Firefighters in rural Caddo County were limited to what emergency care they could offer to patients while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
But, that’s about to change for residents served by the Cogar Fire Department.
New certifications will allow them to perform more than just basic first aid, KOCO reported.
“It’s a huge weight lifted off our shoulders knowing that we can perform our duties that we’ve been trained to do,” Fire Chief Jacon Hickey said adding that some have earned EMRA licenses from Heartland Medical Direction.
“I would say 10 years ago we were under 10% medical calls, and this past year, we’re 60 to 70% medical calls,” said Hickey. “We’ve really tried to put an emphasis on that and get some more EMTs and EMRs on the department.”
The team of 14 now has one EMT and one EMR, with four finishing school early next year.
When Dallas Fire-Rescue firefighters got a call for a fire at Parkway Quarter condos Wednesday afternoon, they were very familiar with the address. They’d been there earlier to douse flames.
This time it was a fire in the same building but different units, WFAA reported.
Firefighters say the two appear to be unrelated. But the incidents remain under investigation.
The first fire, they say, was electrical and had started in a wall. They were on the scene from 1:30 a.m. until about noon.
Gina Harris went back into her condo to check for damage. There was water, but the fire had stopped at the unit next door.
Suddenly, there was a familiar odor and sight — smoke.
“We were like, is that smoke?” she said. “By the time we came out to the parking lot there was full-fledged fire all over again.”
Barely an hour after they’d left, crews returned to a raging fire, one that would go to four alarms.
“This most recent fire involved an area that did not appear to have any damage from the previous fire,” said DFR spokesman Jason Evans. “That being said, we cannot confirm that it has anything to do with being a rekindle or anything to do with the first fire.”
Power had been shut off to the entire building, so the second fire was almost certainly not electrical in nature, Evans said.
“Right now, it’s believed to be unrelated to the first,” he said.
A longtime Alpha Fire Company firefighter was removed from the department earlier this week after police say he exchanged lewd photos and messages with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl.
During a search warrant at his home, police seized computers and cell phones.
He swapped online messages with an officer, who was posing as a teen, telling her his desire to have oral and vaginal sex, police said in a court document.
Officers said they estimated he messaged about a dozen children on the app.
When he was confronted at the meeting site by police, he was filmed saying he knew better.
“I’m just seeing everything I’ve worked for — everything I’ve done — just disappearing,” he said. He later added: “I don’t have any excuse. I f—– up.”
An alert Tampa garbage truck driver averted a tragedy Wednesday morning when he noticed something amiss while on his regular duty.
He spotted something moving when he looked at the truck’s camera after emptying a dumpster, according to FOX13.
It was a man, who likely crawled into the dumpster to sleep.
The driver quickly called 911, and Tampa Fire Rescue crews responded.
Several firefighters got into the back of the rig and secured him to a board and Stokes basket. He was gingerly hoisted out of the rig by a crew operating a ladder truck.
“During the holidays, these transient patients are trying to find warmth,” explained Capt. Henry Williams with Tampa Fire Rescue. “Everything came into play just as it needed to be. We had an alert driver who absolutely avoided catastrophe.”
While Sacramento area first responders put on a holiday lights show at Shriners Children’s Hospital, the night had a special meaning for one of their own.
Firefighter Ryan Hatfield told ABC 10 that he knows what it’s like to be young and on the mend at Shriners.
When he was 12, Hatfield suffered a broken back.
“[Shriners] cared for me a long time ago and got me up and running, and able to have the life that I have today,” he said.
Now, Hatfield is giving back.
Hatfield was there with several other local first responders to light up the night sky for patients.
Normally the sight of an air ladder drawn up to the window of the hospital is harrowing, but this time, it was all smiles for both crews and patients.
“We can get up next to those kids and dance for them, say ‘Hi,’ (and) give them some fist bumps through the window,” Hatfield said.
Michelle O’Hara, who works with the kids at Shriners, said, “I think it goes without saying, being hospitalized at any age is tough, but especially for children. These are the kids’ heroes, and so to have that little connection with them is pretty amazing.”
Hatfield especially knows what it’s like to be young and on the mend at Shriners as well.
While the kids might see the first responders as heroes, tonight, Hatfield says their bravery has him looking up to them.
Dec. 21—An Edgewood woman was sentenced to four life sentences plus 20 years for setting a house fire that killed four people and injured three others.
A Harford County Circuit Court jury found Bobbie Sue Hodge, 63, guilty of first-degree arson, felony murder and assault in an October trial. She faced a maximum sentence of four life sentences plus 30 years.
Hodge was represented by a public defender. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hodge was one of nine people who lived in a three-story townhouse in the 1800 block of Simons Court in Edgewood when the fire happened in the early morning hours of May 9, 2019. Ernest Lee, 57, Dionne Hill, 32, and Kimberly Shupe, 47, died in the fire that law enforcement officers determined Hodge had set.
Lee called 911 around 2:30 a.m. to report the fire, which engulfed the third floor of the house, where Lee, Hill and Shupe lived and died. Marquise St. John, who also lived on the third floor, jumped out of a bedroom window and broke his ankle and arm.
Mary Elizabeth Kennedy, 72, who lived on the second floor, was rescued but died months later from severe burns.
Hodge and two other occupants escaped the fire. She was charged with second-degree assault for endangering the surviving occupants.
The Maryland State Fire Marshal, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions, and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office conducted a joint investigation and later charged Hodge with arson and murder. Local and federal authorities said in 2019 that Hodge made “multiple threats” to burn the townhouse.” Officials said the town house was set up as an illegal group home that fit nine people.
Investigators determined the fire caused $300,000 in damages to the home where the fire started and the five others to which the fire extended.
The origin of the fire was the second floor of the living room, and the cause was classified as incendiary, meaning it was set either intentionally or accidentally during other criminal activity. Witnesses also said they saw Hodge leave the room where the fire started at the time, and a recorded call from one of the deceased occupants named Hodge as the person who started the fire, officers wrote in charging documents.
“This tragedy shocked our Harford County community. It is my hope that this verdict and now sentence is a step towards healing for the surviving victims and the families of those who lost loved ones,” Harford County State’s Attorney Albert Peisiner Jr. said in a statement.
Hodge’s trial was postponed at least three times since she was arrested in July 2019. Hodge was committed to a Maryland Department of Health facility in March 2021 after being found not competent to stand trial. In September, health department officials and the court found her competency was restored.
Dec. 20—A collision Tuesday between a semitrailer pulling a concrete bridge beam and a Norfolk Southern train in Collegedale derailed the train, left two people with minor injuries, and the crossing where the incident happened completely blocked as an investigation continues into what happened.
According to Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Amy Maxwell, a motorist alerted officials to the collision about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department and Collegedale Police Department responded to the scene and confirmed a large train derailment.
Initially described by officials just getting to the scene as a collision with a concrete truck, the big rig was actually carrying a beam measuring 134 feet long, Maxwell said.
Firefighters called for a mutual aid for additional emergency crews and hazardous materials clean up efforts, Maxwell said. Hamilton County hazmat and Hamilton County Rescue and Chattanooga Fire Department responded.
According to fire officials, the driver of the tractor trailer was stopped on the railroad tracks waiting for the light to turn green on Tucker Road, Maxwell said. The Norfolk Southern railroad system activated its crossing arms, and the tractor trailer was unsuccessful getting clear of the railroad tracks and was hit by the train, she said.
“Three locomotives and 10 railroad cars derailed and slammed into each other causing a disastrous mess,” Maxwell said.
Photo Gallery
Train derailment in Collegedale on Dec. 20, 2022.
A 14-second video posted to Facebook on Tuesday shows the truck with the bridge beam across the tracks as the train with its horn blaring smashed into the beam near the rear trailer wheels. The beam was knocked into the air as it tangled on the leading locomotive engine and was dragged down the tracks and out of sight in a cloud of dust and debris.
Two Norfolk employees sustained minor injuries and were transported to area hospitals, and emergency crews used absorbent booms and pads to assist with the large diesel spill for the three locomotives, Maxwell said.
In an email, Norfolk Southern spokesman Connor Spielmaker said there have been no reports that any hazardous materials train cars were involved.
Tennessee Department of Transportation spokeswoman Rae-Anne Bradley said the concrete beam was being delivered to the Apison Pike project. University Drive and Apison Pike remain closed near the scene, Bradley said Tuesday in an emailed statement. The closure will stay in place until the investigation has been completed.
“Consider an alternate route through the area if possible,” Bradley said. “This will be a lengthy closure.”
Collegedale Police Department Assistant Chief Jamie Heath was at a loss to describe the wreckage less than 15 minutes after reaching the scene Tuesday.
In July, an Apopka firefighter died of injuries sustained when a trailer of sand fell on him at his fire station.
A report pointed to lack of training led to the incident that claimed Austin Duran, WESH reported.
A committee was formed to suggest what safety measures should be implemented to prevent another incident.
IAFF Local President Lt. Alex Klepper quit the committee recently saying pushback from officials is stalling the work.
Klepper wrote in his letter of resignation: “Ever since this committee started looking into Austin’s accident, we have been met with pushback to the point that the fire administration appears to be bending over backward to exclude us, its own safety committee, from doing a simple post-incident critique.”
Also, District Chief Jerold Maynard, who chairs the committee, said in another letter that the post-incident critique was something he advocated to complete, but he claims: “…we have been instructed by the City Attorney and the Fire Chief that we cannot proceed forward at this time.”
Michael Duran, the firefighter’s father, says he’s frustrated.
“We can’t even get the safety committee to last five months. We already have senior firefighters that are dropping out,” he told a reporter. “This incident needs to be investigated thoroughly and completely.”
City officials can’t comment due to a pending suit.
Dec. 21—Pittsburgh Public Safety is looking to get more hands on deck when a shooting takes place in the city.
Effective Monday morning, Pittsburgh firefighters will respond, along with police and EMS, to all crime scenes involving gunshot wounds, Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt told the Tribune-Review. Previously, firefighters only responded to mass casualty situations, or scenes involving multiple gunshot victims.
“They will be there to support the police and EMS,” Schmidt said. “I think this also provides our firefighters with some experience in trauma situations so, if there is a mass shooting, they’re more prepared.”
“It’s all about providing the best service to the communities we serve,” he added.
The new plan is in no way a response to Pittsburgh currently experiencing a spike in homicides and gun violence, Schmidt said.
The plan pre-dates Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration and has been vetted by Acting Police Chief Thomas Stangrecki, Fire Chief Darryl Jones, and EMS Chief Ron Romano, Schmidt said. It also had been reviewed with each division’s respective union.
All Pittsburgh firefighters are trained at the level of an EMT, a step below a paramedic, and they know their way around a crime scene, said Ralph Sicuro, president of Pittsburgh Firefighters Local Union #1. Some firefighters have sought certification as paramedics, and the department employs some firefighters trained as nurses.
City firefighters were medically trained as early as the 1980s, and have been certified as EMTs since training for that started around 2005, he said.
“Any time you have an existing resource being used to help with citizens, I think that’s a positive,” Sicuro told the Tribune-Review.
Robert Swartzwelder — president of Pittsburgh’s police officers’ union, Fraternal Order of Police Local #1 — supported Schmidt’s move to send city firefighters to all shootings.
“I think it’s a smart move, to assist with citizens when there’s a mass casualty situation,” he said. “The three emergency response units were always designed to work together.”
The EMS union, Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics Local #1, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
