By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• A St. Petersburg (Fla.) Fire Rescue memo warned firefighters to exercise caution when hooking up to hydrants after a recent injury incident.
• Firefighter Tyler Vilimek suffered a traumatic brain injury after being struck in the head by a hydrant during a call.
• The department safety officer described the incident as a “complete failure of a city hydrant.”
• Crews were advised not to position their bodies over hydrants when connecting hoses.
• The hydrant involved had been inspected about eight months earlier; it was replaced afterward.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Firefighters with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue were issued a safety warning this week to use caution when connecting to fire hydrants following an incident in which a hydrant failure seriously injured a firefighter, department and local media accounts report.
Firefighter Tyler Vilimek suffered a traumatic brain injury when a hydrant became dislodged and struck him in the head while he was establishing a water supply at a fire scene, according to the department’s safety officer and Vilimek’s family.
In an agency-wide memo sent hours after the injury, the safety officer described the event as “a complete failure of a city hydrant” and advised crews not to position their bodies over hydrants while hooking up hoses.
The hydrant that failed had been inspected approximately eight months before the incident and was documented as working; it has since been replaced by city workers, officials said.
Vilimek’s recovery is ongoing, and the department’s internal review of hydrant safety and inspection practices remains underway.