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Seattle Firefighter Awarded $13M in Fire Pole Fall Injury Suit
SEATTLE - A King County jury awarded $13 million to a Seattle firefighter who was injured when he fell 15 feet down a fire-pole hole at a fire station.
The injury in 2003 left Mark Jones unable to work. He sued the city for negligence, saying there should have been something to guard the pole.
The city is considering whether to appeal Thursday's judgment.
The Seattle Times reports Jones was on temporary assignment at Station 33 and had awakened to go to the restroom early one morning when he took the wrong door.
He suffered broken ribs and vertebrae in the fall, and his lawyer says the 45-year-old still suffers from pain and breathing difficulties.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The injury in 2003 left Mark Jones unable to work. He sued the city for negligence, saying there should have been something to guard the pole.
The city is considering whether to appeal Thursday's judgment.
The Seattle Times reports Jones was on temporary assignment at Station 33 and had awakened to go to the restroom early one morning when he took the wrong door.
He suffered broken ribs and vertebrae in the fall, and his lawyer says the 45-year-old still suffers from pain and breathing difficulties.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
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No one should have to pay a dummy for being a dummy...
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Permalink Reply by BillySFCVFD on
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$13M for what? I doubt if he had much of future as a FF so loss of earnings should have been questioned. Since he hurt himself in the fire house I wonder how clumsy he would be/was on the fire ground. Absurd! TCSS
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Jones was on temporary assignment at Station 33. He'd awakened in the dark fire-station bunk room and entered the wrong door, falling 15 feet through an unguarded fire-pole hole to the concrete floor below. The door to the pole was just a few feet away from a similar door to the restroom, Jones said in court papers.
One of Jones' attorneys, Dick Kilpatrick, of Bellevue, said in a telephone interview there had been another fall at the same pole in the same station in the middle of the night in 1976.
Being a dummy? Doubt if he had much of a future as a FF? He hurt himself on the fireground?? Wow, why not just jump to conclusions here, is it because he was awarded several million dollars and you guys are upset by that? Wow, some brothers, you guys are.
Now I'll admit I don't know much about this case and would not have even commented had not been the these first two comments. The guy was on temporary assignment at a different firehouse, it can be very easy to mistake a door etc, especially at night. Secondly, he got up in a dark bunkroom to use the restroom, apparently you guys never had to get up in the middle of the night to know one isn't always fully awake. The door to the pole was right by the door to the bathroom, it is dark, middle of the night in a different firehouse....oh yeah, geez, he just must have been a dummy.
Then I love the comment about getting hurt on the fireground and how clumsy. How stupid is such a comment?? The fireground is inherently dangerous and many FF's have been injured, despite taking the best safety precautions. Gee, I guess every FF ever injured on the fireground must be a moron also and doesn't have a damn future in the fire service either.
Funny how you both are citing the FF here, yet fail to see the other side of things, especially considering a similar episode occurred in 1976. You would think after that the city would have taken precautions about the issue. It took this injury to have the city do something about the issue as it is. Yet, it is somehow easier to chastize another brother because they just were awarded several million dollars. It isn't like this guy can work again, it isn't like he is faking injuries, 15 feet is a serious fall and luckily this was not a LODD.
Some comments just truly baffle me.
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John,
"apparently you guys never had to get up in the middle of the night to know one isn't always fully awake." That's not me. I have always awoken enough to be aware of my surroundings whether it was in one of the three overseas combat zones I served in, the times I got toned out at 0200hrs or just in different houses I stayed in. Part of waking up is to be alert enough to act safely especially in the fire service regardless of the on duty environment or action. Do you believe he was never aware of the pole? If this now millionaire FF knew the pole was there when he was awake but not when he was sleepy that is a shame. Hell it was behind a different door. His training must have taught him about opening wrong doors and complacency kills. In this case sleep caused complacency. Sure some kind of preventative measures could/would have prevented his mishap but what part did he play? Giving him $13M is insane and robbing the citizens of Seattle of public safety funding. TCSS
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This is not about a combat zone, this is not about tones going off in the middle of the night, this is about someone who awoke in the middle of the night in a different firehouse and experienced a tragic accident because he opened the wrong door. A door where a similar accident has occurred in the past, but the city didn't do anything about that apparently.
I have known guys who worked for years on the dept come into a dark dorm and may run into an obstacle or bumb into a bunk partition, some of the dorms can be pretty damn dark. This is not about some combat zone, but a work environment that should be safe, not the damn fireground, not some damn combat zone, the firehouse. You want to point fingers and claim this is complacency, yeah I bet you never bumbed into a wall or something in your own home in the middle of the night when it was all dark, yet you feel as though you can say this guy wouldn't have a future in the fire service anyway. You further go on to chastize the guy for an apparent fireground injury. You sit there and say this guy was complacent and then somehow suggest he is this way on the fireground. How many firegrounds have you've been on in your 1.5 years experience in the fire service? How many fire stations have you spent the night in in your 1.5 years experience?
No, I see your true colors here and you are just against the fact this guy won a multimillion dollar lawsuit. Despite the fact he can't work anymore, despite the fact he has liver problems and breathing problems because of the injury, despite the fact that he probably has other ongoing medical problems because of the injury, you just see this as a person making millions. The city should have taken measures to prevent such accidents, especially considering there was a similar accident in the past. This is why many fire stations no longer have poles in them, but I have not been in many where a pole was located next to the bathroom door.
Seems you have the problem that this guy is now a millionaire because of his injury, you make it sound as though he woke up and thought "gee, how can I screw the city? I think I'll throw myself down the pole access and almost kill myself, yep, that'll show em". I see you have a problem with the award here, so I guess in your world it is better to chastize the brother for suffering the injury, it is better to state he wouldn't have a future in the fire service anyway, it is better to chastize the brother for a fireground injury. Yep, some brother you really appear to be.
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Permalink Reply by Rusty Mancini on
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If you read the article, it states that the city installed a latching mechanism after his fall. Why didn't they do that before the first incident in 1976, or after it! The city tried to settle the case as well, so what does that tell you? So maybe the guy does deserve the amount he was awarded. Sounds to me the city should of taken precautions with some safety features before hand, it would of been cheaper and safer. Sounds like they were the dummies!
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John,
I never said/wrote that the FF intentionally fell, those were your words. Speaking of words you use too many and repeat yourself also. You're rambling on and on and that I have not sleep in a fire house. Are they darker, do thay make you more sleepy and unaware then other dark buildings? Do they not allow flaslhlights inside? Tell me because you're right I have never spend the night in one. Like I previously wrote, what was the FF's play in all this? $13M, get real! TCSS
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Exactly my point too Rusty. Seems though some "brothers" would rather fault another FF ad make assumptions before looking at a bigger picture.
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I know you didn't state the FF intentionally fell, I am pointing out how you bogusly and moronicly assumed that he wouldn't have a future in the fire service anyway and how you question since he got hurt in the firehouse, how clumsy he would be on the fireground.
The firehouse is supposed to be a safe workplace and is essentially a home away from home. FF's do get comfortable to be able to try and sleep at night and when nature calls, it is not unlike walking around in one's own home. Issue is that one can go to a different firehouse and not be fully awake and can bumb into things etc in the darkness. I know of guys who put their shirt on backwards before going on a call in the middle of the night. Guys I work with, respect and have a solid reputation on the fireground, but the way you slam this brother, I guess these guys aren't deserving of a future in the fire service either. Not all firehouses are dark, but there are thse that can be, and I don't know of too many who carry a flashlight with them. Do you carry a flashlight in your house to go to the bathroom?
So besides already implying the FF here wouldn't have had a future anyway and the guy who gets hurt at the firehouse is somehow a clutz on the fireground, are you also saying a city can't be wrong? Are you saying that the previous accident in the same firehouse 33 years ago was just a fluke?
Point is the city had a similar episode where they did NOTHING to correct it. This FF gets hurt and then all of a sudden there are barriers and rails to warn FF's of the pole location, the city should have had that in place before. Many stations today are 1 story so there is no stairs or poles. Many departments have stopped using poles all together, not because of their own experiences of injuries, but because of learning from other departments. Yet here, the city experienced a similar accident and did nothing to correct the issues until this accident. Yet, you just seem compelled to blame the FF because he won a lawsuit.
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I here ya John! It's ashamed it happened, that brother for all we know, could of been a top notch guy? He lost his career and lively hood. Doesn't mean he was a dummy. We cant judge people when we don't even know them! The art of blogging comes to mind, when I read some of these post.
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No one should have to pay a dummy for being a dummy...
$13M for what? I doubt if he had much of future as a FF so loss of earnings should have been questioned. Since he hurt himself in the fire house I wonder how clumsy he would be/was on the fire ground. Absurd!
I would just like to ask you both to put a value on your own lives and how much it would be worth to you to lose a career, lose out on activities you once did, to live in constant pain and so on. How much is your own lives worth? What is the quality of life worth to you?
This isn't because of stupid mistake or a "dummy being a dummy" this was a completely preventable injury. This also isn't a unique case because there was a similar occurance in the past which the city should have learned from.
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John,
I my opinion, if I make a mistake and get myself hurt, I don't expect anyone else to pay for it. Running into a fire without my PPE and getting burned is a completely preventable injury as well. So if I do it, can I sue?
How much prevention is enough? The pole was behind a closed door, that I would guess had more than a little signage on it identifying the space within. I would also believe that the presence of the pole-closet was pointed out more than once during his initial tour of the facility.
I hate to sound like a broken record, and I sincerely hope my comments don't offend anyone, but I ask again, when will we stop trying to replace common sense with safety?
TCSS,
Reg
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