the trapped workers down.  Outside a triage centre had been set up and an air ambulance that had been dispatched sat waiting.

A couple of people suffered smoke inhalation but no one was seriously injured.

“To get a fire of that magnitude going when the building is fully occupied is indeed suspicious so we’re going to investigate, find out what happened,” Deputy Chief Greg Laing of Mississauga Fire told reporters.  The fire marshal is looking at an office occupied by a local politician as the point of origin.  When answering a knock on their door, one of the staff found the fire burning just outside in the hallway just before 5 pm.

CityTV has this video report:

The MFD had the fire out around 7 pm.  Damage has been estimated at $200,000.

Posted by firegeezer on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: Firefighting Operations, Fires, Rescues, Videos, arson, rescue • Tagged: , , ,

Rescues in Harlem

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A FIRE BEGAN MONDAY AFTERNOON IN AN ABANDONED 5-STORY brownstone in Harlem, NYC.  The building, however, was occupied by a collection of squatters and when the FDNY arrived on the scene there were two people trapped at windows on an upper floor. 

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NY Daily News photo

After quickly getting them out with a tower/ladder, interior crews found a woman on the 5th floor in cardiac arrest.  After getting her out of the building and onto the sidewalk out front, rescusitation measures were taken and she was revived in the ambulance.  She remains hospitalized in critical condition.

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Photo via Rome.com

The New York Post filed this good video report from the fire scene:

The New York Daily News has the STORY.

Story assistance by Fireball.

Posted by firegeezer on February 3, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, Videos, fire, rescue • Tagged: , ,

Citizen Rescuers Save Man From Fire

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FIRE BROKE OUT IN AN EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS, home shortly after 11 pm Tuesday night.  The flames rapidly engulfed the home, trapping the resident inside.  He made it over to a window, but was unable, either from fear or shock, to get himself out.  Three men who were passing by at that moment saw his distress and they rushed in to get him, dragging him out of the house and then putting out his burning clothes.

KTVI-TV has the video and an interview:

The victim was taken to the hospital and then airlifted to a burn unit in Creve Couer, Missouri.  None of the three good samaritans were injured.

Posted by firegeezer on February 3, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, fire • Tagged: , ,

Family Saved by Off-duty Firefighter

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WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND, FIREFIGHTER Daniel DeRobbio, who was off duty, was driving by a house in Warwick at 11 pm Wednesday night when he spotted heavy smoke pouring out of the eaves.  The Providence Journal continues:

DeRobbio phoned in the fire and banged on the door until he awakened the residents. Two adults and their two children were able to get out safely, Silva said.

Then the owner of the home, Alex Sotski, did something Silva said a person should never do. He ran back into the house and upstairs to the second floor to try to put out the fire. DeRobbio ran in after him and escorted him back out.

When engine four arrived, Sotski was back inside, Silva said. Firefighters brought him out again. He then went back in one more time, Silva said.

Read the complete story HERE.

WPRI-TV Ch. 12 filed this video report from the fire scene:

Posted by firegeezer on January 28, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, fire • Tagged: ,

Liege Collapse Update

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Update #2, Thursday
The search for victims has been suspended at 7 am Thursday morning due to the instability of the adjoining buildings.  Engineers and rescuers are concerned that they may have a partial collapse.  Up until the discontinuation of the search there have been 9 bodies recovered, some of them heavily burned.

SEE THE EARLIER FIREGEEZER STORY ON THE APARTMENT BUILDING COLLAPSE IN LIEGE, BELGIUM, HERE.

Following the discovery of the 13-yr.-old girl still alive in the rubble, the firefighters recovered four bodies and the fire chief says that they believe that there could be as many as ten more bodies buried inside.  As of Wednesday night they have recorded five deaths and 23 injured.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon King Albert II arrived at the collapse scene to view the wreckage and in this brief video clip he meets with a group of firefighters:

This video indicates that the firefighters were able to detect the imminent collapse because you can see them withdrawing just before it falls in.  (The collapse occurred about five hours after the explosion and fires.)

This video has an aerial view of the scene later in the morning:

See the earlier report on the collapse with photos and link to a photo gallery HERE along with the story.

Posted by firegeezer on January 27, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, rescue

Downtown Explosion in Belgium

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Updated:  scroll down.

A BUILDING IN THE CENTER OF LIEGE, BELGIUM, was ripped by an explosion at 1:45 am local time this morning (Wednesday).  The blast is believed to have been caused by natural gas, but when the FD arrived the interior of the building was demolished with several fires in different locations throughout the 5-story structure.

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Sud Presse (Belgium)

Fortunately for the FF’s, the building was untenable and all the fire attack had to be done from the outside.

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Sud Presse

Five hours later while the FF’s were still knocking down the fires from outside, the building suddenly collapsed to the ground.

This news video courtesy of Sky News shows the collapse:

There were about 20 people injured by the collapse with at least two hurt seriously.  Early reports say that two, and perhaps four, people are unaccounted for, but it was not said whether they are firefighters or civilians.

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Reuters

Paris Match has the early STORY.
Sud Presse has a 172-image photo gallery HERE.

Update, 5 pm:
A 13-yr.-old girl has been found alive in the rubble as the rescuers continue their extensive search of the building.  The total number injured and hospitalized now stands at 23.  Later in the evening the body of one dead was located and removed.

Update, 10 pm:
More bodies have been retrieved.  See Firegeezer Update posting with more information and additional videos HERE.

Posted by fireball on January 27, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos, explosion, fire • Tagged: , ,

Runaway Rock Demolishes House

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IN THE TOWN OF STEIN-AT-TRAUN IN BAVARIA, Germany, a large chunk of rock broke away from a cliff face and landed on a house, destroying it and killing two residents. 

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The huge boulder broke loose from the top of a 50-ft. cliff during the dinner hour Monday evening and landed on the house while all four members of the family living there were in the same room.  The father, 45, and daughter, 18, were killed while the mother, 40, and their 16-yr.-old son were rescued later by the Fire-Rescue department.

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On arrival, the 200+ first-responders began searching for survivors and after several hours they were able to make voice contact with the pair.  Eventually they were released and transported to a hospital.  A geologist brought in for advice said that there was no immediate danger of any more rockfall, but he was unable to immediately explain why this event happened.

Tages Schau has the story and a VIDEO HERE.
AktivNews has a 67-image photo gallery HERE.
Feuerwehr Stein ad Traun (fire department) WEBSITE HERE.

Hat tip to Christian L. for assistance

Posted by firegeezer on January 26, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, Special Operations, rescue • Tagged: ,

USAR’s Returning Home

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THE SITUATION IN HAITI HAS BEEN downgraded from “rescue” to a “recovery” operation and the USAR teams are gradually getting packed up and returning to their homes.  Some video reports are starting to show up now from their localities documenting their return:

WAVY-TV Norfolk reports on Virginia Task Force 2:

WNYW-TV New York City interviews the commanders of New York Task Force 1:

The UK Press Association meets with returning members of the British team:

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Posted by firegeezer on January 25, 2010 • Filed under: Rescues, Videos, rescue • Tagged: ,

Off-Duty Captain Makes Rescue

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WHEN THE DISPATCH FOR A TRAIN vs. car collision was sent to the Huron, Ohio, fire department Wednesday night, Captain Kurt Schafer was at home with his monitor on and heard the call.  The report was for a car that had been struck and was on fire next to the railroad crossing.  Capt. Schafer lives not far from the location and he responded from home to try and help before the units arrived.

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When he came on the scene he found a car well-involved in fire and two legs sticking out of a window.  Then he noticed that the legs were kicking as if trying to crawl out of the vehicle.  Schafer ran up to the car, grabbed the victim’s coat and pulled him out and away from the blazing vehicle……ironically a Chevy Blazer.  The train was traveling 50 mph when it struck the car sending it tumbling over and down an embankment.

WJW-TV Ch. 8 Cleveland interviews Capt. Schafer as he relates his story:

The driver of the Blazer was found to have 3 times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream and admitted to police that he had consumed about 25 drinks earlier that evening.

The Morning  Journal has a good report on what happened along with a link to the 9-1-1 tape HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on January 21, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, In the Line of Duty, Rescues, Videos, fire, rescue • Tagged: , , , ,