Patient On Board

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.

Berkshire Eagle

The Berkshire Eagle reports:

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:

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Just Blew Right Through It

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.

Read the full story in the Bellingham Herald HERE.
North Whatcom Fire and Rescue WEBSITE.

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A summer resort town grows up

A cryptic post in TheWatchDesk (TWD) indicates the end of an Eastern Shore tradition.

This is first post from 73fire74. TWD is more known for busting chops than breaking news, but ….

No announcement posted on the city's employment page. 

We posted last year's job annoucement on January 5. (Mark Brady, PGFD PIO, took this surf rescue picture while off-duty.)

Work at 'da Shore

The town has been growing, and the combined efforts of the volunteers and career fire-ems seem to result in significant growth of the department.

New station and new rigs

A new Station 5 replaced a garage-with-a-toilet in West Ocean City, dedicated in September 2011.

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Two KME Predator pumpers were delivered in December:

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New Engine 2 and Engine 1 (OC announcement).

These rigs join the 2009 KME's assigned to Engine 16 and Engine 4.

There also is a fireboat under construction, a first for the town.

Pretty cool!

Mike "Fossilmedic" Ward, a seasonal employee in 1974.

A "back in the day" reflection in  Beach Patrol First Responders (August 21. 2007)

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.

One of 25 Pagani Zonda F supercars

Hong Kong crash:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Matt Hardigree is hot on the story for Jalopnik. Perhaps a second crash of the same supercar. 

Which of the 1% cannot drive?

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Click on next paragraph to get the juicy details. The third Zonda crash in Hong Kong since the vehicle hit the streets in 2005.

Did A Dolce & Gabbana Exec Crash This $1.3 Million Zonda F?

Hong Kong has fire-based EMS that is very conservative.  Notice the (lack) of extensive patient assessment. 

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Had Patient on Board

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.

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Porsche pushing buttons

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.

More information on http://www.porsche.com/911

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.

However, if I get a winning lottery ticket  …..

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

"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.

KFSN-TV image

KSEE-TV continues:

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:

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Non-Emergency Transport Turns Deadly

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)

WSET-TV has the story and a video report HERE.

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Ambulance -1, Horse – 0

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.

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Red Light Runner Wipes Out

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.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has the STORY.

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