We never know what lies around the next corner. I remember being on duty in the fire station,several years ago and getting dispatched to I-95. It was the epitome of mayhem. A tractor trailer driver was in the lane, closest to the median, minding his own business. As he rounded the curve, he saw a vehicle wreak ahead. He could have barreled through and hurt or killed many people. Instead, he swerved to miss them, causing his truck and trailer to jackknife. His truck would bust through the concrete median, causing his truck to catch fire. The burns that this…
Browsing: Fire & Life Safety
Spring has sprung. With temperatures on the rise, plants are blooming and leaves are coming out. Another thing that comes out are the fertilizers, lime, insecticides, and pesticides. To control weeds, grow greener and thicker lawns and control things like ants, we resort to chemical agents. The problem is that most of us are not chemists. It is important that we read the labels on the stuff that we are using. We want to ensure that we are applying whatever we are using, properly. One piece of that might mean that we need to wear some type of protective clothing.…
For years, the fire service, the medical community, and insurance companies have stressed the importance of having carbon monoxide detectors in homes and businesses. A fact about carbon monoxide is that our bodies have a 200 times greater affinity for CO than it does for oxygen. In other words, our bodies desire carbon monoxide (not to be confused with carbon dioxide) over oxygen, but carbon monoxide can kill us. There are two lethal situations with carbon monoxide, the acute and the cumulative exposures. An acute exposure is an immediate high dose, and the cumulative effect occurs at a lower dose…
Not a week goes by that we do not hear about a fire in our region. The most recent fire occurred in Northern Chesterfield. It appears that the fire started on a rear deck, with extension into the attic and subsequently into the rest of the home. This fire displaced a family of four, and though I have not heard the cause, I think that we can still talk about a fire like this one. Even though every fire is different in some way all fires have some commonalities, especially in the major components of heat, fuel, and oxygen.…
A few days ago, a mobile home caught fire, destroying the mobile home and displacing the two occupants. I do not know whether the results of the investigation are known yet, as to what caused the fire. I do not know the statistics, but it seems that more mobile home fires are occurring. I can remember, when I first became a firefighter in Chesterfield County, that it seemed almost like a daily occurrence to run a working trailer fire. Though I really do not know what changed, the number of mobile home fires, through the latter years of my career,…
T here are weather events that increase the probability of a fire starting and rapidly getting out of control. A week or so ago, we had one of those events. A strong wind came through at night, and three working incidents took place during that time. A house, a detached garage, a large out building, and a few acres of woodlands, in three different locations in the county, caused the evacuation of some and firefighters to be busy through the night. Wind-driven fires, given the right conditions, have the potential for rapid fire spread once they get started. A wind-induced…
T he news reported a fatal fire in a neighboring county tonight. The cause of this fire has not yet been determined. The house was an older home, which tells us some things about construction features. I am going to try to do a breakdown of a house fire in an older structure. No matter when your house was built, it must be properly protected by an adequate number of smoke alarms. I do not know if this house had any smoke alarms, but when a person dies in a fire, it causes a flag to go up for me.…
We have watched the protests at some airports across our country done in response to the detainment of a small number of people for the purpose of vetting or security. I am sure, for those that were detained and their families, that this was inconvenient. Making America safe is a daunting task. We, the American people, hold our president responsible to do everything possible, to take the necessary steps to keep us safe in a world where the problem of evil exists. I met a young man about 15 years ago. This man’s desire was to become a U.S. citizen.…
I have been writing this column since 1998, when this paper started and I was a lieutenant at Fire Station 1 in Chester. My assigned task was to write about what I was seeing, from the vantage point of Engine 1, attempting to educate our community. I cannot say that I knew what I was biting off by accepting the role as a pro bono columnist. At first, my writing was focused on Chester and Chesterfield. I then began to expand my scope based upon what I was seeing in ministry. It was at this point that I received pushback…
Cancer is a terrible disease that has affected far too many. My hope and prayer is that the word cancer will be removed from our vocabulary once the disease has been eradicated and a cure found. I have seen cancer’s effect on many, but the most alarming statistics are in the fire service. I have walked with some who have had good results with treatment, surgery or both, but I have also walked with others that this dreaded disease took their lives. A friend and former battalion chief I served has been in this fight for some time. Today, I…