Category: In The News

Jan. 31, 2023 The union is demanding gear that doesn’t contain ‘forever chemicals’ and legal actions are not off the table.

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez Source Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Life-saving equipment designed to protect firefighters has caused cancer for an unknown number of first responders, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters union.

In a Monday press conference at the Caesars Forum convention center in Las Vegas, the union announced that it had retained a trio of prominent “toxic tort law” firms to demand changes to the personal protective gear firefighters use, and to explore compensation for cancer-ridden firefighters and their families.

The organization was hosting about 2,000 of its more than 330,000 North America members for a leadership training summit in Las Vegas. The union represents about 850 firefighters in Clark County.

At issue are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” — designed to coat against substances and elements such as heat.

“The very gear designed to keep us safe is laden with these carcinogens,” said union president Edward Kelly, speaking next to firefighter’s outfit piled in a bundle. “The gear we depend on to keep us safe is killing us.”

Tens of thousands of firefighters may have been affected, Kelly said.

Toxic chemicals?

Mostly all U.S. residents have been exposed to the chemicals at issue, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Most known exposures are relatively low, but some can be high, particularly when people are exposed to a concentrated source over long periods of time. Some PFAS chemicals can accumulate in the body over time,” the federal agency’s website said.

The CDC highlighted fire department personnel as being apt to that exposure. “Current scientific research suggests that exposure to high levels of certain PFAS may lead to adverse health outcomes,” the agency said.

That outcome is cancer, according to the union “And cancer is the No. 1 killer of firefighters,” Kelly said.

Up to three-quarters of firefighters memorialized in the past year died from “occupational cancer,” the Boston firefighter added.

Kelly has served in the 16-member executive board of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. Three of those board members, who worked in different departments, have been diagnosed with testicular cancer, he said.

“One can surmise that their exposure was through the very turnout gear; (personal protective equipment) that they draw on day in and day out that’s laden with these chemicals,” Kelly said.

Possible litigation

The union decided to retain the law firms Motley Rice, LLC; Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC; and Sullivan Papain Block McGrath Coffinas & Cannavo P.C.

“Collectively, they have decades of experience representing firefighters and hard-working families who’ve been taken advantage of by corporate interests,” Kelly said. “This is the challenge of our generation. And I refuse to let that challenge become a problem for the next generation or our grandchildren.”

Attorney Daniel Blouin with Simmons Hanly Conroy said that it’s not a “job requirement” to get cancer as a result of firefighters’ work.

“These firefighters all around this country and in Canada do not deserve the treatment that the manufacturers of these products have given,” he said. “It starts to stop now.”

The union is demanding gear that’s free of the chemicals in question, and wants the National Fire Protection Association — an agency designated by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration — to change its regulatory standards.

Firefighters in European countries, for example, use safer gear, Kelly said.

The gear U.S. firefighters use has been in circulation since the late 1980s and early 1990s, despite “chemical corporations” knowing the chemicals were “toxic” decades prior to that, Kelly said.

Watch BURNED; Protecting the Protectors Documentary.

It wasn’t clear what action the law firms would take, but a class-action lawsuit is a possibility, they said.

“We are certainly exploring our options and we are intent on taking this fight wherever it goes,” Kelly said.

Attorney Joe Rice with Motley Rice told the Review-Journal that the such litigation would be as wide-scaled as cases relating to asbestos, tobacco and pharmaceutical opioids.

Hollywood-produced documentary

At the union’s announcement coincided with the release of the documentary “Burned: Protecting the Protectors,” which highlights the plight of Diane Cotter, the wife of former Worcester, Mass., firefighter Paul Cotter, who had to medically retire after a 2014 aggressive testicular cancer diagnosis.

“He had no symptoms, no family history, and he had no indication of suffering from aggressive prostate cancer,” she said Monday. “What he went through led to his early retirement from his job that he loved.”

His anguish and depression made her dive deep into research — having contacted hundreds of people and experts — about the chemicals in firefighters’ gear, which was found to have high levels of toxicity, she said.

The film was produced by Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo.

The findings on the harmful effects of the chemicals on firefighters are relatively new, and Diane Cotter is a big reason why, Kelly said.

“(Cotter) really started pulling the string on this issue and fought against a lot of pressure coming from all sides to try to silence her,” he said.

Kelly added: “And I will tell you, she’s a hero with the firefighters.”

Jan. 30, 2023 No criminal charges have been filed against the terminated fire personnel.

Source Firehouse.com News

Two EMTs and a lieutenant have been fired by the Memphis Fire Department following an investigation of their actions during the incident involving Tyre Nichols.

They have not been criminally charged.

“After concluding our internal investigation, it was determined that EMT-B Robert Long, EMT-A JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Whitaker violated numerous MFD policies and protocols. As a result EMT-B Long, EMT-A Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker have been terminated from the Memphis Fire Department,” the statement from the fire department said.

Lt. Whitaker stayed in the engine the entire time, the department noted.

Memphis fire officials said the actions or inactions of the personnel that night do not meet the expectations of the department. 

Nichols died Jan. 10, three days after he was beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop. Five officers have been charged with murder. 

Jan. 30, 2023 Pittsburgh firefighters quickly assessed the incident at Fern Hollow Bridge and rescued victims.

By Megan Guza Source Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

PITTSBURGH — There is no concrete playbook for handling catastrophes.

The challenges and outcomes can depend on time, the environment, and maybe even fate.

The grim possibilities are endless, said Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones, and so those in emergency management and emergency preparedness must play the odds.

“There are so many what-ifs that you have, and we can’t be prepared for all of them because we don’t have enough resources,” Jones said recently in his Strip District office, looking back on the events of Jan. 28, 2022, when the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed into a ravine in Frick Park.

“So we just have to play the numbers game — which one has a higher probability of happening? We prepare for those.”

Despite Pittsburgh’s hundreds of bridges, the collapse of one of them wasn’t high on Jones’ list of potential calamities prior to this time last year. Such disasters don’t happen here — until they do.

“When you got 450 of them, maybe you need to start inching that one up the list a little bit,” Jones says now.

Like many, he didn’t even know the name of the Fern Hollow Bridge a year ago. Had the text message he received at home that Thursday morning included the name, he still would have assumed “bridge collapse” meant a pedestrian bridge.

“All the time I’m thinking this is a footbridge or some minor type of bridge,” he said. “I’m not thinking a major roadway.”

Once in his car, he heard the police scanner chatter that would later be played again and again on television and radio news broadcasts.

“Female screaming on the phone, possible vehicle over the bridge, stating the bridge gave out. Unknown injuries,” says a dispatcher.

“It’s not clear what’s happening,” another voice said. “We could either have a partial bridge collapse of the bridge that goes over Frick Park or we got a vehicle that wrecked off the bridge and fell approximately 100 feet into Frick Park.”

Then, another voice through the static, this one from a Port Authority dispatcher: “I have bus 3309 that’s on that bridge with several passengers inside, and he’s confirming the bridge has collapsed.”

Buses don’t drive over footbridges, Jones thought. That meant it was a bridge that likely had cars and people atop it. A collapse that he believed probably meant mass casualties — injuries, possibly deaths, and who knows what else.

A career firefighter, he would help to coordinate the emergency response to the collapse, which sent several vehicles and the bus crashing down alongside twisted metal and hunks of concrete from the Forbes Avenue span that connected Squirrel Hill and Regent Square.

Ten people were injured when the 447-foot “K-style” bridge broke apart and fell into the park, sparking a massive response that by some twist of fate occurred the same day that President Joe Biden was set to visit Pittsburgh to tout an equally massive infrastructure bill.

In those minutes after the first 911 calls, which came about 6:40 a.m., what lay below in the ravine was unclear. Jones expected the worst, but that wasn’t the case.

“There was no mass casualty because a few people on the bus, a couple people in cars — that was all that there was,” he said.

The weather was in peak Pittsburgh-winter form: 26 degrees with a few flakes of the overnight snow still falling. Roads around the city were thick with dirty snow and slush.

Such weather can paralyze traffic sometimes, but Jones said he believes the wintry weather combined with the early hour helped to save lives.

“If it would have been a little bit later or there wouldn’t have been a two-hour (school) delay, God only knows how many vehicles would have been on that bridge or if any school buses would have been on that bridge,” he said. “It might have been a different story.”

That has been the consensus from the beginning — that slush and snow and cold likely saved lives that day. Pittsburgh Public Schools were on a two-hour delay. It was barely the start of rush hour. There weren’t many people on bus No. 3309 that early.

By the time Jones arrived, EMS District Chief Antwain Carter had established command of the scene, and Jones jumped in.

He and other first responders formed a human chain to help pull those who were ambulatory up the steep sides of the ravine. Four-wheel-drive vehicles were used to get to the section of park where the bridge fell to help bring the severely injured to the top.

Among them was paramedic Jon Atkinson. He was off that day but awoke to a barrage of text messages from friends asking about a bridge collapse. He hopped in his truck and drove to the scene, shocked at what he saw.

“You don’t expect to actually see a giant hole where a bridge used to be — a bridge that I had driven across thousands of times,” he said, explaining that he had previously worked on that side of town.

“For 17 years, I crossed that bridge a thousand times and never even gave it a thought,” he said. “You don’t realize how high up that bridge is until you’re under it.”

Atkinson ended up driving his truck beneath it, along narrow, snowy hiking trails to help bring the injured out. As one woman was bundled securely into the back of his truck, a man asked whether he could catch a ride to the top.

“Turns out he was on the bridge when it collapsed as well,” Atkinson said. “He just wanted to get to work. I thought it was nuts — I’d be going to play the lottery or something.”

The rest of the day, and those that followed, played out largely within the public eye: social media memes, announcements of lawsuits, drone shots from high above the crumpled bridge, and the sight of a massive 450-ton crane hoisting a 60-foot articulated bus high into the sky.

Now, a year later, the aftershock of the bridge collapse lingers, despite its rebuild and reopening. Lawsuits filed by those who were injured are pending, and they continue to recover.

Court records document their injuries: Penn Hills couple Velva and Tyrone Perry suffered vertebrae fractures and spent time in full body casts. Bus driver Darryl Luciani still has physical and emotional pain.

And it’s still unclear why the bridge collapsed.

In a report released Thursday, National Transportation Safety Board investigators offered new insight but no answers.

They’ve inspected multiple fractures in the legs of the bridge, which had been rated as being in poor condition since 2011. Testing at a government lab in Virginia is nearing completion, investigators wrote, and the results will be compared to “specifications referenced in the bridge’s original design plans.”

And a year later, Atkinson, the paramedic, still can’t truly believe what happened.

“The biggest thing for me is not what we did, but ‘holy (crap), this bridge actually collapsed,’” he said. “I can’t believe nobody was killed.”

He said while the entire incident was, as he puts it, unorthodox, he doesn’t think he did anything terribly notable.

“It’s just what he do,” he said of those in emergency services. “You just kind of do what needs done.”

And Jones said that despite the life-changing — and, he hopes, once-in-a-lifetime — incident, little has changed in the way he and his crews respond to emergencies.

“The basics are still the same,” he said, pointing to three main goals: Life safety, stabilization of the incident, and protection of property. “So long as we’re doing everything under those three, we’ll be OK.”

The what-ifs offer perspective.

“The X factor is, is it going to be a bridge collapse, is it going to be a building collapse, is it going to be a severe winter storm? A terrorist attack? What if it would have been a bridge that collapsed over water? What if the bridge didn’t just pancake but tilted over?”

All told, he said, he doesn’t think he’d change much of the emergency response that day. Everything that could go right did go right, he said, though the experience did show that the disaster odds he talked about might need to be recalculated from time to time.

“As the saying goes, I’d rather be lucky than good,” Jones said. “And we were very fortunate. Lessons learned: Never say never.”

Jan. 30, 2023 Two Memphis firefighters were ‘relieved of duty’ following the death of Tyre Nichols.

Source Firehouse.com News

Angry Memphis residents are demanding answers from Fire Chief Gina Sweat regarding the firefighters involved in Tyre Nichols’ initial care. 

Two EMTs were ‘relieved of duty’ last week as the investigation of Nichols’ death continued and widened. 

As protesters made their way through the streets Saturday, they stopped near the Memphis Fire Museum and called out for the chief to answer questions, ABC 24 reported.

One of the protestors told the crowd: “I wanna tell you how I feel about the fire department. I love them. I lost everything. Never in a million years would I think of protesting the fire department. The police and the fire department showed up, and I told them to tell the police to get the [expletive] back.”

While the firefighters helped her after her house burned down three years ago, she still wants answers from them about Nichols’ death. 

“We are gonna hold the fire department responsible, too,” she said. “No one is exempt.”

Jan. 30, 2023 East Orange, NJ, Interim Chief Bruce Davis said the exterior fire spread up to the roof.

Source Firehouse.com News

Residents in two houses in East Orange were alerted to a fire by an off-duty firefighter and escaped without injury Sunday morning.

Interim Chief Bruce Davis said the original call was for an exterior fire between the two three-story buildings, All County News reported. 

However, the fire went up the exterior to the roof, the chief said.

The cause of the two-alarm fire is under investigation.

Jan. 30, 2023 Former North Myrtle Beach Firefighter Kevin Polich is facing two charges in another area of the state.

Source Firehouse.com News

A North Myrtle Beach firefighter was terminated after he was charged with offenses involving a minor.

Kevin Polich was charged with criminal solicitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor, WMBF reported.

The alleged offenses occurred in another area of the state. He was booked into the Greenville County Detention Center.

The City of North Myrtle Beach confirmed to area media that Polich was a firefighter but was terminated.

“We were shocked to learn about these allegations, and the city will fully cooperate with law enforcement and any other investigating agencies as needed. Crimes against minors in any form are reprehensible, and have devastating effects on children, families, and communities.” Donald Graham, the city’s spokesperson, wrote in the statement.

Jan. 30, 2023 Sacramento firefighters used 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames.

By David Caraccio SourceThe Sacramento Bee (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8dIw-pbcs

The battery compartment of a Tesla Model S vehicle “spontaneously caught fire” on eastbound Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova around 4 p.m. Saturday, slowing traffic near Sunrise Boulevard, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

Crews used 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire as two fire engines, a water tender and a ladder truck arrived to find the Tesla engulfed in flames, according to Metro Fire officials. Crews used jacks to gain access beneath the vehicle to extinguish and cool the battery cells.

“The vehicle battery compartment spontaneously caught fire while it was traveling freeway speeds on EB Hwy 50,” the fire department said in a tweet. “The fire was extinguished with approx 6,000 gallons of water, as the battery cells continued to combust. Thankfully no injuries were reported.”

The California Highway Patrol was forced to close two lanes.

At 4:19 p.m., the CHP incident log revealed the difficulty of trying to put out the battery fire.

“Fire is not going out/going to try to flood (vehicle),” CHP reported.

It’s not the first time Metro Fire crews worked hard to put out a Tesla battery fire. In June 2022, a white Tesla burst into flames and kept reigniting at a California wrecking yard. The car had been involved in a crash three weeks prior and had “major damage,” fire officials said. It was sitting at the wrecking yard to be dismantled.