Back in January (and in updates since), FireTruckBlog.com told you about the collision in Stratford, Connecticut which heavily damaged two of the fire department's apparatus. (Previous coverage is here, here, and here.)
The Connecticut Post reports that on Thursday the driver of the tractor trailer truck won her appeal and the charges against her were dropped.
Nansey Asaro was driving her tractor trailer during a winter storm on I-95 in January. Two of Stratford's engines were staggered on the highway, protecting an accident scene. (Firegeezer.com has more about the importance of blocking lanes here.)
Asaro said she was braking but couldn't stop in time and hit the rigs.
Lt. Jim Mecozzi said if Asaro had moved her truck in another way and hadn't struck the Stratford apparatus, other people on the scene could have been injured or killed.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan they have a solution to a problem that has plagued a number of jurisdictions. Using fire trucks to protect firefighters working along roadways has become common practice that has proven to save many from serious injury or death. But when a crash occurs, there is another issue to deal with (though much less important than keeping firefighters safe from harm). It is the loss of front line fire apparatus. You may recall the difficulty Stratford, Connecticut had after losing two engines to two tractor trailers on I-95 at the same time back in January (click here).
So enter the latest rig of the Grand Rapids Fire Department. It is an old dump truck belonging to the city water department that was about to go to auction. It is now the fire department's Utility 2 and will be used to protect firefighters at crash scenes on the US-131 S-curve (see below). Last year FD vehicles were hit three times on the S-curve doing $150,000 in damage. Utility 2 will now be the punching bag.
It has the typical fire truck lights, siren and reflective chevron strips on the back, plus a lighted road arrow sign typically seen on road commission trucks.
"And then we put on the crash attenuator in the event that they did not see all the warning lights and the flashing arrows and hit us, that they would suffer less severe injuries, if any," he said. Describing the shock absorber, he added, "This unit is designed to absorb that impact. It's filled with aluminum honeycomb, so that all starts collapsing, the armature starts collapsing and it absorbs the impact."
Click the image to tour the S-Curve via Google Maps.
Remember the collision with the tractor trailer in January that put 2 of Stratford's apparatus out of service? The hits keep coming.
The Connecticut Post reports a spare rig broke down for the second time on Friday.
From the paper:
The fire union posted a message on its Facebook page Friday about the most recent breakdown: "Stratford Fire Department is once again using a Milford engine as a front line apparatus due to another mechanical breakdown of one of our 14 year old engines. It is imperative that the Town purchases a new apparatus to stop this from continuing to happen."
Engines 6 & 7, the two that were seriously damaged in the January snow storm collision, are expected to be back in service at the end of the month.
The full story from the Connecticut Post is here. Previous coverage on FireTruckBlog.com is here.
WHDH reports the Boston firefighter who was driving Ladder 29 will receive a ticket for not coming to a complete stop on Tuesday. Ladder 29 was headed to an accident when it entered an intersection and collided with an off-duty Boston Police officer’s SUV. The update is here and the original post on FireTruckBlog.com from is here.
TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCK DRIVER IN STRATFORD WRECK TO APPEAL TICKET
According to the Connecticut Post, the driver of the tractor trailer truck involved in a wreck with two Stratford rigs will appeal the ticket. Nancy Asaro was fired after the January crash and tells the Connecticut Post, “As long as I have that ticket, I can’t get a job in this business.” Engine 1 and Engine 5 were staggered to protect the scene of a collision on I-95 in January when Asaro’s truck and another tractor trailer truck crashed into them. The engines have been out of service since.
Read Brittany Lyte’s full story in the Connecticut Post here. Previous coverage on FireTruckBlog.com is here.
KENT’S CHIEF DEFENDS FIREFIGHTER ACTIONS AS PUMPER BURNS IN BRUSH FIRE
Kent Fire Chief Eric Epstein finds himself defending the actions of firefighters after their pumper burned during a brush fire last month in Connecticut. The Litchfield County Times reports some in the town accused the firefighters of “incompetence” because of the incident. During the town’s board meeting, one selectmen defended the firefighters and read an account of events from Chief Epstein including the fact that first the pump failed, allowing the fire to advance, and then the gear shift in the pumper failed as the firefighters tried to move it.
Kathryn Boughton has the complete story here in the Litchfield County Times.
Last week, FireTruckBlog.com told you about the North Carolina firefighter injured when the 2000 International he was driving rolled on the way to a call. Now, that firefighter has been told he has a 5% chance of ever walking again, and while his medical expenses will be paid with health insurance and workers’ compensation, his family still needs support paying other bills. The News Herald reports the fire department is planning fundraisers for 42-year-old Firefighter Donald “Donnie” Hughes, but until then, donations can be made to Donald Hughes, PO Box 1217, Glen Alpine, NC 28628. Capt. Jason Lambert is available to answer questions: 413-0428 or wefdjpl@charter.net. The full story from the News Herald is here. Read the previous story on FireTruckBlog.com here.
STRATFORD UPDATE:
Another Stratford, Connecticut, truck is out of service — for those keeping tally:
2 trucks heavily damaged in a wreck with tractor trailers (previous coverage is here)
2 trucks replacing those rigs were taken out of service for faulty brakes and transmission (previous coverage is here)
Now, the Connecticut Post reports Engine 3, on load from Shelton, also needs repairs. The Post’s full story is here.
PUMPERS DAMAGED:
In Lees Summit, Missouri, two pumpers were damaged in crashes on icy roadways. One was responding to a medical call, the other to a collision. Examiner.net has more here.
STREETS TOO NARROW? TRUCKS TOO WIDE?
In Arlington, Virginia, some ladder trucks are too wide for the streets, especially when cars are parked on both sides. Trash collectors raised the issue with their own vehicles, and the Arlington County Board began discussing it. The fire department tested with apparatus and could not open storage compartments on the rigs with cars parked on both sides. Some neighbors argue there was never a concern until now and not all residents have off-street parking. Arlington Fire Chief Jim Schwartz talked to ArlNow.com:
“It doesn’t make a difference if it’s once a day or once every five years… If we had a fire, we wouldn’t even be able to get our ladder trucks in there,” he said in a phone interview. “We certainly want to balance the overall needs of the community with the safety needs of the community.”
More on the issue can be found here in the February 16th article and here in the one from February 28.
Do you have a similar problem in your area? What actions have been taken?
PIERCE RECEIVES ORDER FROM PORTSMOUTH, VA., FOR 5 PUCs
Portsmouth Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services has ordered 5 Pierce Ultimate Configuration vehicles. The four pumper vehicles and one aerial ladder will be in service in June. Read more from Pierce here (PDF).
A little diversion for everyone who has been digging out for the last few days (& weeks) with a video of 100th anniversary of United Firefighters Union, Victoria, Australia. Vintage and modern apparatus in this parade were supplied by Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Country Fire Authority, Air Services, and Fire Museum.
Ok, the tease of warmth is over…back to the U.S…
WEATHER-RELATED TROUBLES
PACKING IT DOWN: In Tulsa, Oklahoma, fire trucks are driving down snow-covered streets for the sole purpose of packing the snow so other vehicles will have a better chance of not getting stuck. They are doing the work when available between emergency calls. KJRH’s story is here. GTRNews.com has more here.
ICY CONDITIONS: A rig from the Labelle-Fannett Volunteer Fire Department (Texas) struck a Department of Public Safety and a Jefferson Co. Sheriff’s office patrol car while responding to an overturned tractor trailer. Chief Charles Sonnier says the driver hit a patch of black ice. KFDM has the full story here.
POORLY PLOWED: In Mansfield, Massachusetts, the Department of Public Works was called to help a fire truck stuck on a poorly plowed private street. Mansfield Fire Chief Neal Boldrighini told WickedLocalMansfield the crew was digging out fire hydrants when it tried to turn the apparatus around in a small cul-de-sac. More here in WickedLocalMansfield.
SNOWBOUND RIGS: In case you missed the previous post with videos of apparatus stuck in the snow, click here.
FOLLOW UP
STRATFORD WILL REPAIR RIGS: Engine 1, a 2008 Smeal pumper, and Engine 5, a 2000 Pierce Saber pumper, are repairable and the town is looking for estimates to complete the work. The rigs were heavily damaged in collisions with two tractor trailers in January. They were protecting an accident scene on a snowy roadway. Previous reports said the rigs were totaled. Connecticut Post’s story is here.
Previous FireTruckBlog.com coverage is here and here. Also, more on the battle between fire and police officials and parking rigs for protection here.
ANTIQUES
STEAM ENGINES: If you’re in Owl’s Head, Maine, on Saturday, check out Andy Swift’s presentation on the development of the steam fire engine at Owl’s Head Transportation Museum. Swift is the owner/operator of Firefly Restoration and has been restoring antique apparatus for more than 30 years. More details about Saturday’s event are here.
HOMECOMING
In Sandy Springs, Georgia, a 1955 Ford 800 pumper is headed home after spending years decaying. Sandy Springs Fire Department Battalion Commander Doug Hickin and local historian Kimberly Brigance did some digging and found the truck — Hickin says they had to cut 20-year-old trees from around the rig to get to it.
“It was the first fire engine in Sandy Springs. The local people worked so hard to establish fire protection in this town,” he said. “The volunteers loved that fire truck.”
NeighborhoodNewspapers.com has the full story here.
How many more times are we going to read the same story.
Today’s battle brings us to Long Island, New York.
The North Merrick Fire Department (NMFD) protects a district on the south shore of heavily populated Nassau County, just east of New York City. Two major parkways go through their first due area, the Southern State Parkway and the Meadowbrook State Parkway. Both are 6 lane divided highways with extremely heavy commuter traffic. Police services on the parkways are provided by New York State Troopers, while the rest of their district is served by the Nassau County Police Department.
It snowed today on Long island and a vehicle spun out of control on the slick Meadowbrook Parkway. The vehicle ended up facing northbound in the center lane of the southbound highway. Not a great place or working conditions to provide patient care.
A state trooper arrived, and used his SUV to block the center lane, and shortly thereafter NMFD Chief Jimmy Allen arrived and put his chief’s vehicle in position to block the right lane to provide a buffer for emergency responders. Ambulance and fire apparatus arrived and went to work. Traffic could still flow in the left lane.
Another day serving the public, right?
Nah.
One of the two Stratford, Connecticut engines hit on I-95 when a pair of tractor-trailers went out of control earlier this month.
The trooper told the chief that he wanted his chief’s vehicle moved and the right lane reopened to traffic, leaving just the center lane closed for the wreck and emergency vehicles. Morning commuter traffic would be passing the rescuers on both the left and the right side.
Chief Allen said this was unacceptable and told the trooper he was not moving his vehicle. The trooper fired back with the message that if he didn’t move his unit, he was going to arrest him. The chief called for a state police supervisor, but nobody else responded. In the end, the trooper gave the fire chief a summons for “failure to follow a lawful order.”
Here is a quote from Chief Allen, taken from a discussion of the incident on the website www.nassaurant.com , “I told the trooper I was not moving my truck for the safety of my department members the aided and also HIMSELF. He didn’t like that and told me if I don’t move it he was going to arrest me in which my answer was I guess that’s what you are going to do because I am not moving my truck.”
So where do we go from here?
First of all, to all of our firefighter readers, before you get too upset, please check the regulations in YOUR state. More than likely, by statute (law), the PD is actually the lead agency and IN CHARGE at vehicle accidents.
But even if the cops are in charge, do they have to be IN CHARGE to the point of endangering everyone on the scene? You can win the battle but really lose the war.
Firefighters operate on highways every day. Civilians driving automobiles and trucks take little heed for our operation on the road.
Years ago I visited the FDNY shops in Queens. A fairly new pumper had been set aside and was covered with dust. I asked our tour guide the reason this unit had been sitting so long and obviously hadn’t been touched. He guided me around the back of the rig, and the back step was indented in a semi-circle shape, just about three feet in diameter. In hushed tones, he told me a firefighter had been struck and killed by a speeding car while operating at a vehicle incident on one of NY’s many highways. He died, crushed against the back step of that rig. The damaged back step said it all. A man died right there, in a useless accident. The rig was being held as evidence for the upcoming trial.
Stamford Fire & Rescue Department's Engine 1, also hit on I-95 late last year.
Two Connecticut fire departments had very serious recent close calls on busy Interstate 95. Last month we reported on the Stratford incident where two pumpers that were struck by two tractor trailers traveling too fast for road conditions. Both rigs sustained serious damage, but no emergency personnel were injured because the pumpers BLOCKED the road.
Twenty-five miles south of Stratford is Stamford. Stamford Fire Rescue Department’s Engine 1 was also destroyed on I-95 two months earlier. The rig had been positioned to protect three firefighters extinguishing a fully involved vehicle fire. As the crew was picking up a tractor-trailer slammed into Engine 1. The crew lived to tell about it.
Ok, we get it. We park our rigs to protect our people. Our people include the cops.
Why don’t all the cops get it? Police officers suffer as many serious and fatal injuries from vehicle incidents as we do.
In New York, a new law that went into effect on January 1st makes it mandatory for drivers to pull over for emergency vehicles on all highways. The law was enacted after two police officers died in highway accidents. Do you think the word on the law, as well as its intent had made it down to the rank and file troopers?
Now is a great time to meet with your local law enforcement and pre-plan this issue. Sit down with them, find out what they expect out of your department, and what you expect out of them. Issue a joint memorandum of understanding that is distributed to all levels of organizations involved in highway incidents … police, fire and EMS. Have your folks review it and have a copy of it in your responding units. Police officers move into and out of coverage areas, and it’s possible an officer might not know about your plans.
It’s too late to accomplish much on the scene when things go bad. You’ve all heard the saying, “Never argue with someone with a gun and a badge”.
Remember the video above from an incident in the Midwest? An argument between a fire captain and a police officer ended up with the captain in handcuffs and a lawsuit over the incident.
Sad day on Long Island. Sad day for the fire service. Sad day for law enforcement. Nobody is going to win this battle. The State Police have notified the fire chief that they are going to pursue the charges and prosecute the case.
Remember Friday night’s accident in Stratford, Connecticut, that heavily damaged not one, but two of the department’s engines stopped at a scene during a snow storm? (Click here for FireTruckBlog.com’s previous story)
The Connecticut Post reports the rigs have been totaled, and the woman driving one of the tractor trailer trucks which struck the engines and the firefighters involved talked to Brittany Lyte (excerpts from her article are bolded below).
Nansey Asaro was driving the second tractor trailer. She only had seconds to react as she came around a bend and saw the activity in the road ahead.
If she chose the right lane, she would injure and likely kill a crowd of state troopers and crash victims scattered on foot. That was no good. But if she continued forward, she would crash head-on into the rear of Stratford’s Engine 5. Pitted against the Hulk Hogan of public safety vehicles, she’d be lucky to make it out alive. In the left lane, between a white tractor-trailer and Engine 5, she spied a gap about five feet wide.
Lt. Jim Mecozzi was in the front passenger seat of Engine 1 asking a state trooper if they needed help at the original accident. Before they were done, the trooper began to run away. Mecozzi told Lyte that’s when he felt a tractor trailer hit the truck.
“What on earth was that?” Mecozzi sputtered to Greg Anderson, seated beside him. Strapped in the driver’s seat, Anderson had not yet brought Engine 1 to a halt when his body thrust forward against his safety belt.
A second later, Asaro slammed into Engine 5. Timothy Becker, seated in the back seat of Engine 5, peered over his shoulder and out the driver’s side window to see the maroon rig whiz by.
Then he heard another crash. The trailer hit both fire engines, one after another.
The firefighters all got out of the rigs and picked up the contents of the engines–now all over the highway. About 20 minutes later, they were getting ready to leave the scene, but Mecozzi went over to thank Asaro first.
“Thank me?” Asaro asked, “What for?”
“Because,” he explained, “you made absolutely the right choice hitting our truck. If you had gone any other way, a lot of people would have died.”
Two Stratford, Connecticut, fire trucks were heavily damaged Friday night after being struck by two tractor trailer trucks. The Connecticut Post reports Engine 1 and Engine 5 were on the scene of a car crash when the first truck hit Engine 1, then another struck Engine 5. Six firefighters with minor injuries were treated and released from Bridgeport Hospital.
The parked fire trucks were staggered to protect those at the original scene. Firegeezer.com has more about the importance of blocking lanes here.
Engine 1 is the newer apparatus, a 2008 Smeal pumper. Engine 5 is a 2000 Pierce Saber pumper. Representatives from both companies will be inspecting the damage to see if the apparatus can be repaired. The replacement cost of each is over $400,000.
Read John Burgeson’s full story from the Connecticut Post here.
More pictures of the damaged rigs can be seen here.
