NIOSH Report on 2005 Basement Fire
NIOSH has released their report of a 2005 basement fire in New York where a firefighter was killed while trying to exit the building.
On January 23, 2005, a 37-year-old male career fire fighter (the victim) died while exiting a residential basement fire. At approximately 1337 hours, crews were dispatched to a reported residential structure fire. Crews began to arrive on the scene at approximately 1340 hours and at approximately 1344 hours, the victim, a fire fighter and officer made entry through the front door and proceeded down the basement stairwell to conduct a search for the seat of the fire using a thermal imaging camera (TIC). At approximately 1346 hours, the victim and officer began to exit the basement when they became separated on the lower section of the stairwell. The officer reached the front stoop and realized that the victim had failed to exit the building. He returned to the top of the basement stairs and heard a personal alert safety system (PASS) alarm sounding in the stairwell and immediately transmitted a MAYDAY for the missing fire fighter. The victim was located at approximately 1349 hours, and numerous fire fighters spent the next twenty minutes working to remove the victim from the building. At approximately 1413 hours, the victim was transported to an area hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
It took firefighters 20 minutes to remove the victim from the building due to heavy smoke and heat conditions and a narrow stairway cluttered with debris. Here is a picture of the stairway where they found the victim.
Photo courtesy of NIOSH.
This incident really shows how quickly things can go wrong and how difficult it can be to move an injured firefighter.
Read the whole report to get all of the details.
Posted June 27, 2006 09:07 AM · Link
· Line of Duty Death
