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Fire Apparatus Snaps Utility Pole

from www.firefighterclosecalls.com news

Fire Apparatus Snaps Utility Pole

Saturday, May 23, 2009

An ambulance attempting to transport a man to Frisbie Memorial Hospital after he fell from his bicycle Friday afternoon was delayed after a fire truck clipped a utility pole and brought down live wires across two streets.
Police, fire and Frisbie EMS responded to Dewey Street at around 5:15 p.m. for a medical call. A man had fallen off his bicycle and was reported to be unconscious.
Police Sgt. Eric Babine did not have the name of the man immediately available. He said police were called to the scene to assist EMS, who were tending to the patient upon the arrival of officers. The call originally came in that the patient was a young boy, but Babine confirmed it was an adult male who was not wearing a helmet and had fallen off the bicycle and lost consciousness.
The ambulance was ready to transport the man to the hospital by around 5:30 p.m.; however, as a fire truck driven by firefighter Nick Angelo prepared to leave the scene, it clipped a utility pole at the corner of Dewey Street and Riverside Drive. A loud crack emanated from the pole as it came down, causing wires all the way down the street to shake.
"The lines were shaking all the way down the street," said Dewey Street residents Jenny Smith and Lynn Costa. They, along with many others, crowded around the scene, which also drew a larger crowd of rescue officers.
One fire truck, ambulance and police cruiser responded to the original call. After the pole and wires came down, a second police cruiser, the critical incident response unit, another fire truck and two fire command vehicles — along with Fire Chief Norm Sanborn and Deputy Fire Chief Richard Giguere — responded to the scene as well.
A second ambulance also had to come to the scene to transport the patient. He was already loaded in the first ambulance, but it could not leave the scene because it was trapped by the downed wires.
Sanborn called it a "minimal delay" that was "nothing that would have compromised" the patient's health. He said they were already treating the patient in the ambulance when the wires came down.
Sanborn said the collision caused minimal damage to the fire truck. A "rub rail" on the side of the truck meant to lessen damage in case of an accident was what struck the pole, and was damaged as a result. Other than that, Sanborn said there was minimal damage but the truck would be out of commission until Tuesday because of the holiday weekend.
The major damage caused by the accident was to the pole, which was apparently rotten and home to large black ants.
"The rotten pole caused the big issue," Sanborn said, adding power would have to be cut to complete cleanup. He estimated it would be several hours before the road could be opened again because a new pole would be set up and wires had to be reattached. Since it was a pole on the corner of two streets, Sanborn said it was a junction point for cable and power lines.
"They've got quite a bit of work, unfortunately," Sanborn said.