Skip to content

Archives for rescue

See all posts in the network tagged with rescue

“Crane 50 Responding…”

2 comments

IN GERMANY THE FIRE DEPARTMENTS – FEUERWEHR – UTILIZE heavy-duty cranes more than we do on this side of the ocean.  So much so that many of them have large cranes as part of their fleets.  Most of the large cities, all of which are all-paid departments, have a crane on their rosters and they have refined rescue techniques utilizing them.

crane g

FW Garmisch

The smaller cities, towns and communities that are either part-paid or all-volunteer, don’t have the resources to buy and maintain one of these giant vehicles.  An exception to this is the small city of Garmisch, known to many of you from watching international skiing competitions on television.  Feuerwehr Garmisch, an all-volunteer department, recently took possession of a new crane just as their firehouse is being renovated.  It has replaced a 27-yr.-old crane that was impossible to get replacement parts for anymore.  The crane was purchased by the “county” where they are located, Garmisch-Partenkirten for use in the entire region.

crane a FWnetz

crane b FWnetz

FWnetz photos

According to the Feuerwehr Garmisch WEBSITE, the vehicle specs are in part:

  • Chassis:  Liebherr
  • Engine:  408 hp
  • Weight:  48 tons
  • Length:  13 meters
  • Width:  2.5 meters
  • Extended length of arm:  42 meters

crane d garmisch fw

FW Garmisch

The rear pulley is part of a 70-meter cable winch for mountain rescue lifting and the arrangement below is a towing device.  For off-road travel, all four axles can be locked on for 8-wheel-drive.

The auxiliary equipment and tools, including a water rescue basket that can carry 5 people, are transported in a roll-off container module.

crane c garmisch fw rolloff

FW Garmisch

There is a 17-image Flickr photo gallery HERE.

crane f garmisch

crane e garmisch

Posted by on January 21, 2010 • Filed under: apparatus, Fire Rescue Topics • Tagged: , ,

Off-Duty Captain Makes Rescue

Comments Off

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.

huron a

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

USAR – HAITI UPDATE #1

3 comments

fairfax a WUSA dog

View WUSA-TV slideshow HERE.

WITHIN A FEW HOURS of their arrival, the Virginia Task Force 1 from Fairfax County made their first rescue.  They are working at the five-story collapsed United Nations office building where as many as 150 people may have been inside when the earthquake leveled it.

This 9-minute video report documents the retrieval and at the 3:00 mark it begins interviewing the victim and next Captain Sam Gray of the rescue team (video provided courtesy of WUSA-TV Washington):

The Associated Press also provided this raw video of the Virginia dog teams working the buildings:

Posted by on January 14, 2010 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Injury Update

5 comments

LAST WEEK ON DECEMBER 17, we brought you the unusual story about a firefighter in France who was severely injured while making a ladder rescue (Firegeezer report HERE).  The FF was climbing the ladder when the panicked victim threw herself out the window onto the firefighter causing both of them to fall about 30 ft. to the pavement below.

sdis42 d

SDIS 42 photo

We are pleased to report that the firefighter, Sr. Corporal Romain Auzel has been released from the hospital after being treated for two fractured vertebrae, broken ribs, injured lung and a displaced coccyx.

He posted a greeting to all firefighters everywhere (including you) on the Firetex WEBSITE that carried the original story.  Cpl. Auzel writes:

“I’m doing fine and I hope that I  will get a complete recovery soon.  But the most important is the fact that this young lady lost her mother in this fire and will have sad holiday season.  We need to focus on the fact that civilians must have smoke detectors in their houses.  It could have saved some lives in this tragic fire.

“I would like to add some tips for my brothers in the fire service:  Be vigilant,stay concentrated on fireground and be humble.

A special thanks to Stéphane and my friends of the team PROMESIS:   http://www.promesis.fr/promesis_en.php ”

sdis 42 e

Sr. Cpl. Auzel  (SDIS 42 photo)

And we wish him a complete recovery and a Merry Christmas.

Firetex report HERE.

Reported and posted by Fireball.

Posted by on December 24, 2009 • Filed under: health & safety, Rescues • Tagged: , , ,

Connecticut FF Wins Valor Award

5 comments

A NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, FIREFIGHTER was commended by the city council Monday night and then awarded the Fire Department Commendation of Valor. 

rosado a the day tim martin

The Day / Tim Martin

Kaim Rosado (above, right), an 8-year member of the NLFD, was honored for his swift and unselfish  actions on December 12 when a disturbed man attempted suicide on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge.  The 22-yr.-old man had climbed a fence and then scaled the span up to the peak, 130 feet above the water.  As a couple of state troopers attempted to hold him to the bridge,  Rosado took out his self-rescue rope and climbed out onto the ledge where he secured the patient while others used bolt cutters to remove a section of the fence and drag the man back onto the bridge.

The Day newspaper has a complete description of the rescue operation and a review of last night’s ceremony HERE.

Hat tip:  Rob L.

Posted by on December 22, 2009 • Filed under: In the Line of Duty, rescue • Tagged: , , , , ,

Anxious Victim Fractures Firefighter’s Back

6 comments

A HOUSE FIRE LATE TUESDAY NIGHT in Roanne, Loir, France led to a serious injury to a firefighter who was making a rescue.  The fire was in a 3-story home in town and had trapped a 56-yr.-old woman and her two daughters ages 16 and 20.

photo by Rabby Vincent

photo by Rabby Vincent

As the firefighters arrived, one of the two daughters appeared at a 3rd-story window calling for help.  The city of Roanne firefighters raised a ground ladder to the window to reach her.  Scared and in a panic, when she saw her rescuer coming up the ladder to save her, she threw herself out the window onto the firefighter, causing both of them to fall to the ground, a distance of several meters.

The 28-yr.-old caporal chef (senior corporal) suffered broken ribs and fractures of two spinal verterbrae.  The firefighter and both daughters were hospitalized.  The mother was found in a search of the house, but she had perished in the fire.

This story was reported by Stephane M. in the fire blog Firetex HERE.
A photo gallery of the fire is posted on the SDIS 42 (FD’s) WEBSITE HERE.

photo by Rabby Vincent

photo by Rabby Vincent

Posted by on December 17, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Rescues • Tagged: , ,

Remarkable High-Rise Rescue in Chicago

4 comments

SOMETIMES, TIMING IS EVERYTHING.  That was the case Sunday afternoon around 2 pm when a fire started on the 28th floor of a Chicago, Illinois, apartment building.  At that same moment, an off-duty Chicago firefighter was nearby working at his part-time job driving a private ambulance.  For some fateful reason he looked up at the top of the building and saw smoke starting to seep out of the upper-floor windows. 

chicago2 a tribune arroyave

Chicago Tribune / Arroyava photo

The Chicago Tribune tells what happened next:

Jason Durbin, 33, an off-duty firefighter, said he was working a side job driving an ambulance for a private company. He was driving south on Clark Street after grabbing a hot dog when he looked up and saw smoke billowing out of a unit near the top of the building.

Durbin said that he ran up 28 flights to the [fire] floor and found [a] woman conscious about half way down the smokey hallway.

She was in the fetal position overcome with smoke, he said. He grabbed the woman and put her on his back, piggyback style, and carried her down to the ground floor, said Durbin who joined the department 15 months ago and said this was his first rescue.

“It was just all adrenalin,” Durbin told the Sun-Times. “The minute I hit the ground [floor], it was just “Thank God.”

The woman who is believed to be in her 50′s lived alone in the apartment and is in the hospital this morning in serious condition with smoke inhalation and burns.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it did not spread beyond her apartment.  The CFD had the fire out in about 30 minutes.

WFLD-TV Ch. 32 talks to Durbin in this report from the fireground:

Read the Chicago Tribune report HERE.
More from the Sun-Times HERE.

WGN-TV has more video:
 

Posted by on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: fire, rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

Trooper Makes Rescue While Car Burns

12 comments

A CONNECTICUT STATE TROOPER IS BEING CALLED A HERO today following his rescue of a woman from a burning car.

The officer had just started investigating a single-car wreck on I-95 Saturday afternoon when a woman driving a Volkswagon rear-ended his cruiser that was positioned to protect the accident scene.  The crash drove the cruiser forward into the officer, injuring him.  The VW then crashed into the car from the original accident a broke out in flames with the woman trapped inside.

trooper a register citizen

Citizen Register photo

The trooper managed to pull himself up and get to the burning car where he used his knife to cut her out from the seat belt and pull her out of the car before the flames reached her.

WTNH-TV Ch. 8 has the video report:

The Litchfield Register Citizen reports:

Witnesses said traffic had slowed due to the original accident and a warning was posted on the highway’s electronic signs. The speeding Volkswagen was using the breakdown lane to get around the traffic jam and smashed directly into the rear of the state police cruiser.

While all this was going on, a fourth car crashed head-on into the median barrier just behind the wreck scene.

The trooper and the other two drivers were transported to the Yale-New Haven hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Posted by on December 13, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

They’re Still Stepping In It

Comments Off

BARELY MORE THAN TWO MONTHS AFTER an Ohio man had to be rescued from a septic tank where he had been trapped for four hours, another man in Long Island suffered the same indignity.

Mario Flores, 37, was constructing a cesspool and was in a 35-ft.-deep hole when it collapsed on him Tuesday afternoon, burying him up to his waist and presenting the local technical rescue team with a challenge.  The call for the  rescue came in at 11 am from East Hills, a neighborhood near Roslyn composed of multi-million dollar homes.

The apparently unshored hole had to be stabilized and lined before rescuers could be lowered down to the victim.

cesspool a gather com

Jeffrey Martin photo via Gather.com

After bringing in the regional T.R. team members along with a trench rescue unit from FDNY, the man was brought out about five hours later.  He appeared to be in good health, but was taken to the hospital for examination and treatment.

“He remained stable throughout the operation. There was no change in his condition. We provided him medical assistance via two paramedics at the bottom of the hole during the entire operation. His stability was maintained by our efforts,” said Asst. Chief Adam Boll of the Roslyn Fire Company, speaking to CBS News.

The Associated Press has a brief video of the rescue operation in progress:

Firegeezer report on Ohio septic tank rescue on Sept. 30 HERE.

Posted by on December 9, 2009 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

Auto Fire Brings Rescue Surprise

4 comments

WHEN THE RICHFIELD, MINNESOTA, FIREFIGHTERS FROM Sta. 1 responded to an auto fire Sunday night, they had a little “surprise.”  Arriving on the scene they found a car pretty well involved in the rear and filled with thick smoke.  When the officer shined his light into the passenger area, he couldn’t see anybody.  But moments later another FF briefly spotted somebody in the driver’s seat enveloped in the heavy smoke as the fire was entering the rear section.

The crew related their experience and how they managed to rescue the unconscious woman who was trapped inside to a news crew from KMSP-TV Ch. 9 Minneapolis:

The story serves as a good reminder to everybody that it isn’t always “just an auto fire.”  One of Richfield’s chief officers passes along this additional tip:  One thing the first officer on scene stated was that had he flowed water we would have burned the woman.  You just assume that everyone is out of the vehicle, might be a good reminder to tell people to ask questions first and flow water second.

Posted by on December 4, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

Fatal Fire at Indiana Hotel

Comments Off

A FIRE THIS MORNING AT A VINCENNES, INDIANA, HOTEL has left one person dead and three others injured.  The 2-alarm fire broke out shortly after 2 am Monday morning at the Quality Inn and burned out one room completely, leaving extensive smoke and heat damage in the associated wing of the hotel.

The first-arriving units found a working fire showing at the rear of the hotel along with an immediate rescue situation as several hotel guests were calling 9-1-1 to report where they were trapped.  The primary search located the fatality in an undisclosed location.  Two other guests suffered severe smoke inhalation and were flown to Indianapolis for treatement.  A police officer that was assisting in the rescue effort had a cut wrist that needed medical attention.

Fire marshals will be starting their investigation this morning.

WTHI-TV Terre Haute has this video report from the scene:

The Evansville Courier & Press has the STORY.

Posted by on November 23, 2009 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues • Tagged: , , ,

Cell Phone GPS Leads Rescue Effort

Comments Off

IN AUSTIN, TEXAS, A MAN WHO WAS using a storm drain for a shortcut got lost in the darkness and needed help.  The Austin American-Statesman tells how he got out:

The Austin Fire Department said emergency workers on Wednesday rescued a man who was lost in a storm drain system near 45th and Duval streets for an unknown amount of time.  His general location was pinpointed by Fire Department call-takers using cell phone GPS information, but then the man’s phone went dead, officials said. He was found about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

He had told 911 operators he was looking for a friend but later recanted the story. He told fire officials he was walking in the drain, became lost and called 911 when night fell.   Officials said firefighters drove to the general area and found the man when they saw his arm sticking out of a gutter drain.

KXAN-TV has this video report:

Posted by on November 19, 2009 • Filed under: rescue, Technology & Communications, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

An Icy Rescue

Comments Off

IN NORTHERN CANADA, A 17-YR.-OLD HUNTER WAS STRANDED on an ice floe  for three days along with a polar bear.  Jupi Nakoolak and his uncle, age 67, had set out on a snowmobile last Thursday for a 3-day polar bear hunting trip.  But their snowmobile broke down on the first day and Jupi began walking back to the town of Coral Harbor (pop. 750) about 7 miles away.

While he was returning, the ice that he was walking on broke away and started drifting toward the Hudson Bay carrying him as well as a bear and two cubs.

eskimo a AP

When the pair failed to return on Saturday, the locals organized a search party on Sunday and set out, soon finding the uncle who had just started walking back himself.  But the boy was nowhere to be seen.  The Nunavit director of protective services then downloaded a recent satellite photo of the area and they identified a drifting floe that was most likely where Jupi would be found.

A Canadian Air Force Hecules aircraft located the boy at first light on Monday but they were unable to land any rescuers at the moment, so they dropped a supply of candy bars to him and returned to pick up a rescue team.  They also saw a bear carcass not far from him.  It turned out that the bear had begun stalking him and Jupi had used his rifle to kill it.  “Polar bears are the only animal that will definitely stalk a human and eat them,” said one official. “Nobody goes out on the land here without a gun.”

Two search-and-rescue technicians later parachuted from a C-130 aircraft to a larger ice floe nearby. They swam to where the boy was and treated him for frostbite and dehydration while they waited for a boat to arrive.

The Associated Press has this video report of the rescue:

Posted by on November 12, 2009 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Morning Lineup – November 7

Comments Off

Do you remember about 15 years ago when air conditioning systems were forced to cease using Freon?  All in the name of “ozone depletion” we were told.  After a specified period which allowed the a/c people enough time to come up with an alternative and redesign their systems, everybody switched over to something called R-134a.  It’s not as efficient or effective as Freon, but that doesn’t matter.  The noisy environmentalist lobby needed to be pacified and Congress decided to mandate this new substance that was patented by the DuPont Chemical Corp.  That multi-billion-dollar windfall was welcomed by the folks in Delaware.

Now they’re doing it again, but change will be more gradual this time.  The R-134a is now unfavorable (or the patent has expired) and auto manufacturers are beginning a switch to still another coolant, R-1234yf.  (Where is all this leading to?)  To  nobody’s surprise, this new gas is even less efficient than the R-134a and is also incompatible in existing air conditioning systems.  It’s back to the drawing board for a complete redesign of the systems, with the first models expected to start appearing in Europe next year and eventually show up in North America in late 2011 or early 2012.  Popular Mechanics has an update on this latest assault on our wallets HERE.

*  *  *

Here is an interesting video of a rescue from a burning high-rise that was taken in Paris, France, this past July 12.  It’s also a good case-study in fire spread.  The video runs a little over 9 minutes, but at the 2:15 mark the FF in the platform is handed an infant from somebody inside the apartment.  I have no idea who it was inside or what became of them.  I’ll try and find out.  The rescue footage is repeated immediately after the original view.  The firefighter stays remarkably calm despite the onslaught of flames all around him.

We’d better face the onslaught of the equipment check sheets now.  I’ve got to get some more coffee started.  See you back in the day room.

Posted by on November 7, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

High-Angle Rescue in Bakersfield

3 comments

A TREE-TRIMMER WORKING IN A PALM TREE in Bakersfield, California, was stranded about 50 feet in the air after perhaps suffering from some sort of medical emergency.  The man was trimming the dead fronds from the tree trunk when an entire branch broke off and fell on him.  He was completely hidden from view by the leaves and nobody on the ground was aware of his distress.  After about 30 minutes, one of the neighbors saw the leaves rustling and hear a faint call for help.

The Bakersfield FD responded and found the man relatively unsecured and grasping the trunk for his life.  His strength was waning rapidly, though, and a paramedic was able to reach him quickly and secure the man’s work harness.   After cutting the branch away to expose him, the firefighters utilized a tower-ladder to pluck him from the tree and bring him down safely.

KBAK-TV has this dramatic video of the rescue:

Posted by on November 2, 2009 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

Challenging Rescue in China

Comments Off

A YOUNG BOY IN GUANGXI PROVINCE, CHINA, fell out of an apartment window and got wedged between two buildings that were constructed just inches apart.  He had fallen a few stories and was so tightly trapped between the two walls that it took rescuers five hours to get him out.  The eventually cut a hole through the wall of one of the buildings to reach him.

The rescue took place in late September, but the state-controlled CCTV new bureau only released the tapes today. 

The AP has a condensed video report:

The boy suffered from cuts to his face and loss of blood, according to Chinese media reports, but is not in critical condition.

Posted by on October 28, 2009 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues • Tagged: , , , ,