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Massachusetts Woman Dies After Being Struck By Hose
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
An 82-year-old Somerville woman struck by a fire hose that had come loose from a Cambridge fire engine that was responding to call has died.
Cambridge police says Gertrude King died Thursday morning at Massachusetts General Hospital, two days after she was struck behind the knees by the hose while standing on a median strip in Central Square to allow the fire engine to pass.
Police say the hose had somehow become dislodged and was dragging behind the truck. King was struck late Tuesday morning as the engine turned a corner.
Cambridge police and the Middlesex district attorney's office are investigating and are asking witnesses to come forward.
The Cambridge Fire Department is reviewing inspection logs as part of the investigation.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
An 82-year-old Somerville woman struck by a fire hose that had come loose from a Cambridge fire engine that was responding to call has died.
Police say the hose had somehow become dislodged and was dragging behind the truck. King was struck late Tuesday morning as the engine turned a corner.
Cambridge police and the Middlesex district attorney's office are investigating and are asking witnesses to come forward.
The Cambridge Fire Department is reviewing inspection logs as part of the investigation.
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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.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 Branden Hill on
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it never looks good when things like this happen and nobody wants them to happen, sometimes you can do everything right and still get it wrong though. i do believe that any safety effort is essential for preventing such incidents as this one. But sometimes people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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The accordian load isn't effective for 5-inch LDH.
A flat load is the only load that really works for this load.
Accordian loads don't work well for attack lines.
Accordian loads are ancient history for departments that use LDH as their exclusive supply hose.
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We use waterproof tarp material customized to restrain all hose in the crosslay and rear hose beds on our engines.
The hose beds have treadplate covers with permenant attachments for the tarps at the outer edges of the treadplate. The covers pull down vertically and are attached to aluminum lugs with multiple bungie loops. The loops pop off easily when the hose is needed, but they keep the hose, nozzles, leader line gated wye, and the LDH hydrant bag all secured in the hose bed until we want to remove them.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Is a complete pre-trip inspection necessary everytime you hop in the vehicle to go somewhere?
No... just a walk around the engine to make sure that doors are closed and anything attached to the outside is secure. Pre-trip inspections occur at the beginning of your shift or when you are releaving someone else or the vehicle was just received from the garage... Not every call, thats just plain overkill and sillyness.
I believe this incident involved what we call a freeway line, which is a shorter section of 1 3/4" hose with a TFT recessed into a well on the right side of the engine. The other side has the pump panel that typically does not have this arrangment. This hose is kept in place by two straps. I'm assuming that we all have some sort of strap in place to secure the hose. These straps can come loose and are readily obvious. Something that would have been caught provided the driver before entering the cab took the time to walk around the vehicle before moving it.
So yes, I am saying that everytime one gets in a vehicle to drive somewhere, that they should take the time to make sure that:
~ nothing is under the tires
~ nothing is missing off the engine
~ everything is where it's supposed to be
~ nothing can fall off
To not do so, and I am talking about fire trucks here pretty much here Kali, means that something can go wrong like it did with this incident. This is nothing like a pre-trip inspection required for all commercial truck drivers and followed by fire departent apparatus drivers at the beginning of each shift.
And just think of the paperwork for the station Captain, and his or her being grilled by everyone as to why they did not check the engine before moving it. Not my idea of a good time... I'd rather make sure my engineer does a walk around the rig and if they need to go backwards that someone hops out of the engine and backs them up. And god knows that we all need someone to back us up sometimes.... :D
CBz
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Kali,
Actually, those "freak accidents" are all too common. That's why there's a move to have all equipment carried in compartments instead of on the outside of the rig. It's also why all new rigs are made with positive retention systems for all hose loads. Way to many accidental hose deployments happen to consider it a "freak" accident. Fortunately, not too many of them kill innocent bystanders.
We just can't count on the hose - however we load it - to keep itself in the bed while the rig is moving. After all, the hose should be loaded where we can quickly deploy it...right?
The next page in this thread has a couple of photos of one of my department's rigs (Crimson/Spartan Metro) with the crosslay (Mattydale) preconnects secured with a tarp and bungie cords.
Here's a new Pierce with the hose secured like this...
I understand your point, but this type of accident is completely preventable with hose retention systems. They can be retrofitted to existing apparatus almost as easily as they can be designed into new rigs.
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Kali,
I agree with your analysis of the issues at hand, but there's one additional cost-benefit issue that you didn't discuss.
Paying firefihters - beneficial, but costly.
Thermal imagers - beneficial, but costly.
Retrofitting hose beds with hose retention tarps or nets - beneficial, and pretty cheap.
The question isn't just "Which is likely to save more lives?" - they all will save lives. The question is "Which one has the most immediate impact, is the most affordable, and has the best short-term cost-benefit?"
In the specific case at hand, maybe CBz is correct that a walk-around might have prevented the accident, and maybe you're right that it wouldn't necessarily have prevented it. We'll never know - those points are completely hypothetical, regardless of your point of view.
And no, you can't have Bluffton's new Pierce
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Forward lay of the 5-inch LDH with the hose retention system
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Permalink Reply by Kirk D. Baughman on
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sad story was the hose lay right? was the driver and officer watching it's mirrors? i know sad stuff like this happens but lets hope the driver and the crew are going to be ok. just knowing something like this happen it has to be really hard on those guys.
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Permalink Reply by Jayne C. Eernisse - Gates on
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My department has had hose dislodged from the bed and pay out during a response to a fully involved attic fire. It was 1000 feet of 5 inch supply line, too. Luckily we did not inflict any injuries due to paying out the line, however the potential always remains. If I remember correctly the hose was indeed packed using a flat load. It was so powerful that it bent the grab bar on the back of the engine and dented the bed to heck, causing around $5000 - $1000 damage to the engine. This happened several years ago, though. if I am not mistaken I think that it is now mandatory to have new engines fitted with the safety netting that covers the hose lay to prevent accidental payout.
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Permalink Reply by JPB on
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that is why they make hosebed covers with a velcro tear away....worth the cost, check it out
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