LODD -- Fire Apparatus overturned, One ID FF dead

 

http://www.14news.com/story/16997475/firefighter-dies-in-overturned-fire-truck-accident?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6774110

VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) - The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office confirms Jeremy Tighe, an 18 year-old firefighter for McCutchanville Fire Department, died on scene when a fire truck overturned Wednesday night.

The Next Big Thing - Coming to a truck near you

Unless you’re scanning the web for this kind of information, you’re probably not aware that on a fairly regular basis huge trucks with no driver inside the cab roll away from where they were parked. This usually happens because the driver neglected to engage the parking brake or because someone either purposely or inadvertently released it. The so-called rollaway accidents that result are often both costly and deadly. In April, a tractor trailer rolled across 10 lanes of expressway traffic in Columbus, GA and plowed through a store, causing $200,000 in damage. In 2006, an eight year-old girl was killed in New York City after being pinned on the sidewalk by a runaway school bus. Witnesses saw an eight year-old boy entering the empty bus prior to the tragic accident.

Now a mechanic with just a year of community college under his belt has unveiled a system to prevent rollaways. 44 year-old Tom Accardi (right) managed to create the system and bring it to market without the help of venture capitalists or companies that prey on aspiring inventors.

Accardi lives in the village of Yaphank, New York in the suburbs of Long Island. He spent close to six years working on his device, which sells for $2,500, and comes with a lifetime guarantee. A patent is pending.

Here’s how it works: less than two seconds after the driver has gotten out of the seat, a sensor in the seat sends a signal to the system’s controller box, which also receives data on the truck’s speed. If the controller detects motion of between 2 and 3 mph, it sends current to a solenoid that has been installed on the supply line to the air brake, cutting off the air. That, in turn, causes the parking brake to kick in.

Accardi parks a truck in the driveway of his home in Yaphank, opens the driver side door, releases the brake and the truck starts rolling in reverse. He sits in the driver seat for a moment with his legs hanging outside the cab, watching the truck roll down the driveway, then quickly climbs out of the moving truck. A second or so after his butt is off the seat, we hear the air brakes hiss and the truck stops rolling. In another segment of the video a truck with the anti-roll away system is seen rolling down a steep suburban street. Then Accardi opens the door and jumps out of the moving truck, which quickly brakes seconds after he is out of the driver’s seat. It’s dramatic stuff.

In the video Accardi makes reference to the personal injuries, deaths, property damage and resulting insurance claims from rollaway accidents and then declares: “The system we have is going to put an end to all of that.”

A self-taught mechanic who says he never had the money to go to mechanics school, Accardi has worked on trucks since he was 15 years old. He worked his way up from mechanic to administrator at Waste Management, the giant private carting firm. While he was there, Accardi says, he got weekly safety updates that indicated between two and five rollaway incidents took place almost every week. In one, a Waste Management employee was crushed to death between two trucks, causing Accardi to remark, “There’s no need for this to happen. I can make something to prevent this.”

When a colleague dared him to go ahead and try, Accardi spent the next two nights in his garage making a tabletop model of his anti-rollaway system. The Craftsman tractor he sat on as he mowed his lawn was something of an inspiration.

“Look at your standard garden tractor,” Accardi said in an interview. “They all have a seat switch so that if you get up out of your seat, it shuts the motor off.”

Which is why he pulled the seat off the lawnmower and attached it to a used beer delivery truck he bought for $5,000 solely for the purpose of perfecting his anti-rollaway system.

Accardi resisted the overtures of a firm that describes itself as America’s leading inventor service company. He says it wanted him to cough up $10,000 before it would help and took months to return one of his calls. He also spent many months doing a dance with venture capitalists, who he says “wanted almost the whole company. If I would have given every VC what they wanted, I’d be working for them for the rest of my life.”

Accardi says he had some promising meetings with the giant auto part manufacturer Delphi but there were personnel changes and no deal was reached. So he reluctantly decided to market the device himself. They key engineering challenge was an electronic one: programming some sort of controller with a microprocessor that would use inputs on the truck’s motion and absence of a driver to make the air brakes go on.

“Everybody wanted large amounts of money to do engineering before they got involved and did anything,” Accardi recalls.

Initially he was told there would be between $200,000 and $500,000 in engineering costs to launch the business. But eventually Accardi found a firm called Electro Motive Designs on Long Island. The firm does work turning garbage trucks and buses into hybrids, so Accardi’s project was right up their alley. Instead of a six figure tab for programming the controller box, Accardi paid Electro Motive Designs in the low five figures.

“They told me they would hack right into the truck’s computer, and then bing, bang, boom, they did everything we wanted,” Accardi recalls.”They had already done the hard work on their previous jobs.”

Dana Demeo, Electro Motive Designs’ VP of Engineering, says, “I was impressed with Tommy from the get go. He understood the problem and how to solve it.”

Demeo says Accardi can now connect the controller to his computer with a USB cable and program it on his own. Thus, the amount of time that the system allows before engaging the brakes can be varied. Because the box has flash memory, it can record incidents where the anti-rollaway system was activated and store the data for later download to a computer. Future programming and hardware tweaks would enable truck owners to get a GPS reading on exactly where such incidents took place and either email or text the data to management.

The 3″ X 4″ programmable controller box is about an inch thick and was purchased “off the shelf.” The controller can be installed in either a truck’s cab or under the hood, as long as it’s no more than four feet from the vehicle’s diagnostic port. Accardi says that installation takes between two and four hours and can be done by truck manufacturers, companies with a fleet of trucks or “anyone who can fool with air brakes.”

A volunteer fireman for more than 20 years, Accardi’s day job is supervisor of a waste transfer station. He is clearly proud that all but one part of his anti-rollaway system was manufactured in the US.

“It’s a great country,” he says. “I want everything made here.”

With a $2,500 price tag, the system may seem pricey for the prevention of accidents that are somewhat rare, but as HTK Engineering’s marketing director, Victor Yannacone III, points out, a rollaway accident can be quite costly for an insurance company: a single accident involving a fatality can result in millions of dollars of liability and injuries or property damage can cost hundreds of thousands. HTK expects insurance companies to offer premium reductions around 5% to 10% to truck owners who install its anti-rollaway system. For owners who shell out $20,000 to $30,000 a year for insurance, such savings would pay for the cost of the unit in two or three years.

Good old film from LAFD–times have changed or have they?

Love the old apparatus and gear, some of that was still in use when I started.

Uploaded by wdtvlive42 on Oct 23, 2011

"Your Fire Department" was a public education film released by the Los Angeles Fire Department in the late 1940's which showed the equipment, personnel and activities of the Fire Department, with detailed segments showing firefighters at work, various types of fires, and fire prevention & safety. The film also shows the many different types of fire fighting vehicles used at the time.
Detailed scene synopsis:
excellent color footage of firemen at work; all in the city of Los Angeles, California;
man sleeping in bed at night; smoke from a fire curling up from beneath a door;
man stumbling out of smoke filled room to call fire department;
montage of people talking on the phone, they all have expressions of concern on their faces as they are reporting fires; telephone switchboard;
emptying ashtray; child grabbing matches; changing fuses;
various fire stations; fire trucks; suburban fires;
attaching hoses to hydrants; men running with hoses;
ladder trucks; operation of hydraulic ladders; chopping holes in roofs;
gas masks; salvage companies save property from water damage;
brush fires; extinguishing fires; bulldozer constructing fire break; fire roads;
fireboats; looking down on boat passing by from bridge; giant water tower;
ferocious oil fires; manufacture of foam to extinguish fire;
airports; racing trucks between planes; rescue companies; artificial respiration; administration of oxygen;
fire chief; map of fire battalion of Los Angeles;
excellent footage of physical tests; doctor taking blood pressure; training of firefighters;
how box alarms are responded to; sliding down a pole; dispatcher communicating by two-way radio; Arson Bureau, burned out house; man is arrested by arson squad; jail cell; pyromaniac; people carrying belongings out of burning house; fire prevention inspectors;
Shell fuel truck; manufacturing plant with barrels of chemicals
Neon signs: The Palladium: Earl Carroll Theatre; Plantation Hotel (with flashing Vacancy sign); movie marquee "Words and Music: with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland; sign: West Haven Rest Home
school safety campaign; backyard full of trash being examined by a fire inspector;
fireman explains safety guidelines to housewife holding child on porch; radio broadcast at station KHJ
man (citizen) climbing down fire ladder pulling his pants on
CU telephone dial and finger dialing; breaking glass and pulling hook on street fire alarm box

Embarrassing to say the least!!!!!

Mo. Fire Trucks Collide, Five Firefighters Injured
Platte County firefighters were headed to a house fire when the wreck occurred at an intersection early Monday morning.

 

PLATTE CITY, Mo., May 9 (UPI) -- Five firefighters were seriously injured in the head-on collision of two firetrucks in a rural area of Missouri's Platte County, authorities said. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/05/09/Missouri-firetrucks-collide-five-injured/UPI-90791304961653/#ixzz1Lt8R2T2F Video at this link too!

Just Goes to Show

Remember they talk  about blocking for highway safety, here is an example of how it worked right. Too bad about the damage but, how many did it save?

Read Full Story HERE – CTPOST

STRATFORD ---- The Stratford Fire Department is reeling after the sudden loss of two of its fire engines in a crash on Interstate 95 in which one tractor-trailer slammed into Engine 1, and another into Engine 5.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Officials-2-firetrucks-lost-in-crash-saved-lives-945656.php#ixzz1AZ46MAeU

Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show

Next weekend is the Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show

Shinny red fire engines on parade.... Helicopters buzzing-overhead.... An opportunity to operate our 150 year-old hand-pumped fire engine....  Smoke and flames.... Police S.W.A.T. teams... The "Jaws of Life"....  Fire engine rides... Tow trucks capable of lifting a school bus...  Smiling children wearing fire helmets.... Yep, there will be LOTS to see and do at next weekend's Emergency Vehicle Show. 

 

Friday, August 6 -- Lights and Sirens Parade
Festivities begin with a lights-and-sirens parade thought the village of North Aurora. Parade staging begins at 6:30pm at Tinseltown Theaters, 320 S. Lincolnway (Rt. 31), North Aurora, IL.  Parade steps off at 7pm -- going north on Rt. 31 to John Street, west to Willoway, north to Oak Street, west to Randall Road to the Clock Tower Plaza. The arrival of the parade at the Clock Tower Plaza kicks off the North Aurora Days Festival and the Emergency Vehicle Cruise Night. 

To see a video of a past show click here

For more information, visit: www.emergencyvehicleshow.com

Click here to visit the Aurora Regional Fire Museum's website

Great collection of Red Light Runners Compiled into a 6min none stop idiotic/accidental action.

Yes they drive among us, watch your back? your front, your side they are out there!

Antique fire equipment, building destroyed in blaze in Jackson County

A late-night fire that destroyed Ken Soderbeck's Jackson MI fire apparatus restoration shop. (news report below)
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/04/antique_fire_equipment_buildin.html

Antique fire equipment, building destroyed in early morning blaze in Jackson County | - MLive.com
www.mlive.com

Ledford said the building is destroyed, but some of the contents can be salvaged. He estimated the structure was worth $150,000 to $200,000, but would not venture to estimate the value of the contents.

FYI, Engine 51, from Emergency back in LA

Here is the actual Ward LaFrance Engine #51 used in the 1970s tv show "Emergency". It was brought back to L.A. from Yosemite National Park where it served for many years. It has been returned to Los Angeles and is now at the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum where a full restoration will take place.

The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum is calling all the Emergency TV show fans. We need your help with the details to restore Engine 51. This video provides a tour of outside of the Engine as it is today. Please see part 2 to see the interior and the compartments.  Los Angeles Fire Museum Association

Good Chicago FD Tribute Video

Good Chicago Fire department tribute video that had been put together, no info along with it This was posted on You Tube 2/15/2010

Parking is tough in Minneapolis in the winter

I know parking is tough in Minneapolis in the winter, Dir. of Public Works Steve Kotke will declared an Even Side Parking Restriction till April 1st or a big thaw, at a press conference at 19th and Stevens Avenue South. From The Daily Planet News

At a press conference at 19th and Stevens Avenue South, they've summoned a fire truck, and on its first attempt to reach the call at 19th and Stevens, it can't turn down 19th Street from 1st Avenue South.

Detroit truck versa Amtrak

Amtrak train hits fire truck on tracks in Detroit

Several people suffered minor injuries; the ladder truck was hit as the driver tried to move it but stopped on the train tracks

Amtrak Train Hits Detroit Fire Truck - Detroit Local News Story ...

DETROIT -- Authorities say a Chicago-bound Amtrak train with at least 76 people aboard struck a fire truck that was stopped on the tracks in southwest Detroit, causing minor injuries to several people. Monday, March 1, 2010.

Several injured when Amtrak train hits Detroit fire truck

The Associated Press DETROIT — Authorities say a Chicago-bound Amtrak train with at least 76 people aboard has slammed into a fire truck that was stopped on the tracks in southwest Detroit, causing minor injuries to several people.Executive Fire Commissioner James Mack says the ladder truck was hit as the driver tried to move it Monday morning. He says the truck and a police car were there helping ...

That will never happen, Reminder, know your vehicle

Responding Tanker Flips

You may think that this vehicle, (fire apparatus) is too heavy to roll, here is another example of how vehicle dynamic play a part in the response of the vehicle if it’s not operated in a proper manor. Speed verses curve = Watch video - another from Flashover TV

A 2001 fire at a rally car event in Argentina led a water tanker to respond, but the driver turns too quickly and crashes into a victim and two cars.

FlashoverTV is powered by FireRescue1.com

Tender Rollover

Alphano Road in Independence Township closed after reports of a fire truck rollover

  The number of injuries is unclear from the water-tender truck's rollover. Full story » 

This story here at Firefighter close calls also FD App. Rollover-2 FF's Inj (The Secret List) from FirefighterCloseCalls.Com  Hey, A fire department tanker rolled over last night around 2130 hours in Independence Township, Warren County, New Jersey. One Firefighter from the Independence Volunteer Fire Company was taken by helicopter to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and another was ground transported. Initial reports are that they were returning from training and this was not a responding incident. We have a picture and will post updates on our home page.

And this from Florida: Man drives into a parked fire truck http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/truck-24839-car-fire.html
An Ocean City-Wright fire truck escaped damage Monday morning after being struck by a small car while parked at the scene of an emergency.
The truck was on Green Street with its flashers on and its emergency lights rotating at about 3:30 a.m. when the accident occurred. No one was injured.
"For no apparent reason, it looked like he was going very slowly and drove into our fire truck," said Battalion Chief Terry Klein. "Normal people would have gone around the vehicle."
He said the car ended up with the front of the car wedged under the truck's rear bumper.
The Florida Highway Patrol was called to investigate.

Really- We are still doing this?

RESPONDING APPARATUS ROLLS OVER IN TENNESSEE  from Firefighter Close Calls

Monday, December 28, 2009  This is one more of MANY responding apparatus incidents over the last few days. In the latest incident, this one in Tennessee yesterday, 4 Firefighters were injured when their engine rolled over. The apparatus rolled over when the White House Community Volunteer Firefighters hit a ditch on their way to another crash. The truck lodged into a muddy shoulder before rollover over. No word yet on their use of seatbelts but the Firefighters suffered cracked ribs, cuts, bruises and scrapes. Our best for a rapid recovery.
SLOW DOWN - BUCKLE UP

SERIOUSLY!

More stories

HERE at Fire Fighter Close calls

 

Couple of recent Apparatus incidents Reported from Firefighter Close Calls

Good reminders that his can and may happen to you, be carful out there! It happens all too often, thinks still collide with big red trucks.

RESPONDING APPARATUS STRUCK IN DELAWARE---CIVILIAN CELL PHONING DRIVER AT FAULT Firefighter Close Calls Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - Two people were injured today in a collision between a car and a Christiana Fire Company ladder truck on U.S. 40 in Bear. The civilian driver drove around cars yielding for the ladder, and struck it. All members belted in. The civilian driver was reported to be on their cell phone at the time of the crash.

CIVILIAN BLOWS RED LIGHT AND STRIKES FIRE APPARATUS IN INDIANA - FIREFIGHTERS DOING OK

from www.firefighterclosecalls.com news

CIVILIAN BLOWS RED LIGHT AND STRIKES FIRE APPARATUS IN INDIANA - FIREFIGHTERS DOING OK

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - In Kokomo (IN) on Saturday there was an apparatus crash that injured four and heavily damaged their apparatus. Kokomo police have exonerated the three firefighters involved in the crash but state the Firefighters were not belted in.

CAR T-BONES FIRE APPARATUS IN DENVER-FF\'s FINE

from www.firefighterclosecalls.com news CAR T-BONES FIRE APPARATUS IN DENVER-FF's FINE Sunday, November 1, 2009 - Denver police are investigating a collision between a fire truck and a car that happened just before 11 a.m. Sunday. The fire truck was returning from a call and was not running lights or sirens. The car t-boned the truck, but it's not known who caused the accident...  [  more here  ]  

NIOSH Publication No. 2010-102 (October 2009)

NIOSH has issues a new publication concerning the Manual Adjustment of Automatic Slack Adjusters May Contribute to Unexpected Brake Failure on Automotive Fire Apparatus 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/SafetyAdvisory10202009.html

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that all fire departments operating fire apparatus equipped with automatic slack adjusters (ASAs) immediately take the following actions to reduce the risk of firefighters being injured in an apparatus crash due to brake failure:

• Ensure that ASAs are not manually adjusted.
• Establish procedures to ensure maintenance on fire apparatus is conducted as recommended in NFPA 1911 Standard for the Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus.
• Ensure maintenance is only performed by qualified technicians who meet NFPA 1071 Standard for Emergency Vehicle Technician Professional Qualifications.

The full text of the publication can be seen at NIOSH HERE 

Update on August Crash

Firefighter Close Calls has posted this update

Driver Who Hit Phoenix Fire Truck Cited For DUI. Fire Officer Not Secured In Seatbelt  Monday, October 26, 2009

The driver of a car that hit a Phoenix fire truck in early August faces drunken driving charges, according to a newly released Phoenix police report.
The crash involved nearly a dozen cars and ejected a career fire captain out of the front cab. Ten people were either treated at the scene or taken to the hospital, Phoenix police officers said.
The engine truck was passing through the intersection at Interstate 17 and Dunlap Avenue when a sedan crashed into the side of the emergency vehicle.
Witnesses said the engine did have its lights and sirens activated.
The report said that while the fire truck failed to slow down at the intersection of Interstate-17 and Dunlap Avenue, blood tests show Jessica Varela, 23, had methamphetamines in her system that she says were from diet pills she got in Mexico. She was also cited for driving on a suspended license and not carrying car insurance. Police said Varela was speeding when she hit the fire truck.
Fire Captain Crystal Rezzonico was thrown from the fire truck. She suffered serious head injuries and is still recovering.

The original post is HERE: PHOENIX (AZ) FIRE OFFICER CRITICAL-EJECTED IN RESPONDING APPARATUS CRASH Firefighter Close Calls

Firefighter Close Calls reporting an apparatus collision between to NYFD units

UPDATE: 13 Hurt when FDNY Apparatus Collide in Brooklyn

Saturday, October 24, 2009. Two firetrucks racing to a call of gas leak collided in Brooklyn this morning, causing one to flip over and the other to crash into a front yard, sending 12 firefighters to the hospital – some with serious leg injuries, authorities said.

Full story at Firefighter Close Calls

More apparatus incidents

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) - A Fort Wayne police and fire truck collide as both were responding to an emergency call. Full Story HERE

Is it just me or does it seem that are are entirely too many of these incidents. With all the safety initiatives that the fire service has in place it seems that this should be the exception and not the daily news?

RESPONDING VIRGINIA FIRE APPARATUS CRASH 2 hurt in Chesterfield crash  Full story at FirefighterCloseCalls.Com - Home of the Secret List Chesterfield County E-14, responding to an apartment fire, collided with a car this evening, entrapping and injuring the car's two occupants. The crash victims were taken to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries, said Chesterfield Capt. Robby Dawson. None of the three firefighters on the truck were injured, he said. The wreck occurred about 1825 when engine 14 from the department's Dutch Gap station was on its way to a reported kitchen fire at Winchester Green Apartments, Dawson said. The rig was heading northbound; it was not immediately clear what direction the car was traveling or how the two vehicles collided. "Typically when we're involved in any kind of a...

TENNESSEE MOTORCYCLES VS FIRE APPARATUS-FF's OK, BIKERS TAKEN BY MEDEVAC Full story at FirefighterCloseCalls.Com - Home of the Secret List Three Fort Campbell soldiers were injured in a collision with a Houston County fire truck at the intersection of Proctor Road and Tenn. 49, according to Tennessee Highway patrol Trooper Stephen Becker. Joshua W. Page, 19, Anthony P. Stanhope, 22, and Catlyn Danick, 21, were all transported to medical facilities,  according to Houston County Volunteer Fire Department Chief and EMA Director David Hardin. Hardin said that the fire truck, driven by 18-year-old Justin C. Smith, and the motorcycles were all travelin...