Waldorf Keeps Up With the Jones...in Fire truck Rodeo
Action!
FOLLOWS by one day St. Leonard
flipping it's heavy squad....
Flips Heavy Squad on Side!
ABC 7 News
from the scene
NBC 4 News Chopper 4 view of the crash
ST. MARY'S
TODAY photo by Seif Alramamneh
WALDORF (Jan. 3, 2008) --- It's a tough start for the
new year for local heroes at work with Waldorf Vol. Fire
Dept., a day after St. Leonard, flipping their heavy
rescue unit over on its side on Rt. 925 (Old Washington
Rd.) near Billingsley Road.
One firefighter was
flown from the scene as the giant fire apparatus tumbled
over on the driver's side and took out some utility
poles in the process.
Yesterday, two St. Leonard volunteers were injured, one
slightly and taken to Calvert Memorial and one flown to
a trauma unit, when their heavy rescue squad flipped
over on the passenger side at Cove Point Road and Rt. 4.
The half-million dollar trucks are used for specialty
rescues and primarily for motor vehicle crashes as they
can carry numerous items of extrication gear, have
elaborate arrays of lighting and power capabilities.
There have been a number of crashes involving fire and
rescue vehicles in the past few days.
See photos now from NBC 4 News
chopper
See more at STATter911.com
Cowboys or Firefighters?
Crash reportedly took place as rescue truck responded to
a sick call
Left, skid
marks show the high speed of the heavy rescue unit.
NBC 4
The truck cracked the electric pole in half and a large
crane attempts to lift the truck more than 3 hours after
it flipped.
ST.
MARY'S TODAY photo by Seif Alramamneh
These skid
marks are more than 100 feet long, as seen from the NBC
4 helicopter. These skid marks will be measured as
part of the crash investigation and ought to be very
interesting to the insurance carrier and also beg the
question as to whether the driver of the squad should be
charged with negligent driving.
By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
WALDORF (Jan. 3, 2008)
UPDATE According to the Charles County
Sheriff's Dept. , a vehicle pulled out into the path of
the squad, causing it to overturn.
"Preliminary investigation
has revealed a Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department truck,
Rescue Squad 3, was traveling south on Old Washington
Road with its lights and siren activated while
responding to an emergency call. Another vehicle making
a left turn from southbound Old Washington Road pulled into the path of
the rescue squad truck. The driver of the fire truck
swerved to avoid a collision with the vehicle but the
fire truck overturned, skidded along the roadway and
struck two electrical poles before coming to a rest.
None of the four firefighters in the truck
was seriously injured. The driver, Scott Alan Sefton,
43, of Waldorf, and two of the passengers, Benjamin Earl
Jenkins, 23 of Baltimore and Michael James Fischer, 36,
of Mechanicsville, were transported by ambulance to
Civista Medical Center, where they were treated and
released. A fourth firefighter, Justin M. Zdobysz, 23,
of Waldorf, was flown by a Maryland State Police
helicopter to
Prince George’s General Hospital, where he was also treated and
released. The driver of the vehicle that entered the
path of the fire truck was identified. The crash is
being investigated by Officer R. E. Glover, Jr., of the
Traffic Operations Unit."
Why are
firefighters driving the heavy rescue trucks so fast,
especially around corners when the top heavy units are
most at risk for tipping?
Why are the volunteer firefighters wrecking $500,000
pieces of equipment in dry, sunny weather?
Even the inevitable vehicle failing to heed the lights
and sirens can be avoided by keeping the speed down.
In this case, the skid marks can show the high speed of
this fire department heavy squad.
The call for
help that the responding unit is going to won't be
helped much when the firefighters are themselves in a
wreck.
Slowing down is indeed an option.
Why are these vehicles going so fast when they are so
hard to stop? Because there is no accountability.
Just three years ago, Bel Alton VFD members took an
expensive piece of equipment out for a Sunday afternoon
joy ride to attend a birthday party and flipped it.
The older members of the volunteer fire companies are dying off and
getting tired, the younger members are often cowboys and
not interested in protecting the investment made by the
taxpayers, who pay most of the cost of the equipment
purchases.
The sad truth to be faced by the
elected officials is that a switch to paid career
departments with an accountability based chain of
command, vs. popularity contest annual elections of
officers, is vital for protecting the public safety and
investment in equipment, and to save lives.
Had
either St. Leonard or Waldorf's squad trucks landed on a
car, all those inside would have likely been killed.
Not only is the problem of poor training a danger to the
public, but check out the many forums on
The Watch Desk for more
from firefighters themselves as they discuss the danger
to the firefighters that comes from having unprepared
and unqualified officers leading fire attacks, putting
firefighters in jeopardy as they clamber across the
shoddily constructed new housing and apartment buildings
in the area.
Your views are invited: send with your name and hometown
to
staff1@stmarystoday.com
Reader Feedback is below
Charles County Sheriff's officers work at the scene of
the Waldorf heavy rescue turnover.
ST. MARY'S
TODAY photos by Seif Alramamneh
Reader Feedback:
Dear Editor
I know
some of what you are saying is true like speed is too
high, however some of what you're saying is very false.
Like for example when you said they were responding to a
sick call that may or may not be true, but what it
matter to someone they perceived it as an emergency
which is why they called 911 to begin with. Who are you
to be judging what is an emergency and what is not.
Also don't use the forum "The watch desk" as your only
source of information due to the fact that while half of
the information on this forum is true, the other half is
just the internal petty-ness of the fire departments
paid or volunteer it does not matter. So if you are
going to make statements such as "Why
are the volunteer firefighters wrecking $500,000 pieces
of equipment in dry, sunny weather?" used from the
article in this link
http://www.stmarystoday.com/News/WaldorfFlipsSquadonSide.html.
Just keep in mind it is not only volunteers that are the
problem. Also in closing the only difference between a
paid firefighter and volunteer is a paycheck.
Anonymous fire
fighter
Calvert County
(Editor's Note: The Watch Desk is but one of many
sources of information. The Watch Desk is mostly a
collection of cowardly comments from people who do not
state their names and holler insults to others from the
dark recesses of the web. Some of what they post
is valuable as an insight into the silly mentality of
these people and demonstrates further why valuable
veteran members of the fire service are subject to
popularity contest elections in which the public looses
the service of a chief who is trying to maintain
accountability, to the whims of young yahoos who do not
know what they are talking about, they simply want to
buy new equipment whether it is needed or not, do not
know their own first due areas and just want to drive
fast with all the bells and whistles blowing. Any
volunteer or career firefighter is subject to driving
too fast, as last week proved, but at least with a
career agency discipline can be meted out to those who
fail to follow the rules. Volunteer chiefs
exercise discipline at their own peril, with an eye on
the next election. That is why the quality of the
chiefs continues to slip and the volunteers all think
they are sacred cows which no one dare criticize.
What good did either squad do for those having the
emergencies last week? The speed demons didn't get
there. Worse, they caused countless other assets to be
tied up dealing with the mess they caused by speeding.)
Reader
Feedback:
Sir:
Your article was distributed across the internet and
bears room for comment.
This portion of the article was unnecessary and
contributed nothing to the reporting of the accident
that occurred. It clearly attacks Volunteer
Firefighters serving their communities and is one
sided, not truly representing the Volunteer Fire
Service.
Accidents happen to Career Firefighters too.....as,
I am sure you are aware of the recent Baltimore City
(all Career department) ladder truck
accident......where speed and the traffic signal
were contributing factors, which left three (3)
civilians dead.
Attacks / articles such as this, do nothing but
damage the Fire Service (Career & Volunteer) as a
whole. Your assistance in responsible reporting
would be appreciated.
Again, accidents happen to Career and Volunteer
Departments. Note that approximately 72% of the
fire fighters in the US are Volunteers. Of the
30,300 Fire Departments across the US, only 2,087
are all Career.
http://nvfc.org/files/documents/NVFC_Stats_and_Facts_Sheet_2007.pdf
Your references to accountability being maintained
by "paid career departments with an accountability
based chain of command" is not a valid statement.
The levels of accountability can be debated on both
sides of the fence, Career or Volunteer. If
investigated, you may find the accident statistics
for neighboring combination Departments, Career &
Volunteer, very enlightening.
Thank you for your consideration........
Chief Pete Mellits
MD Director - Eastern Division
Intl. Assoc. of Fire Chiefs (IAFC
(Editor's Note: Chief; Thank
you for your letter which will be included in both our
print and online editions. As a police and fire beat
reporter for the last 20 years, I have been an ardent
supporter and advocate of the volunteer companies, with
almost every week providing a full page coverage of our
"Heroes at Work" in fire and rescue operations. We never
charge fire and rescue companies for ads for their
functions and seek out their events to support.
However, it has become clear to me that what has worked
in the past is not working for us now, as younger
members take over the companies and the older ones die
off or get tired of trying to ride herd on the eager but
often irresponsible young ones.
Equipment is often purchased which is not needed and
elections turn out good chiefs for the one who will
promise the young guys the most.
When I see a million bucks worth of equipment dumped in
dry sunny weather in 24 hours, I can see it is time for
a change, or at least serious discourse about the
volunteer system. Our volunteer medic unit system has
already failed and I fear that if and when the volunteer
fire and rescue fails, we will not be ready to institute
career.
What the volunteers have done in Southern Maryland in
providing fire and rescue service is without equal
anywhere in the nation, but less people are willing to
volunteer and the ones who have been carrying the ball
all these years are simply wearing out, retiring, moving
or passing away.
The quality of our young volunteers is good, but like
any novice group, they should not be calling the shots
and need leadership. That leadership needs to be in
charge, perhaps with a two-tier system of voting for
operational officers, the popularity contest aspect of
the volunteer groups can be contained.
We will always do more than report the news, Chief, this
newspaper not only reports to our readers what is
happening in the world around them but also tells them
what we think about it and provides a forum for the
views of our readers, such as you have provided on this
matter. It cannot and will not be the province of
any one person or group of people, such as the volunteer
firefighters, to judge what is and what is not
"responsible reporting" but only shall be decided by our
readers.
This newspaper takes strongly held views on many issues
and is not simply breakfast pabulum for the timid and a
propaganda machine for political parties or special
interests. We simply report to our readers about
the news and tell them what we think of that news. Its
all a matter of choice and our readers pay us for this
service.
If you have more to add in the future, please send your
thoughts along as they are appreciated.
Ken Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
Reader
Feedback:
Editor,
Let me begin by
stating that I am not affiliated with any Maryland
FD., I've never been to Calvert Co. or Charles Co.
I have been a firefighter for 34 years, and a Chief
officer for 24 years. It was with great amazement
that I read your "reporting" of the two fire
apparatus accidents in Maryland this week. I am
curious to know what is behind your obviously
slanted "reporting". You make accusations and infer
that the firefighters involved in these incidents
were ill trained/untrained, speeding, and/or
reckless. I would like to see what facts you have
to support your views.
It has been reported that they were responding
to a child not breathing, that is a true medical
emergency.
I'm sure, after the County Police complete their reconstruction
and investigation, they will be able to
determine the speed. Should you have a
certification that enables you to make these
determinations from your keyboard, maybe you
could offer your expertise.
Until the Police determine the apparatus
operator was in violation, where's the
negligence? Had the apparatus not avoided a
collision with the vehicle that turned in
front of it, the outcome would have much
worse.
Having career staffing pay no means
ensures any different outcome.
In the same two days as the St Leonard and
Waldorf accidents, a County owned/career
staffed engine in Prince George Co VA,
a City owned/career staffed
Jacksonville FL engine, and two
North Hudson Regional Fire career
staffed apparatus were involved in
traffic accidents, while responding to
emergencies.
Each accident involved firefighter injuries,
and entrapment. In the Jacksonville
incident, the scenario was the same as in
Waldorf. Just over two months ago, a
Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority
engine was involved in a roll-over accident
responding to a fire in Arlington VA. The
veteran career driver was found not
to be at fault.
And last month, a Baltimore City Ladder
truck struck a vehicle, resulting in a
civilian fatality. Career personnel and
accountability is by no means a
guarantee that anything would be any
different.
Only days after my taking office as Chief of
my Company, one of our engines was involved
in a roll-over accident, due to black ice,
while returning from a mutual-aid call. The
driver was a 15 year member, past Fire
Chief, and a professional truck driver. In
spite all of our training and experience,
accidents still do occur.
Since you seem to know so much about
these Cowboys,
I'm sure you know, many of the
area volunteers are employed as career
firefighters throughout the region.
I've read elsewhere that the Waldorf
driver is in fact, an experienced career
firefighter/operator.
And what can I say about your Jr. High
quality Bel Alton cartoon. And let's
look at this "news" item;
Police report that the truck
was not on a call and that it was
operated by a number of young members of
the department, including a 17-year-old
girl. Only one person can
"operate" any motor vehicle, fire
apparatus are no different. The age of
the operator was 31. In addition to the
17 year old, there were a 19 year old,
and two 20 year olds. While not
seasoned veterans, there are many their
age in places like Baghdad, Kandahar,
and Arlington, why not on a fire truck?
Taking
fire equipment to birthday parties is
inconsistent with the purposes for which
public funds are appropriated to the
volunteer fire companies. Fire
apparatus are regularly taken to
birthday parties, block parties,
picnics, bazaars, community/neighborhood
associations and the like. It's called
Public Fire Education and community
involvement. And this is done by career
and volunteer FDs alike. It is their
fire truck, bought by their money, be it
tax funds, donations or chicken BBQs,
and they are entitled to see and learn
about it. NO, this was not being used
as a 'party bus' (as you imply).
While I can't speak to the
Departments you refer to, I have
seen as a whole, no matter where I
have been, that the younger members
are usually some of the most proud
of their stations and apparatus.
One
one hand you say; The
sad truth to be faced by the elected
officials is that a switch to paid
career departments..., but
on another page plaster
The
Tax Hell of St. Mary's County,
Maryland .
What do you think the outcry would
be from the Charles Co. or Calvert
Co. taxpayers when they see the cost
of this idea? And where would the
Counties, and ultimately the
taxpayers, find these funds?
It is clear that
you have an
agenda, and an
axe to grind, in
regards to
certain, if not
all, VFDs in the
region. Your
so-called
reporting does
not even rise to
the level of the
Enquirer.
I can recall
from my high
school days, the
lessons on
yellow
journalism, and
clearly see an
example before
me. PETA should
pay a visit to
anyone that
would use your
paper to line
their birdcage.
Jim
Fairfield
Deputy Fire Chief
(Editor's Note: Thanks for your
letter, Deputy Chief from where
ever.
No, these fire trucks do not
belong to the volunteers driving
them, they belong to the
community who has paid the taxes
that pays for all the bells and
whistles of the latest and
greatest sales promotion put on
by the manufacturers at the
annual convention in Ocean City.
The community attends the
carnivals, buys the raffle
tickets, writes the checks and
eats the dinners, breakfasts and
crab feasts.
The community appreciates the
service and hard work of the
volunteers but deserves to know
that when a big rig on a call
rounds a corner on a dry road on
a sunny day that the half
million dollar St. Leonard squad
won't be dumped in the process.
Rt. 925 where the Waldorf squad
was operating, is a 40 mph zone
and had that driver been doing
less than 60, he may have been
able to stop in time to avoid
missing the vehicle which was
legitimately where it had a
right to be.
After observing hundreds of
traffic crash reconstruction and
having police experts explain
how they measure skid marks to
determine speed, combined with
the aerial photos of the skids,
even a cowboy fire chief should
be able to understand how I or
anyone can figure this one out
--- the driver was going at a
speed greater than reasonable
and faster than he should have
been in order to avoid an
accident, which is a chargeable
offence under Maryland law.
We have often reminded readers
to pull to the side and get out
of the way of responding fire
and rescue units in order to
save lives, but safe driving is
a two way street.
Volunteer firefighters killing
themselves or others on the way
to a call won't help a baby
breathe. You apparently are
exactly the type of leadership
in a fire company which fails to
crack down on cowboys and are
part of the problem, not part of
the solution. I'll bet you win
elections without any trouble by
winking, blinking and nodding in
the good old boy tradition.)
Reader
Feedback:
While I have limited
time to send the information I
intend, I would like to point
out that the firefighters
involved in the Squad 3 incident
are “PAID PERSONEL” from various
areas including Virginia and
D.C. The idea that paid
firefighters are the answer to
end accidents while responding
to calls because of their
advanced training over
volunteers is REDICULOUS. Be
grateful for the volunteer
systems that our (and your) area
have had for so many years.
Maybe focus your articles on a
topic that will further assist
our volunteers.
Anita Austin
Reader
Feedback:
I just wanted to comment on
the article "cowboys or
firefighters." To the
editor; I just want to ask
why do you frown upon your
fire service and the way
they respond. If your house
was on fire or you were
having severe trouble
breathing, wouldn't you want
them to respond in a more
than timely manner? I don't
understand how you can knock
someone that is out there
trying to save lives. Had it
been you, you would be more
than grateful that they
responded in a timely
manner. It amazes me the way
people never seem to not pay
attention to the importance
of the local fire
department. And that
accident is what it is
called, an accident. Try
being more considerate, and
think if you were in the
situation the family who had
called 911 was; then would
you be happy they were
coming to help so quickly.
Thanks for the support in
the VFD, but try being more
understanding in your
important, informative,
typical day to day work.
These are people taking time
out of their day to help you
yourself and all other areas
around the united
states. The training done by
the people driving volunteer
engines, ambulances, squads,
and ladders is that of the
same a paid organization
goes through. Maybe if you
yourself tried to do a
little research on the
classes and courses every
Maryland firefighter/EMT is
to go through before taking
the position they hold, you
would understand that it is
all of the same of a paid
organization. so from now
on, try being a little more
open minded on the way
things are in the fire
service. You obviously need
to be educated on how things
work. As far as the joyride
goes, I wonder if anyone
from the fire service could
come educate yourself on how
operations work in the fire
department. Probably not
considering it would seem to
be a lost cause with your
single-sidedness.
Josh Buckler
(Editor's Note: Thank you
for sharing your viewpoint
with our readers. Your
stirring advocacy of our
volunteers is noted and your
points well taken. But
you miss these critical
points that our article
makes: First, accountability
suffers when young and
inexperienced members can
gang up on a chief who is
doing his job and vote him
out; drivers whether they be
career or volunteer need to
slow down and actually get
to the fire or medical call
in order to help someone.
The two squads last week
which wrecked not only
failed to get to their
calls, but they tied up
valuable fire and EMT for
hours making those other
units unavailable for
emergencies, all due to
cowboy driving skills.
At least a career department
will not have it's operating
officers voted out for doing
their jobs. There are
other issues involved in
this complex evolution from
small rural counties to
burgeoning suburbia, with an
estimated 350,000 people now
in Southern Maryland.
Creation of paid departments
not only brings about a
chain of command not subject
to popularity contests but
also creates job
opportunities for local
firefighters now having to
drive to Northern Virginia
or other areas. The way our
politicians throw around
money, they might as well
spend it on paid full time
staffing of firehouses, at
least during day hours.
While Ridge, Benedict or
Seventh District may not
need career firefighters,
Solomon's, Waldorf and Bay
District certainly do need
the extra day staffing.
When Solomon's has a major
day time fire, as it has
twice in the past ten years,
even a sprinklered building
was on the ground by the end
of the day. They
couldn't even get their own
equipment out as an engine
taken to the fire by a St.
Leonard firefighter, who did
the right thing and jumped
on a truck and took it to
Solomon's Landing. Just a
year ago, high winds took a
simple discarded cigarette
and almost burned down
Solomon's, again during the
day and only a mile from the
firehouse. No one can
be blamed perhaps, but no
one should be proud of the
response.)
Reader
Feedback:
im sorry but your artical
about the heavy rescue
squads over turning is just
bad journalism. i am a local
firefighter and it ticks me
off to no end to hear you
question us if we are
firefighters or cowboys and
to keep calling us cowboys
instead of what we are and
that is FIREFIGHTERS. i have
bought and read your so
called newspaper several
times i will not buy it
again and will let everyone
i know as to why they should
not support you anymore. it
is truly insane that you
would for lack of better
terms dog us on what we do.
we are there to save life
property and
the environment. what i
dont understand is how you
can bash us for one mistake
per department. things
happen and you nor i nor
anyone else can do to avoid
it. you were not there to
witness either squad 7 nor
squad 3 flip you are not a
investigator either so until
the final report comes out
do not speculat on what
happend from what you see
from other news sources or
photos. as to the fact that
its a 2 way street when
it comes to the public and
us while were going lights
and sirens sorry but
honestly its not. anyone no
matter who it is needs to
realize its against the law
to not pull over and come to
a COMPLETE stop you must
come to a complete stop. now
i know there is no way in
this world for everyone to
get out of the way right
away. but at least do your
best because those sirens
are loud and can be heard
for a long distance away.
now as far as the watch desk
goes sir you have no right
to go on that site and post
what has been said. that is
just wronge. your from the
county you should have
better sense than to do
that. now for the part as to
saying some departments
should not be buying a new
equipment when its not
needed im not going to
mention any department names
or company numbers but i do
know who you are talking
about and unless u have
ridden in that old truck
trying to make some of the
turns in their first due
than you dont have any idea
as to why they need a new
one and besides that its
over 30 years old im
guessing if it was up to you
we would still have the old
steammers around just to
save money instead of buying
what is needed with changing
times.
Robert Balderson
(Thank you for serving as a
firefighter and for your
viewpoint. It is not too
much to ask of fire
companies to slow their
drivers down so they will
actually arrive at the
emergency with the equipment
that they need intact.
We don't need to speculate
on what happened. Both
squads were being operated
at speeds greater than
reasonable, that is why they
turned over. Had they
been sitting still they
would still be upright.
Since the vehicles need to
leave the firehouse and
respond to the emergency
call, the speed at which
they are operated from point
A to point B determines
whether or not they make
it.)
|
|
