SAFETY BULLETIN  

April 20, 2009

On Saturday morning (4/18/09) at approx. 02:15, Squad 303 was in the process of clearing a 1050 pi rollover on the interloop of 695 between Greensring Ave. & I83, when it was struck by another vehicle. 

At the time of the incident Squad 303’s crew was located by the rear of the squad.  Due to one firefighter’s quick action by recognizing that the car was speeding towards them, all crew members were able to get out of the path of the rapidly approaching car.  One member had to dive into the squad to avoid being hit.  Luckily, no injuries occurred to the crew. 

The squad suffered extensive damage to the driver’s compartments and the rear…minor compared to the potential for catastrophic loss!

Please take the time to review apparatus placement, crew safety and stress the importance of not being complacent on the most routine calls!!! Keep your head on a swivel!!!!

STAY SAFE!!!!

Captain Steve Weatherby

Feb 5, 2009

Gang Issue in White Marsh

Hey y'all - - this is a TRUE STORY that happened to a friend of mine
last Thursday night. I was shocked and wanted to alert as many people as
I possibly could - this could happen to anyone.

He and his son and his son's friend were on Route 40 last Thursday
evening. There was a pick-up truck in the right lane next to them and it
kept swerving (slightly) into his lane. Finally after a couple minutes
he beeped his horn - because he thought maybe they didn't know there was
a car in that lane. The driver - who was a young-ish white guy with
short hair - (there were several people in the truck) rolled down his
window and was hanging out of the truck screaming at him.

Bill kept on driving - the truck then got behind him - RIGHT on his
bumper - high beams on - the guy still hanging out of the truck
screaming - so Bill took off.  Was speeding down Route 40 and the truck
was right on his tail.  Bill got stuck at a red light and the driver got
out of the truck and came to his door and was punching his window -
trying to break the glass and was pulling on the door handle trying to
get in.
Luckily it didn't break.  Bill told his son to call 911.  The guy was
beating on his window - screaming at him and when the window didn't
break - he started to kick the car.  Kicked the door - tried to kick the
window in - went to the back of the car - and kept kicking the car -
went to the passenger door and was trying to break that window and get
in that door.  Light turned green - Bill took off - the guys took off
right behind him... he was driving towards the police station by White
Marsh Mall.  They got another light and the same exact thing happened.
By this time they were on Honeygo Blvd.  Bill said there were cars all
around them whole time this was happening - but of course - no one got
out of their car.  Finally he turned left onto a street and the truck
went straight.  Bill's car is currently in the shop because of all the
damage this guy did while kicking and punching it.  

Bill's neighbor is a County Policeman and said that this is a form of
gang initiation(the swerving into someone's lane and if they get beeped
at - they go after the car). He told Bill that is extremely lucky that
window didn't break because they very well may have killed them - or at
the very least - beat the 'tar' out of them.  Mean while - Bill didn't
even realize that his son had not dialed 911 because he was literally
frozen with fear.
 
I wanted to pass this along - and wanted to stress the fact that there
was no 'road rage' going on here - - Bill didn't cut the truck off - or
even angrily beep - he honestly didn't think they realized he was in
that lane - so he beeped to let them know he was there.... this would
have happened to anyone who beeped at them. . .that was the whole point
of the whole thing. It wouldn't have mattered if it was a mother and her
baby in the car -- or a 64 year old grandmother (or grandfather). Feel
free to forward this to as many people as you can...  I felt like it was
important enough to forward.
 

Chiefs and Captains,

Recently, there have been a number of threatening letters containing a white powder mailed to financial institutions across the country.

See link:  http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct08/threatletters_102308.html
In light of these incidents and with the upcoming election, it is possible we will see a return of the white powder hoaxes we experienced in 2001. With this in mind it is recommended that you review the following with your personnel:

In the event of a white powder call...
- Request Police and a Hazmat response immediately.
- The role of the first in company is to isolate and deny entry to the potentially contaminated area.
- Isolate those who could have potentially been exposed to the white powder; it is important to note that exposure to a powder containing a biological hazard will most likely not cause an immediate onset of symptoms.
- The Police Dept. makes the determination as to what is a credible or non-credible white powder call.
- All cleanup or sampling of any white powder will be done by the Hazmat team. The Police Department may require that a sample be sent to the state lab. A chain of custody for this sample will have to be maintained.
- Persons potentially exposed to a white powder, even a non-credible white powder, will have to be issued a "discharge sheet". This form contains instructions for that person should they begin to experience symptoms at a later time. The Hazmat team will issue these forms to potentially exposed persons.

Please call station 14 with any questions.

 

Within our operation at BQVFD various levels of severity are bestowed upon us.  Our personal exposures range from minimal risks such as station/equip maintenance, increasing to responding to the station for calls, training safely to our own life safety on incidents and the list goes on.  I challenge every member to ensure we have a culture present where unsafe behavior is not tolerated and we strive towards utilizing all the proper PPE we have available to us (full turn out gear, reflective vests on PIs, BA, etc.).  It is critical that as members we police the activities ourselves and those personnel with us on emergency incidents for a tragedy can occur at any time.

This leads me to my point, over the weekend Lutherville VFD was running a PI rollover on I695.  Prior to clearing the incident, the six man crew of SQ303 was to the rear of the unit (with it emergency lights on) when an intoxicated driver slammed into the rear of the unit at approx 60 mph.  If it was not for the heads up of those involved, tragedy would have occurred and we would be attending the funeral of one of our own.  The firefighters on scene had to leap over the jersey wall to avoid being struck.  In speaking with the Chief Fire Officer of Co 300, it was a tremendously close incident.  The impact was so great that is shifted the entire body of SQ303 approximately 3”-4” out of alignment on the chassis.

We must be cognizant of our surroundings at all times.  While mitigating the emergency incident, please take nothing for granted and be mindful of what our exposures are while we are doing such.