Line-of-Duty Deaths, 2000
October 13: Firefighter David C. Fitzgerald, 63, of the Somerville (MA) Fire Department, died of an apparent heart attack after returning to the station after responding to several incidents.
October 16: Captain Kenneth Miller, 65, of the Cape Charles (VA) Volunteer Fire Company, died of an apparent heart attack while operating at a structure fire.
October 31: Firefighter/Paramedic Robert Samanas, 53, of Rural Metro Fire Department, Chesterton, Indiana, died of an apparent heart attack within one hour of physical fitness activity.
November 2: Firefighter Jared McCormick, 19, of the Bono (AR) Fire Protection District, was killed when struck by oncoming traffic while working in a roadway on fire apparatus that had broken down.
November 2: Firefighter Gail VanAuken, 41, of the Overisel Fire Department, Holland, Michigan, died from injuries sustained when the fire tanker in which she was riding while responding to a barn fire was struck by another vehicle at an intersection.
November 8: Firefighter Robert “Bo” Rathbun, 69, of the Sundance (WY) Volunteer Fire Department, died from burns suffered while fighting a forest fire on October 8, 2000.
November 15: Firefighter Kenneth W. Kerr, 44, of the Fire Department of New York, Brooklyn, died of an apparent heart attack in the station about an hour after he returned from a fire in the Bronx, where he helped haul a hose up six flights of stairs and then worked as nozzleman until he was relieved when he reported feeling ill.
Source: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Database, United States Fire Administration.
Propane emergencies program promotes community safety
By Brian Mims-In Eastover (an area within the city of Fayetteville), North Carolina, what seemed to be a routine call developed into a potentially life-saving response. Firefighters responded to a smell of gas. On arrival, they found that a dome and valve assembly on an underground propane gas tank had been partially sheared off. Applying what they had learned in liquefied petroleum (LP) gas training, they dispersed the vapors using a preconnected attack line and froze the gas leak by wrapping the leaking area in a wet towel until the haz-mat team arrived and stopped the leak.
Fire departments respond to emergencies involving propane nationwide. The safety of personnel and the general public is the primary concern at these incidents. Therefore, training beyond that offered in routine department and academy training is needed.
When I learned that the propane industry had developed training materials and was distributing them to fire departments without charge, I was eager to see how they could be used in my department.
Propane Emergencies, a comprehensive curriculum distributed by the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), has helped me to deliver the desired additional training to my department members. The program’s textbook was developed in conjunction with Mike Hildebrand and Greg Noll, hazardous materials specialists. Mike Callan, training specialist, created the companion guide that features lesson plans, a video, and a CD-ROM. Support for emergency responders and firefighters is available at the Web site
Enhanced materials, including 10 interactive tactical scenarios on CD-ROM and a directed note-taking guide, were released in November and are available on the updated Propane Emergencies Web site.
Train-the-Trainer seminars for fire service instructors have been scheduled across the country. Propane marketers have been encouraged to participate in these sessions to provide technical assistance on propane and propane safety to fire service personnel.
The first Train-the-Trainer program for the fire service, government agencies, private industry, and propane marketers was held in June 2000 at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute in College Park, Maryland.
The program is working in several states-among them Illinois, California, New York, Hawaii, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Initiatives in other states, such as the following, are designed to make response to propane emergencies safer:
- Kentucky. The Kentucky Propane Education and Research Council has conducted 16 classes and has the objective of eventually training all 6,000 firefighters in the program.
- Alabama. The Alabama Propane Gas Association has hosted a multifaceted training program for 70 certified instructors.
- Ohio. The Ohio Propane Gas Association has launched the “Making Propane Safer” statewide initiative with the goal of enlisting the support of the state’s propane marketers to help ensure that state fire chiefs and emergency responders gain access to and carry out the program in their respective communities.
- North Carolina. In Fayetteville, the Jenkins Gas Company provided the fire department with cutaway tanks to use in live fire demonstrations during Propane Emergencies training sessions. The fire department is helping Jenkins to develop its new propane safety plan, designed to help its employees handle a variety of propane safety issues. The North Carolina fire marshal, with the state’s Propane Gas Association, added the Propane Emergencies program to the training curriculum for career and volunteer cadets across the state.
As a fire service professional, I am happy to bring the Propane Emergencies message to my colleagues. The material is excellent; it is available without charge. We should do our best to use it in our haz-mat training.
The Propane Education & Research Council was authorized by the U.S. Congress under the Propane Education and Research Act, Public Law 104-284, in 1996. You can contact the Council at (202) 452-8975 or visit its Web site at www.propanecouncil.org.
BRIAN MIMS is a lieutenant in the City of Fayetteville (NC) Fire Department and an instructor for the state of North Carolina. He is a strong advocate of the Propane Emergencies program and taught some 40 classes in this area during 2000.
