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LODD Summary: July 2009

In July there were 6 Line Of Duty Deaths:

  1. Thomas Marovich fell during a rappelling training exercise and suffered fatal traumatic injuries.   The cause of the accident is under investigation.
  2. Joseph Grace was found unresponsive in the firehouse kitchen after a busy shift.  Medical care was given immediately but he died later in the hospital.
  3. David Grass was participating in physical training when he fell ill.  He later died in the hospital of a brain injury.  Exact cause unknown.
  4. Ryan Wingard collapsed at the scene of a debris fire.  Just prior to his collapse, he reported that was not feeling well.  CPR was immediately initiated, but he also died in the hospital.  Cause is unknown.
  5. Robert Johnson died after a nine month battle with a head injury from unknown circumstances.  During a PR detail, he was found unconscious on the opposite side of the rig after not returning from getting a SCBA.  He was hospitalized but never regained consciousness.
  6. Elliott Haddix slumped over at the pump panel during a structure fire and died despite receiving immediate medical attention.  The exact cause of death is still undetermined.

In summary, there were 3 LODD attributed to stress/overexertion, 2 attributed to trauma and 1 attributed to a cerebrovascular accident.

It is difficult, if not impossible to prevent all types of health related deaths.  Some conditions are underlying, hereditary or have sudden onset with an unknown cause.  Sometimes the best we can do is maintain vigilance in participating in annual health physicals, including stress tests, to try to discover the problems before they become life threatening.  The combination of annual physicals and maintaining a healthy diet and routine exercise can be the best prevention of health related LODD.

RFB

FTM-PTB and Be Safe

Posted in Line Of Duty Deaths

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RFB: Charleston 9

It’s already been 2 years since the sofa superstore fire in charleston, sc.  I was on duty that night, surfing the web when I caught a headline that (at that time) 2 firefighters were missing at a commercial building fire in charleston.  My crew stayed up (pretty much) all night as the count continued to rise.

It hit home for us because a friend of ours works on the first due Truck to that area and we knew that if it was good fire, he’d be in the middle of it.  The feeling that we had was a combination of and denial, disbelief and gut-wrench.  Remembering that feeling actually brings it back and reminds me that what I felt is nothing compared to what those who lost loved ones feel every single day.

That fire is probably one of the most widely critiqued fire that I’ve ever seen (appropriately).  If you’ve read the “Routley Report”, listened to the audio and read the articles, you probably know that there are tremendous lessons to be learned from that fire.

Did you, or your department, learn any lessons from the tragedy in Charleston?  If not, that also is a tragedy.  That fire and the two years that have followed have brought tremendous change to the cfd.  DiD your department use the “Routley Report” as a tool to improve it’s command, Accountability, RIT, radio or daily operations?

The only truly appropriate and adequate way for us as a fire service to honor our fallen Brothers and sisters is to learn from the circumstances and events leading up to, and contributing to, their sacrifice.

FTM-PTB & Be Safe

Posted in Discussions, Line Of Duty Deaths, Safety and Health

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