Firefighter Kyle Wilson LODD April 2007 (Please Read, Very Good Training)

Sunday, January 27, 2008

As you are aware, Technician (Firefighter) Kyle Wilson of the Prince William County (VA) Department of Fire & Rescue was killed in the Line of Duty when he heroically gave his life at a single family dwelling fire on April 16, 2007. Below are links to all sections of the report including audio, video, fire modeling and related information.

Don’t BLOW THIS CHANCE to educate all of your members with this outstanding report provided by Fire Chief Kevin McGee & the Prince William Fire & Rescue Department... the audio, the video, the modeling ...all of it can make a significant difference to any and all Firefighters.

For example, within the audio, you will hear the chilling radio transmissions of Firefighter Wilson advising that he was trapped, with his words:

“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Tower 512 bucket, I’m trapped inside, I don’t know where I am, I’m somewhere in the stairwell, I need someone to come get me out!!”

By the time firefighters were able to get to Firefighter Kyle Wilson it was too late. Prince William County Fire & Rescue is saving future lives by sharing their LODD Investigative report to honor Kyle, in an effort to reduce and prevent firefighter line of duty deaths at the local, region, state, and national levels.

Technician Wilson joined the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue on January 23, 2006. Tragically, he died in the line of duty on April 16, 2007 while performing search and rescue operations at a house fire. On that day, Technician Wilson was part of the firefighter staffing on Tower 512 which responded to the house fire that was dispatched at 0603 hours. The Prince William County area was under a high wind advisory as a nor’eastern storm moved through the area. Sustained winds of 25 mph with gusts up to 48 mph were prevalent in the area at the time of the fire dispatch to Marsh Overlook Drive.

Initial arriving units reported heavy fire on the exterior of two sides of the single family house and crews had every reason to believe that occupants were still inside the house sleeping because of the early morning hour. A search of the upstairs bedroom commenced for the possible victims.

A rapid and catastrophic change of fire and smoke conditions occurred in the interior of the house within minutes of Tower 512’s crew entering the structure. Technician Wilson became trapped and was unable to locate an immediate exit out of the hostile environment. Mayday radio transmissions were made by crews and by Technician Kyle Wilson of the life-threatening situation. Valiant, heroic and repeated rescue attempts to locate and remove Technician Wilson were made by the firefighting crews during extreme fire, heat and smoke conditions. Firefighters were forced from the structure as the house began to collapse on them and intense fire, heat and smoke conditions developed.

Technician Wilson succumbed to the fire and the cause of death was reported by the medical examiner to be thermal and inhalation injuries. Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) performed independent investigations of the
Marsh Overlook fire incident. VOSH’s investigation is complete and closed with no citations or corrective orders being issued. NIOSH’s investigation results are still pending.

The major factors in the line of duty death of Technician I Wilson were determined to be:

• The initial arriving fire suppression force size.
• The size up of fire development and spread.
• The impact of high winds on fire development and spread.
• The large structure size and lightweight construction and materials.
• The rapid intervention and firefighter rescue efforts.
• The incident control and management.
The weather conditions and construction features resulted in the rapid and catastrophic progression of fire conditions. The organizational preparation and response to incidents of this nature can and are recommended to be improved with the majority of recommendations focused on staffing, training, procedures, and communications.

The below links will provide you with significant amounts of information so that our own members can listen, read, learn and study how this happened-and what your FD can do so history is not repeated.

PW LODD Report Fact Sheet-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReportFactSheet.pdf

PW LODD Investigative Report-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReport.pdf

PW LODD Report Presentation-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReportPresentation.pdf

PW LODD Report Basic House Model-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReportBasicHouseModelS...

PW LODD Report Audio and Video-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReportVideoSection2.wmv

LODD Death Report Fire Model-

http://www.pwcgov.org/vpresentations/fnr/LODDReportFireModelSection...

All of the above links are from:

http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=040026000110004566

We, once again have another Fire Department that is stepping up and providing the facts so we can learn...we have no option but to take full advantage of it.

PLEASE DON’T BLOW THIS CHANCE TO EDUCATE ALL YOUR MEMBERS.

reprint from www.firefighterclosecalls.com

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Replies to This Discussion

The initial dispatch for the count know is: 4 engines, 2 trucks, 1 rescue, 1 EMS unit and 2 battalion chiefs. This was and is a sad day for our county. Rest in peace my brother.
This is a sad day when any one dies, but when one of our own dies it is extremely hard. This is a great idea of letting others learn from the incident. Now maybe more of the people on here can take advantage of the learning opportunity you have produced. My heart goes out to his department and family.
it was very hard to listen to the audio section........ april 16th and may 8th will both always be dates that the northern virginia region remembers as days that heroes died
I'm glad ya'll like this. I got this from somebody on Myspace.com! I couldn't hold it to just myself. I had to let others know. I believe that it is a very good training tool. But at what cost do I want this training? My thoughts and prays go out to all of the department and his family that had to go through this tragedy. Everybody please take this unfortunate training opportunity and run with it. It can teach you a lot. God Bless.

Justin Hill
Justin,

Thanks for shareing this report, it is only by listening to these events that we learn. Even though our hearts ache when we hear it. I am on a very aggresive but safe department and hearing the size up would have moved my crew in the same way. Since literning to the audio I will always think a little longer now. We have a district of large home 4000 sq/f and more. The are all Crap Construction.
As officers we really need to evaluate our decisions. Not that these guys did anything that we wouldn't. As I said, hearing the size up I can't say I would have done anything different. We had a discussion last shift and one of my new guys ask me when can I say no! I told him if you have questons Speak Up! We must empower our firefighters to say something when they are not confortable, it is a kick in the butt for us as officers but we need to leave ego where it belongs. On the web page! Stay Safe and Thanks Again.

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