Feb. 21, 2023 Clearwater Fire Chief Schott Ehlers apologized: “These two did not perform to the standard of care that our citizens expect and deserve.”

Source firehouse.com News

Two Clearwater paramedics are off the street after a man they pronounced dead last week was breathing.

They were suspended by the department and the Pinellas County EMS Medical Director’s Office, WFLA reported.

The man they declared deceased is recovering in the intensive care unit and working with a speech therapist.

“His lips were blue and he was cold but I was doing CPR, and my friend was there and she was doing chest compressions. His chest was going up and down and he was making noises, so his lungs were working.” Phebe Maxwell told reporters. 

She said the medics checked her dad’s wrist and told her he was gone.

“I’m like ‘He’s still breathing!’” Phebe told the reporter. “He’s like ‘No ma’am, he’s gone, those are just his body releasing gases.’”

And, they left.

Later, a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputy who went to the home to investigate Thomas Maxwell’s death saw that he was still breathing. But, Clearwater medics were not called to return.

A Largo ambulance crew rushed Maxwell to the hospital.

Maxwell is worried about the time lapse — 28 minutes from the initial call until Largo medics arrived. 

“I’m frustrated, hurt and mad. I don’t know what this is going to do to my dad. I don’t know what kind of life he’s going to have now,” she said. 

Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers told reporters: “Upon notification of this incident, we immediately removed both fire medics from their normal duties and discontinued their abilities to provide patient care, in conjunction with the county’s medical director.” 

His statement continued: “On behalf of the city, I apologize for the actions and the inactions of our crew during this incident. We have strict policies and procedures in place that were not followed, according to our preliminary review. These two did not perform to the standard of care that our citizens expect and deserve.”

Feb. 20, 2023 Fireworks ignited the ceiling, sparking a blaze that claimed the lives of 100 patrons.

By Susan Nicol Source firehouse.com News

Twenty years ago today, people crowded into a Rhode Island night club enjoying a rock band with friends when things went terribly wrong.

Fireworks ignited the sound-proofing foam on the walls, causing the Station Night Club to erupt into an inferno. Panic set in as the crowd scrambled in the dark, choking from the thick toxic smoke to find a way out.

Although there were other exits, many headed toward the door they entered. It was a deadly mistake for many.

In the end, 100 didn’t make it out. More than 200 others were hurt in the fourth deadliest night club blaze in U.S. history.

Before the ashes cooled, NFPA called an emergency meeting for authorities to review life and safety codes including ones dealing with sprinklers and occupancy, Gregory Harrington, principal engineer, told Firehouse.com.

Just days before the Station Night Club tragedy, a stampede at an overcrowded nightclub in Chicago claimed 21 lives. 

In that incident, 1,100 people had crowded in nightclub, which was only capable of holding 240. The exit leading from the second floor to the outside was too narrow, authorities said. 

The Chicago incident was overshadowed by the Station Nightclub fire, officials say.

Studies show that the majority of people who enter a building will use the same exit to leave even though there are others, Harrington said.

Among the codes developed or modified after the nightclub tragedies require oversized doors at entrances and exits.

Harrington said trained crowd managers also are required to be on duty to direct people to exits in the event of an emergency. “The number of staff increases with the occupancy level,” he explained.

Survivors and families of the victims will never forget and have worked over the past two decades for changes.

NFPA officials also established guidelines for automatic sprinklers in nightclubs. They are required in new venues with a capacity of 50 or more as well as in existing establishments with 100 or more.

The biggest change was the elimination of ‘grandfathering’ buildings to allow existing nightclubs to forgo the sprinkler requirement. 

Individual jurisdictions have to adopt NFPA life safety codes.

On the night of the fire, a local TV station crew was filming inside the club and captured the fireworks igniting the foam ceiling as well as the panic that ensued. 

Arriving firefighters encountered throngs of injured people.

In 13 seconds, the video shows flames extending eight to 10 feet out the entryway as a line is stretched — through fleeing occupants, over injured persons on the ground and around parked cars and the tour bus. Nine seconds later, flames were out all front windows. 

NIST fire engineers conducted an extensive investigation into the Station Nightclub fire. 

“Measurements in a fire test conducted on a mockup of a portion of The Station nightclub platform and dance floor produced—within 90 seconds—temperatures, heat fluxes and combustion gases well in excess of accepted survivability limits.

A computer simulation of the full nightclub fire suggests that conditions around the dance floor, sunroom and dart room would have led to severe incapacitation or death within about 90 seconds after ignition of the foam for anyone remaining standing in those areas – and not much longer even for those close to the nightclub floor,” according to their investigative report. 

Feb. 20, 2023 Oakland Battalion Chief James Bowron said two children in the car suffered minor injuries.

By Carolyn Said Source San Francisco Chronicle (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Feb. 18—An out-of-control car slammed into an Oakland garage on Saturday evening, shearing a gas main and igniting a major blaze that drew 30 firefighters.

The fire was under control at 7:48 p.m — more than two hours after the crash was reported, said Michael Hunt, a spokesperson for the Oakland Fire Department.

Until that time, firefighters were still controlling the blaze while Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was using an excavator to dig up the sidewalk to access the main line and shut off the gas, he said.

The gas-fed fire could not be capped because it had the potential to cause an explosion.

“We do leave the gas burning,” Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief James Bowron said in a news conference on Twitter before the gas was shut off. “We’re holding the fire in check. Having the gas burn is the safest for everyone, it consumes all the fuel.”

The car’s five occupants — two parents and their three preteen children — all extricated themselves safely from the vehicle and were sitting on the curb when first responders arrived, Hunt said. Two of the children were transported to Children’s Hospital “as a precautionary measure,” Hunt said, but none had significant injuries.

It appeared that mechanical failure was the cause, Hunt said.

The house associated with the garage was unoccupied at the time. A neighboring garage and house, which appeared to be under construction, also caught fire and sustained minor damage, Hunt said.

The car was traveling on Campus Drive below Merritt College. It crossed Redwood Road at a high rate of speed and came onto Sereno Circle, where it hit a curb and traveled an additional 40 yards or so into the detached garage where it hit the residential gas main, Hunt said. No other vehicles were in the garage.

No neighbors had to be evacuated, and there was no danger to the rest of the neighborhood, Hunt said.

“It was a great job by crews to contain the fire to the primary structure of origin and to keep the fire away from the rest of the home,” he said.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jordan Parker contributed to this report.

Feb. 20, 2023 Firefighters encountered heavy fire showing from the vacant Edwardsville church.

By Firehouse.com News

Firefighters from several departments spent Suday battling a blaze at the former St. Hedwig’s Roman Catholic Church.

Crews encountered heavy fire coming from the windows about 6:30 a.m., according to The Times Leader.

The fire spread up a staircase inside the building, across a second-level balcony and kept going. 

Firefighters remained on the scene for more than eight hours to hit hot spots. T

The church has been vacant since 2007 when it was closed by the Diocese of Scranton during a diocese-wide consolidation effort.

The former school building next door, owned by Catholic Social Services, was not damaged by the fire.  

The cause is under investigation. 

No injuries were reported. 

Feb. 19, 2023 Four Costa Contra firefighters, who were injured in the crash, jumped out to help the car’s occupants.

By Robert Salonga Sourec Bay Area News Group (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

WALNUT CREEK — A driver died after crashing a Tesla sedan into the side of a fire truck that was part of a response to an earlier crash near an Interstate 680 offramp early Saturday, authorities said.

The fatal collision was reported around 3:50 a.m. near the Treat Boulevard offramp from northbound I-680, according to a California Highway Patrol dispatch log.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District confirmed the crash in a tweet accompanied by photos that was posted Saturday morning. In the post, the fire agency stated that firefighters were tending to a non-injury collision when the driver of a Tesla sedan hit the right side of a ladder truck.

Fire officials said the driver died at the scene, and that a passenger riding in the Tesla had to be cut out of the car and was taken to a local hospital with unspecified injuries. Photos show that the front of the sedan was crushed, and damage to the right side of the fire vehicle.

Four firefighters were also taken to the hospital for evaluation of what were later described as minor injuries, according to the fire district.

“Slow down and move over when approaching vehicles,” the fire district added in its tweet.

Additional information was not available Saturday evening.

Feb. 19, 2023 Lake Mills Fire Chief Todd Yandre left a training drill and was in a gym when he collapsed.

Source Firehouse.com News

The Lake Mills community is grieving the loss of their fire chief.

Fire Chief Todd Yandre died Feb. 15 after attending a training drill, WKOW reported.

Yandre collapsed at the gym where he went after training, officials said, adding that it was his tradition.

Despite efforts of his colleagues, he could not be revived.

“His passion was the fire department and training future firefighters,” Yandre’s brother, Mark told reporters.

Mark, who is the assistant chief, said his brother was dedicated and spent more than 41 years.

Visitation will take place on Saturday Feb. 25 at the Lake Mills Elementary School from 3- 7 at 155 E. Pine Street. Visitation will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at the same location.

The service will begin at 2 p.m.   

Feb. 19, 2023 Montgomery County firefighters rescued residents from the Silver Spring high-rise.

Source Firehouse.com News

A high-rise fire in an apartment building in Silver Spring has left a woman dead and 15 others injured.

Three Montgomery County firefighters suffered injuries as well but are expected to recover, WUSA reported. 

Chief Scott Goldstein said the Arrive Apartments are made up of two connected buildings with roughly 1,200 to 1,300 residents.

The buildings had sprinkler systems, but those sprinkler systems were limited to stairwells and other mechanical areas. There were none in the hallways or units.

Goldstein said the fire was contained to one apartment.