The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released a report on the death of a veteran Peabody (MA) firefighter in a three-alarm fire in December 2011.
Firefighter Jim Rice, 42, was killed during firefighting operations in a multi-family residence on December 23, 2011. His death came shortly after the death of Worcester (MA) Firefighter Jon Davies, who was killed while conducting a search in a burning triple-decker.
In recounting the incident, NIOSH reviewers noted that the victim was assigned to Engine 5 (E5) with a lieutenant and driver/pump operator. E5 was the first-due engine company at this fire. The incident commander (IC) ordered E5 to take a 1¾-inch hoseline and attack the fire in a second floor apartment.
The lieutenant stretched the line to the landing of the 2nd floor but did not realize there were two apartments on the second floor. Because of heavy smoke conditions, he went to Apartment 4 instead of the fire apartment (Apartment 3). Apartment 4 was locked, so he went to get the ladder company, which was operating on the third floor. At this time, the lieutenant lost contact with the victim.
The IC (Car 2) went to the 2nd floor landing, contacted the lieutenant from E5, advised him the fire was in Apartment 3, and the door was open. The lieutenant then entered the fire apartment, attempted to knock down the fire, and the apartment flashed. The lieutenant, with his helmet on fire, was pulled out of the apartment by members of Engine 3 and Ladder 1. At this time, the location of the victim was unknown.
The lieutenant returned to the fire apartment with a thermal imaging camera (TIC) but the image was featureless due to the amount of heat and fire in the apartment. Several firefighters stated they heard a personal alert safety system (PASS) alarm sounding but were unable to determine the location. The officer of the fourth-due engine company (Engine 7) entered the fire apartment, located the victim, and removed the victim with the help of two other fire fighters. Despite receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) outside the structure, in the ambulance, and in the local hospital’s emergency department (ED), the victim died.
Some key recommendations NIOSH made were:
- Ensure that crew integrity is properly maintained by voice contact or radio contact when operating in an immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) atmosphere
- Ensure the ICr communicates the strategy and Incident Action Plan to all members assigned to an incident
- Ensure that engine companies initiate a fire attack based upon scene size-up and the IC’s defined strategy and tactics.
Read the entrety of the report at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201131.html.
NIOSH firefighter fatality reports can provide critical incidents into what went wrong at deadly incidents. More of these reports can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/.
