A COUNTY AMBULANCE SERVICE unit was on a non-emergency patient transport Friday afternoon in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, when it collided with a car and was knocked onto its side.
Pittsfield Police Officer Marc Maddalena said a green 2002 Volvo station wagon traveling west on Lakeway Drive drove through a stop sign and broadsided a County Ambulance unit headed south on Valentine at about 1:45 p.m.
Police said the driver of the Volvo, Elizabeth Cosci, 49, of Pittsfield, is facing a civil citation for failing to stop. Cosci wasn't injured.
Berkshire Eagle
The three occupants of the ambulance, two medics and a patient, were all taken to Berkshire Medical Center, where they were treated and released, police said.
The Berkshire Eagle also posted this raw video taken at the scene:
A BLAINE, WASHINGTON, MAN WAS CHARGED Wednesday with failure to stop after he drove through a stop sign and crashed into an ambulance that was crossing the intersection.
Bellingham Herald
The Bellingham Herald reports:
The North Whatcom Fire and Rescue ambulance was returning from a call about 3:25 p.m. when a Ford Edge ran through a stop sign at the intersection of Kickerville and Bay roads, clipping the ambulance, said North Whatcom Division Chief Henry Hollander.
The collision whipped the ambulance 180 degrees and sent it careening into a ditch on Bay Road. The crash crumpled the driver’s side of the SUV and smashed its windshield.
Bellingham Herald
Both of the firefighters on the ambulance and the SUV's driver Timothy Howe, 56, were transported with non-life threatening injuries. All three were wearing seat belts and alcohol is not a factor in the incident.
Correction: The 2011 surf rescue picture was taken by PGFD PIO Mark Brady, picked up by WUSA9 for article. Thanks to Dave Statter for keeping me accurate! Other pictures from OCVFD website.
AN EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE ambulance collided with a van Friday morning while carrying a patient en route to a hospital. The ambulance went into a ditch and rolled over in the 10:25 am accident.
BBC News image
The ambulance was running with lights and siren when the accident happened and there were three employees in the unit along with the patient. They had initially responded to the man's house for a call that he was unconscious. One of the four passengers had to be extricated by the fire department, but it has not been divulged whether it was the patient or an EMT that was entrapped.
Authorities insist that the patient, who is in his 70's, remains in stable condition after being transported by a second ambulance. It is not yet known what caused the accident, but an investigation is ongoing.
BBC News has the STORY.
The East Anglian Daily Times has MORE.
In the last advertising campaign, Porsche promoted the idea that their 911 sports car could be an everyday driver. Chris Woodyard wrote about it in a March 25, 2011 USA Today article: "New TV ad pushes practical side of Porsche 911."
With the 2012 "991" model, the iconic car gets a major update. Third all-new chassis, a little longer than the original 1963 "901" air-cooled model.
Development of Porsche Identity:
New commercial released yesterday.
Our identity is the 911. This is especially true, even in the 21st century.
Instantly recognisable and originally engineered for the racetrack, it continues to stir the emotions today, just as it did in 1963.
While I am the demographic target for the Corvette generation (old bald guy), the 911 is the only rented sports/exotic car that I still think about (2009: I still want a Porsche).
I came back from that Vegas trip and stopped by a dealership. Only $90,000.
Unlike Mitt, for me that is A LOT of money for a car.
"Sirens All Day … Sirens All Night … Sirens, Sirens, Sirens!"
RESIDENTS IN A FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, NEIGHBORHOOD who live across the street from the American Ambulance dispatch center say that their quality of life is in a shambles because of the incessant siren noise coming from the business.
Joe Morales took some home video, at about 3 am, of the ambulances across the street. He lives across the street from American Ambulance, near Tulare and Highway 41.
He's been there 30 years. He says when the sirens go off, he and his family lose sleep. He even left the camera rolling one night while he was sleeping to try and prove his point.
"24 hours a day, 7 days a week, non-stop! This is ridiculous!"
Morales wants to make it clear that he's not trying to stop American Ambulance from saving lives. He just wants the company to relocate.
It's been there 10 years. He says the employees are not abiding by company policies of neighborhood courtesy. "I got them at 3 o'clock in the morning, me and more neighbors playing with their sirens in the parking lot to say hi to each other."
For their part, American Ambulance says that they have worked with the neighbors in the past to try and alleviate the noise, but they are restricted by the law requiring them to use their sirens whenever they enter a major highway. Their spokesman says that they do not run their sirens in the parking lot, not even to test them.
Several of the neighboring residents attended last night's city council session to present their complaint during the open session. KFSN-TV posted a video report on the conflict:
A PRIVATE AMBULANCE IN VIRGINIA COLLIDED head-on with a cement mixer truck Friday afternoon, leaving the driver of the ambulance dead and fatally injuring the patient. The EMT in the patient compartment was seriously injured and is in stable condition. The driver of the cement truck was uninjured. The ambulance operated by Priority Ambulance Service was transporting an 82-yr.-old man from the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville to a nursing home. The accident occurred south of Charlottesville in Buckingham County shortly after noon.
The Virginia State Police issued the following statement:
At 12:20 p.m. Virginia State Police Trooper T.C. Edmondston was called to the scene of a two-vehicle fatal crash on Route 20 near the intersection of Route 699 in Buckingham County.
Two people were killed and one person was seriously injured in the crash. The ambulance was traveling southbound on Route 20 when it crossed the centerline into the northbound lane. A cement-mixing truck was unable to avoid the oncoming ambulance and the two vehicles collided.
WSET-TV
The impact of the crash caused the ambulance to overturn onto its side. The driver of the ambulance, Timothy K. Southern, 21, of Waynesboro, died at the scene. Southern was wearing a seat belt. A medical technician, Heath P. Davis, and patient, Howard L. Watson, 82, of Dillwyn, were riding in the back of the ambulance.
Both were flown to UVA Hospital in Charlottesville. Davis, 24, is listed in stable condition. Watson died at the hospital later Friday. The driver of the cement mixer, John W. Dorman II, 29, of Charlottesville, was not injured in the crash. Dorman was wearing a seat belt. The Virginia State Police Crash Reconstruction Team responded to the scene to assist with the investigation, which remains ongoing at this time.
No charges will be filed. Route 20 was re-opened by 5:15 p.m.
The force of the destructive impact is more
apparent after the ambulance was righted.
(WSET-TV)
A 19-YR.-OLD BUGGY DRIVER IS LIABLE TO BE CHARGED after his horse pulled in front of an ambulance coming along the road in the opposite direction early Wednesday morning in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
State troopers say that Henry Byler of Smicksburg was transporting a woman home from a wedding party at 2:40 am when he apparently fell asleep at the reins. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting:
Trooper John Matchik said Henry Byler, of Smicksburg, had picked up a woman from a wedding and was headed home on Pollock Road in East Mahoning Township. At around 2:40 a.m., the horse abruptly turned in front of an ambulance heading the opposite direction.
The ambulance struck the horse with such force that the animal hit the windshield. The horse sustained serious injuries and had to be put down at the scene.
Mr. Byler, his passenger, and the ambulance driver, 60-year-old Fred Catchpole of Clymer, escaped unhurt.
It was not reported if the ambulance was running emergency or not. The trooper says that Byler never made an attempt to control the horse.
A CAR SPEEDING ON A DOWNTOWN STREET IN SEATTLE, Washington, early Saturday morning ran a red light and collided with a Seattle FD ambulance.
KING-TV
The ambulance was responding to an emergency call with its lights and siren activated and had a green signal as it entered a controlled intersection. Witnesses say that the high-dollar Infiniti auto was traveling uphill so fast that as it crested a hill it went airborne before crashing into the ambulance.
The ambulance driver saw the car coming at them and tried to avoid the imminent crash with a little bit of success. The two firefighters had only minor bruising and went to the hospital to be checked. One of the car's passengers was seriously injured and the other two had minor injuries.
Brian and I joined the volunteer fire department at the same time. At 18, he was already focused on his goal to be a physician, attending classes at the local university.
To expand his portfolio, Brian was working as a part-time emergency department technician at the flagship community hospital.
I spend Christmas Eve evening as the ambulance crewmember in charge on the VFD ambulance, Brian was working at the hospital.
It was a dry and warm day, almost hitting 60 degrees. Was above freezing that night, much warmer that the night we ran the sports car crash on the parkway (story here).
Carrying people to the hospital
Advanced First Aid was the certification required to ride as the crewmember-in-charge. Gasoline and oxygen were the two primary elements of care.
Already experienced the thrill of a 90+ mile-per-hour transport doing chest compressions in a low-top Cadillac ambulance. My shoulders were firm against the ceiling as the backboarded patient was on the stretcher. That 472 cubic inch motor was strong!
Our new Ford/Swab modular ambulance came with an advanced resuscitation tool, a Brunswick HLR 50-90 oxygen powered mechanical resuscitator. Bought a second one for the high-top Cadillac
Our experience was that the chest compressor would "walk" even with the chest and shoulder straps tight.
When the fire company responded to assist on a cardiac arrest, they would place the patient in a "Reeves" flexible stretcher.
The plunger would be further secured with triangular bandages tied to the sides of the Reeves stretcher.
The fire company prided itself on the speed and smoothness in applying the HLR machine. It was one of the skill drills frequently performed in the station.
Telephone dispatch
Ambulance runs after 11 pm were dispatched over the "red phone." It was less disturbing than striking the station's tones, turning on the bunkroom lights and activating the volunteer pagers.
Fire companies were rarely dispatched with the ambulance. The ambulance would need to call for assistance once arriving at the scene. A little tricky, since none of the ambulances were provided a portable radio.
"Husband is gurgling in the bed"
That was the information dispatch gave me over the red phone at 4 am Christmas morning.
We were still responding to the incident when our fire company was toned out. The wife called back and used one of the few trigger phrases for an automatic fire company ambulance assist – cardiac arrest.
Many of the lights were on at the house and front door was open. She was doing CPR when we ran up the stairs with oxygen, suction, bag-mask-valve and aide bag.
Following the HLR protocol, we got him off the bed and into a larger room. Suctioned his airway, placed an oral airway and started two-rescuer CPR with the bag-valve mask.
By time we were in a rhythm, I could hear the faint sounds of a wailing Federal 2QB.
I assured the wife that we were doing everything possible for him, and that another crew would be arriving soon to move her husband to the ambulance.
If we had not called dispatch, or were not standing at the ambulance, the fire company assumed CPR was in progress.
Two of the guys pulled out the HLR machine and Reeves. The engine driver would re-position the ambulance for rapid departure, then set up the stretcher.
The performance was great. Smooth packaging and quick movement to the back of the Ford/Swab ambulance.
We were getting pulses with compression throughout the transport.
Once we got him on the hospital gurney, the physician looked into the wide and fixed pupils with an ophthalmoscope. The vessels radiating from the optic nerve showed coagulated blood, appearing as a railroad train.
The appearance of "box cars" in the back wall of the pupil were a grave prognosis. It was used as an indicator of death when ambulances delivered pre-paramedic cardiac arrest patients.
Ran into Brian, who was looking a little shell-shocked. This was the fourth or fifth patient he had to wheel to the morgue since 11 pm Christmas Eve.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We had done everything we knew in 1971.
In re-telling the story, I feel like Squad 10 Firefighter Johnny Gage after he "rescued" an electrocuted lineman in the two hour pilot of the Emergency show.
I wonder if there would have been a different outcome if we had an AED?
Mike "FossilMedic" Ward
If you are working, may your day be boring. I hope that it is full of food, laughter & joy.
Please spend a minute thinking about our brothers and sisters in the armed forces that are deployed in hostile, desolate or dangerous environments.
THE EMSA AMBULANCE DRIVER in Oklahoma City who was involved in a fatal collision on December 10 has lost his job and been charged by police with negligent homicide. (See Firegeezer video report on the accident HERE.)
Benjamin Ward Samples, 36, was charged Tuesday for the crash that resulted in the death of a man after Samples had driven in the oncoming lane at a high rate of speed to bypass traffic that was stopped ahead. Investigators say that Samples moved over into the wrong-lane while responding to an emergency call. The driver of the car was also in the left lane and began making a legal left turn which put him in the path of the ambulance. The accident investigation revealed that Samples was traveling at 83 mph in a 40 mph zone.
KFOR-TV presents the details of this latest update in this video report:
State law allows an ambulance to travel at a speed not over 10 mph above the posted limit. EMSA's rules prohibit driving faster than 15 mph when wrong-laning.
Benjamin Samples
Samples had been working for EMSA for about a year, but he was hired with a spotty driving record carrying several traffic infraction in the past.
DETROIT (WJBK) – It's a story we've been covering for more than a year — FOX 2 taking a closer look at the way Detroit manages its ambulance service. What we uncovered was a deadly system on the verge of collapse.
AN EMSA AMBULANCE IN OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma, was involved in a collision Saturday morning with an automobile that left the driver of the car dead.
KOTV
The accident occurred at 10:30 am Central when the ambulance was responding to a medical emergency with its lights and siren on. OK City Police Sgt. Greg Driskill said that the ambulance was passing a line of stopped traffic by driving up the oncoming lane when the car tried to take a left turn and turned into the path of the ambulance. The ambulance crashed into the driver's side door and caused fatal injuries to the driver who was alone.
The ambulance driver EMT, a paramedic, and a medical student were in the ambulance, but none of them were injured.
AN INDIANAPOLIS EMS UNIT was involved in a heavy crash Monday evening despite the driver's attempt to avoid the collision. The ambulance was on a non-emergency transport with a patient at 6 pm when a car that witnesses say was driving erratically down the road crashed head-on with the ambulance. The force of the crash knocked the car onto its roof. WTHR-TV tells us:
Police say the preliminary investigation shows the ambulance was traveling west on 21st Street, while the other vehicle, a full-size passenger car, was driving erratically in the eastbound lanes. The ambulance driver attempted to avoid the oncoming vehicle, but the car drove into the ambulance's path and struck it head-on, causing the car to flip over.
The driver of the car was taken to Wishard Hospital in serious condition. One of the workers in the ambulance was reportedly slightly injured.
WRTV photo
The Indianapolis Star has the story and additional photos HERE.
AN AMBULANCE IN CAMBRIDGE, MINNESOTA, WAS INVOLVED in a 3-vehicle crash Monday afternoon that injured three people. The Allina Ambulance was on an emergency transport between hospitals with its lights and siren on when an automobile pulled out into their path. The ambulance struck the car and careened into a garbage truck leaving the ambulance with heavy front-end damage.
Two of the three ambulance personnel were slightly injured and transported along with the patient who was not injured in the crash, but later airlifted to the original destination. The driver of the car was also injured and airlifted to the hospital.
KARE-TV Ch. 11 filed this raw video taken from their helicopter:
Investigators say the ambulance had lights and sirens on as it drove south on Main Street. They say as it approached 18th Ave. SW, a car driven by a 87-year-old Stanchfield man pulled out in front of them to make a left hand turn. Investigators say the ambulance veered to avoid the car, but ended up hitting it and then a garbage truck that was heading north on Main St.
A PRIVATE AMBULANCE IN CANTON, MASSACHUSETTS, collided head-on with an automobile Sunday night, leaving two people critically injured and a third in serious condition. The accident occurred around 8:15 pm on Rte. 138.
A female EMT riding in the ambulance and a man driving the smaller car were medflighted, while a male EMT has been transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center via another ambulance. The two EMTs in the accident are young adults in their 20s or 30s, and the driver of the car is middle-aged, Canton Fire Chief Charles Doody said.
The victims who were medflighted sustained serious internal injuries, Doody said. The male EMT had serious injuries but was stable enough to receive ground transport.
There were no other passengers in either vehicle. The cause of the wreck is still under investigation.
A BOONE COUNTY, NEBRASKA, AMBULANCE was in York County and apparently returning from a call without a patient Monday night when a car drove through a stop sign on a cross street and the two vehicles collided. The ambulance driver, Randall Bruland, 50, told police that the car never slowed down or stopped before it ran the stop sign.
York County Sheriff photo
The impact drove the ambulance into a utility pole causing extensive damages. Both vehicles were totaled with the ambulance valued at $200,000. One passenger in the auto was transported with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the car was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign.
This past May, NHTSA crashed a Chevy Volt in an NCAP test designed to measure the vehicle's ability to protect occupants from injury in a side collision. During that test, the vehicle's battery was damaged and the coolant line was ruptured. When a fire involving the test vehicle occurred more than three weeks after it was crashed, the agency concluded that the damage to the vehicle's lithium-ion battery during the crash test led to the fire.
Since that fire incident, NHTSA has taken a number of steps to gather additional information about the potential for fire in electric vehicles involved in a crash, including working with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense — in close coordination with experts from General Motors — to complete rigorous tests of the Volt's lithium-ion batteries.
In an effort to recreate the May test, NHTSA conducted three tests last week on the Volt's lithium-ion battery packs that intentionally damaged the battery compartment and ruptured the vehicle's coolant line. Following a test on November 16 that did not result in a fire, a temporary increase in temperature was recorded in a test on November 17.
During the test conducted on November 18 using similar protocols, the battery pack was rotated within hours after it was impacted and began to smoke and emit sparks shortly after rotation to 180 degrees. NHTSA's forensic analysis of the November 18 fire incident is continuing this week.
Yesterday, the battery pack that was tested on November 17 and that had been continually monitored since the test caught fire at the testing facility. The agency is currently working with DOE, DOD, and GM to assess the cause and implications of yesterday's fire.
In each of the battery tests conducted in the past two weeks, the Volt's battery was impacted and rotated to simulate a real-world, side-impact collision into a narrow object such as a tree or a pole followed by a rollover. NHTSA is not aware of any roadway crashes that have resulted in battery-related fires in Chevy Volts or other vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries.
However, the agency is concerned that damage to the Volt's batteries as part of three tests that are explicitly designed to replicate real-world crash scenarios have resulted in fire. NHTSA is therefore opening a safety defect investigation of Chevy Volts, which could experience a battery-related fire following a crash.
Chevy Volt owners whose vehicles have not been in a serious crash do not have reason for concern.
NHTSA's current guidance for responding to electric vehicles that have been in a crash remains the same. The agency continues to urge consumers, emergency responders, and the operators of tow trucks and storage facilities to take the following precautions in the event of a crash involving any electric vehicle:
Consumers are advised to take the same actions they would in a crash involving a gasoline-powered vehicle — exit the vehicle safely or await the assistance of an emergency responder if they are unable to get out on their own, move a safe distance away from the vehicle, and notify the authorities of the crash.
Emergency responders should check a vehicle for markings or other indications that it is electric-powered. If it is, they should exercise caution, per published guidelines, to avoid any possible electrical shock and should disconnect the battery from the vehicle circuits if possible.
Emergency responders should also use copious amounts of water if fire is present or suspected and, keeping in mind that fire can occur for a considerable period after a crash, should proceed accordingly.
Operators of tow trucks and vehicle storage facilities should ensure the damaged vehicle is kept in an open area instead of inside a garage or other enclosed building.
Rather than attempt to discharge a propulsion battery, an emergency responder, tow truck operator, or storage facility manager should contact experts at the vehicle's manufacturer on that subject.
Vehicle owners should not store a severely damaged vehicle in a garage or near other vehicles
Consumers with questions about their electric vehicles should contact their local dealers.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking input from paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and other interested parties on the development of new design guidelines for ambulances to reduce the crash risk to emergency workers.
Emergency medical service (EMS) workers riding in the back of ambulances are at high risk of suffering injuries during a crash or a maneuver to avoid a crash if they're not using restraints. However, restraints make it difficult to access and treat patients while in route to a hospital. To meet the challenge of finding a balance between these two demands, NIST, the Department of Homeland Security's Human Factors and Behavioral Sciences Division (DHS HFD) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are developing design guidelines for ambulance patient compartments that maximize safety without compromising effectiveness.
These guidelines will be used to update current, and enhance emerging, ambulance design criteria, such as National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1917, the "Standard for Automotive Ambulances."
To gather input for the guidelines from a broad cross-section of the key stakeholders, EMTs and paramedics, the three agencies are conducting an anonymous web survey from Nov. 28, 2011, to Dec. 28, 2011.
Insight and opinions from this survey will supplement data previously gathered from focus groups, interviews with individual EMS workers, visits to equipment manufacturers and EMS stations, and "ride-along" experiences aboard on-duty ambulances.
The web survey can be found at either the NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards site, www.nist.gov/oles, or the DHS Responder Knowledge Database site, www.rkb.us.
For more information, or to get more involved in the effort to improve safety in ambulance patient compartments, contact Darren Wilson, DHS, at (202) 254-6657 ordarren.wilson@dhs.gov; Larry Avery, BMT Designers & Planners, at (919) 713-0383 or lavery@dandp.com; or Jennifer Marshall, NIST, at (301) 975-3396 orjennifer.marshall@nist.gov.
A CONNEAUT LAKE RESCUE SQUAD ambulance was in a collision that ended up involving five other vehicles Wednesday night in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The ambulance was responding to a call with lights and siren activated when it met an auto in a controlled intersection.
Meadville Live photo
Two people in the auto were seriously injured and had to be extricated before they were transported. The two medics were uninjured.
Meadville Live
The crash knocked the ambulane into the oncoming traffic lane where a minor chain-reaction collision took place. Nobody in the other cars were injured. There is no report yet on the cause or fault in the accident.
Another tale from the Houston Press, written by John Nova Lomax November 14th:
While police and medics were clearing up that disaster (a 1:30 am Sunday morning fatal collision), 27-year-old Matthew Mitchell attempted to navigate his Chevy Impala through the swirling sea of flashing lights of the fleet of police cruisers and ambulances on the scene.
Unfortunately, he plowed into the life-flight chopper's tail fin.
A DPS trooper on the scene quoted Mitchell thusly:
The trooper who worked the wreck even mentions in the audio clip that the road was completely blocked off in both directions. The driver actually went into the ditch and around the trucks before getting back on the road and crashing into the helicopter.
A PRATTVILLE (Alabama) FIRE DEPARTMENT AMBULANCE was involved in a collsion at a controlled intersection Tuesday morning that injured four people and left the ambulance laying on its side.
WSFA-TV
The EMS unit had three fire department employees and a heart attack patient on board with its lights and siren activated when it collided with a car at an intersection in Montgomery around 11 am. All four people including the patient in the ambulance are in stable condition.
The investigation of the accident continues today, but police say that they don't expect to issue any citations.
A MENTOR, OHIO, FIRE – RESCUE DEPARTMENT AMBULANCE was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck Monday morning when an oncoming auto crossed the center line and struck it. The ambulance was reportedly responding to a call and had no patient onboard.
Fox News
The accident occurred on a highway bridge that goes over railroad tracks around 10:20 am. The offending car struck the ambulance causing it to spin around and come to rest against the curbstone while pinning a pickup truck against the safety railing. A fourth car was also involved.
WOIO-TV
The two firefighters were transported along with two other drivers, one in serious condition.
ABC News 5 has a brief video report from the scene:
WOIO-TV has more plus a 10-image photo gallery HERE.
A PRIVATE TRANSPORT AMBULANCE IN OSHAWA, ONTARIO, strayed off the road and crashed into a light pole Sunday morning around 9am. The impact caused a transformer on top of the pole to blow, dropping burning debris onto the ambulance,catching it on fire, and cutting power to the neighborhood.
CityNews
The sudden loss of electricity coupled with the loud noise of the transformer blowing, brought all the neighbors outside, some with their handy video cams. Just as they took there front row seats, the fire in the ambulance caused an oxygen bottle to fail and the sudden ka-boom moved the crowd back a notch…..except for the intrepid cameraman:
The Sunday Surprise was duly recorded by someone else with a better view:
There was no patient in the ambulance and the two attendants got out safely before the fire took over. They were both treated for minor injuries and released the same day. The police didn't have an explanation for what brought the sudden change in direction for the ambulance that guided it into the light pole.
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