jcoppola

Theres just something about Yankee Baseball in October. I have to admit I am really bummed that there is not going to be a Yankee-Redsox ALCS this year. I am a met fan who was rooting hard for Torre and the Yanks to see some good, gritty, in-your-face playoff ballgames.

I guess there is always next season...

I agree that Firehouse Magazine has gotten really bad. I cancelled my subscription a few years ago. Every now and then I see one in the firehouse, pick it up, then put it down and give thanks that I stopped paying for it. Fire Engineering is a LOT better, each month I find a few items worth reading. I am, however, very displeased with Chief Brennan's replacement on the back page. You just can't replace that talent with Brunacini...unreadable

JC

Nice rig, good idea behind it too. Question...is the old Ford Rescue slated for replacement? I saw that rig at a class a few months ago and I was really impressed with the tool compliment on it. The members there look like they are very squared away with their rescue training.

Interesting story I thought I should share with the group. I was speaking with another LT from my job this evening and we were discussing the Greenwich accident. He informed me that just last week, in the middle of the night, NFD was on 95 between 15-16 N/B fighting a semi-trailer fire. When the fire was out, the driver of the shift commander car (C2) went back to the vehicle to move it closer to the scene to get ready to depart. It is SOP that the shift command car stage itself to provide oncoming vehicles warning of the activity ahead. (we also place apparatus on an angle to provide protection, which was done here). Anyway, just as C2 pulled up toward the scene, a violent, 3 truck accident occurred in the exact spot that C2 was parked. It is only by the grace of God that the DC aide was not killed on that scene. All three trucks collided, one rolled over and the driver of another was pinned and seriously injured. I guess we got lucky on this one too. Lets keep our eyes open and the trucks between us and the oncoming traffic.

There are some really good pictures of this accident on www.firegroundimages.com

That's why Westport FD wears type III refelctive vests per department SOP at all raodway and railway incidents. You can laugh all you want at us, but it increases our safety... NFD should consider this too. Stay safe out there. Bill D.

Hey Bill, sounds like a discussion topic for FOIII????

Heres to quick thinking by a good samaratan!!! I was very impressed with this guy's ability to come up with a good idea in a very stressful situation...can we sign him up??? Read on:

Samaritan saves woman from blaze

AARON LEO and JAMES D. SHAY Staff writers

09/30/2007 11:29:03 PM EDT

SHELTON — A Seymour woman is in critical condition following a head-on collision with a pickup truck that burst into flames on Route 110 Sunday morning.

Kristen Lupulio, 25, is in Bridgeport Hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to Shelton police and a hospital spokesman.

Anthony Kezer, 35, of Ansonia, who was driving by the accident, is credited with helping Lupulio escape the flames by using his vehicle to pull her 1995 Honda Accord away from the burning wreck. Lupulio's serious injuries and her heavily damaged Honda trapped her inside.

"You could see that the lady was starting to feel the heat," Kezer said, "The windows were blowing out of the truck. I could feel the heat on my back."

Acting quickly, Kezer tied a tow strap to his vehicle and pulled the Honda about 50 feet from the flaming pickup.

According to Assistant Fire Chief Daryl Osiecki, it's likely the woman would have been killed by the fire if Kezer had not arrived in time. Another good Samaritan, Edward Francis, of Branford, was the first on the scene. He immediately called 911.

Michael Bouchard, an off-duty Bridgeport park police officer, also stopped and used a fire extinguisher to help control the flames. "We dumped three canisters into the truck" but it couldn't stop the flames. "It went up so fast you couldn't get to it. The heat was furious," he said. When Bouchard approached the Accord, the young woman was covered in glass and had difficulty breathing. He cleared the

glass away from her mouth and nose, allowing her to breathe easier.

Kezer, Francis and Bouchard were joined by Shelton police officers Philip Norris and Christopher Woodin to battle the flames until fire and emergency crews arrived.

The 6:46 a.m. accident occurred on Route 110, a quarter-mile north of the entrance to Indian Well State Park. According to Shelton police, the pickup truck was operated by Jorge Caceres, 29, of West Haven. Caceres, who got out of the 2001 Dodge Ram pickup before the flames erupted, sought medical attention on his own.

The exact cause of the accident is under investigation and no arrests have been made, police said.

Jason Perillo, chief of the Echo Hose Ambulance Co., said it was apparent Lupulio suffered serious injuries and she was rushed to Bridgeport Hospital.

According to Osiecki, the assistant fire chief, the pickup truck caught fire with the Accord lodged beneath it.

Rescue and emergency workers soon arrived and worked about 30 minutes to free the driver, who was semi-conscious.

"She had really serious injuries," Osiecki said of the driver. "We cut the doors, the roof. We pushed the dashboard off her."

"The car was really a mess. She was pretty much in shock," said Francis, 55, former pilot in the Army in the 1970s who saw several serious crashes and fires in the Army.

"The whole front end of the car was shortened by about 3 feet." He couldn't even tell what kind of car it was, it was so damaged.

Route 110 was closed most of the day Sunday as Shelton police, its detectives and accident reconstruction team worked at the site. They were also aided by the Trumbull police traffic unit.

The crash occurred near the site where Kathleen Wills, 48, and her 14-year-old daughter, Brittany, were killed by a drunken driver on Dec. 13, 2001. Those deaths brought calls for increased enforcement on Route 110, a stretch of road that has had a high number of accidents, including at least four fatalities. Shelton police responded with increased surveillance and enforcement from the downtown area to the Monroe border.

Kezer, a Bridgeport city employee who works construction jobs on weekends, was modest in being called a hero Sunday.

"It just happened to be I took my truck to work instead of my motorcycle," he said. Anyone with information on the accident is asked to call the Shelton Police Department's accident unit at 924-1544, ext. 337.

The more I read from this, the only thing I can say is WOW!

We all should learn a great lesson from this one. Nice job guys!

http://emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopic=20...mp;#entry106486

Date: 9/30/07

Time: Early this morning

Location: I-95 Between Exits 4 & 5

Frequency: 800mhz, 154.175

Units Operating: E1, E2, R5, P2, GPD, GEMS, other units?

Description Of Incident: Units responded to an MVA Car Fire with entrapment. While working at the scene Patrol 2 was struck on the rear right officers side by another vehicle sustaining significant damage. The patrol members were uninjured. The driver of the vehicle who hit the apparatus died. Unsure about the other passengers of the vehicle.

Writer: Zinger57

In regards to the above info/ IA. I think this is at least the third time (that I can recall) a Greenwich unit has been hit while operating on I-95 and due to apparatus placement no members were hurt.

In the past, you guys have had some really bad ones with PD and FD apparatus. I remember a state trooper and a GPD officer was killed on that stretch of roadway...keep up the good work using those rigs as barracades...I am proud of all of you for what its worth.

I, too am glad the responders were good. Thats why we teach and preach apparatus between the oncoming traffic and the work zone. That had to be one heck of an impact to kill the driver. To me, it sounds like the patrol members were very lucky. Is the rig totaled? I always liked to take the lane of the accident and the next one, with the rig at an angle across the highway lanes so the guys can get out one side safely.

Date: 09-29-2007

Time: 07:33

Location: 68 N. Main Street

Frequency: 151.445

Units Operating: E2, E5, T2, T1 (RIT) R2, C2, C16

Description Of Incident: Initially dispatched as a still alarm for E2/T2. On arrival E2 requested a full box assignment for smoke in the basement of a commercial row of stores of Type 3 construction. Fire was found in the basement and extinguished. Units are still O/S overhauling.

Writer: JVC

Norwalk has Panasonic Toughbooks in ALL apparatus. All Toughbooks are hard-mounted on movable brackets and have a GPS Locator System on them with maps and plot-as-you-go directions. As our pre-planning program, we are using First Look Pro, which is a pretty user friendly program. In it, we are importing all valuable data about EVERY address in our city, including digital photographs of sides a, b, c & d. In some cases we will be putting roof pictures on the program for commercial occupancies. The wireless internet is coming as I am told, but still not in the computers yet. Other software on the computers includes NIOSH and DOT HAZMAT Manuals in electronic form with much more to come...

A more current article thanks to The HOUR Newspaper

Police officer seriously injured

Norwalk Hour Newspaper

September 27, 2007 A city police officer suffered a fractured skull and needed nine stitches to his head early Wednesday morning after he was injured at a Connecticut Avenue construction site, prompting police to question state hard-hat policy. Officer John Russell "Russ" Wynkoop, assigned to the Norwalk Police Complaint Bureau, was working an extra-duty job directing traffic at 12:15 a.m. near Toys "R" Us when a metal trench box, used to prevent sidewall cave-ins, that was being moved hit something else, spun in an unexpected direction and collided with his head, police said.

Norwalk officers wear reflective safety vests when directing traffic at construction sites, but not hard hats.

Wynkoop, 65, was knocked unconscious by the blow, but regained at least partial consciousness before being placed in an ambulance and was able to articulate by the time he reached Norwalk Hospital, said city police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Henion.

The box was being moved through the air by a Komatsu excavator when it "shifted suddenly and twisted, and struck him in the head, on the side of his head," Henion said, adding that Wynkoop fell to the ground and hit the other side of his head on the ground, cutting it, too.

The state Department of Transportation was overseeing the site, and a state inspector was on scene, Henion said. Further details of the accident were not available Wednesday. All work at the construction site, part of Connecticut Light & Power's installation of high-voltage power transmission cables beneath Connecticut Avenue, has been stopped until CL&P completes its investigation into what happened, said CL&P spokesman Frank Poirot.

The investigation into the accident's cause will also delve into "what do we have to do to prevent it from happening again — that's probably the most important outcome," Poirot said.

Following the accident, officers broadcast urgently, "Officer down, officer down — 81," over the police department's dispatch channel. Eighty-one is Norwalk's radio code for an emergency.

Construction Wednesday morning was occurring at a number of locations along the avenue over several blocks with officers posted along the route to direct traffic. Wynkoop was working across the street from Briggs Tire Co., just west of Stuart Avenue.

Traffic at the site had been reduced to one lane each direction, Henion said. The cables are being laid in a wide, deep trough being dug along the shoulder of the avenue's eastbound lanes.

The construction company handling the site, Kemsco Construction and Equipment Co. Inc. of Newark, N.J., was cited in 2001 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for two alleged willful violations and one alleged serious violation of OSHA standards.

OSHA alleged then that the company failed to provide cave-in protection and safe means of egress from excavation.

A Kemsco employee reached by telephone Wednesday said she didn't know about the accident involving Wynkoop and had no comment.

Police Chief Harry Rilling said he's certain the injury was an accident and not caused by carelessness.

But he said it should spur another look at state safety rules regarding officers at work sites.

"I think that whole situation has to be reevaluated now, depending on the nature of the job and where the officer is located," Rilling said. "I think there needs to be a requirement by OSHA. Unfortunately, oftentimes we wait for an accident to happen before we implement proper protective measures. You can't always protect everybody against every possibility. (But) this demands that a closer look be taken."

He said he doesn't believe the decision of whether or not to wear a hard hat should be left to individual officers.

Rilling, who visited Wynkoop at 1:30 a.m. in the hospital and notified the mayor and police commissioners, said the injured officer was in good spirits, although feeling pain.

Wynkoop is the second-longest-serving police officer on the force, which he joined in November 1975. He was admitted to Norwalk Hospital soon after the accident and was undergoing tests Wednesday to ensure he has no internal injuries, Henion said. He was listed in satisfactory condition by the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Rilling said Wednesday afternoon that it's too early to tell how badly Wynkoop is hurt, adding that the hospital will keep him for a few days for observation.

"His injuries are relatively serious, but he was very, very lucky that they weren't far more serious. They could have been," he said. "He obviously had not a clue that this was happening ... because he didn't even know it hit him. It was dark, there was a lot of things going on. I told him that he needs to stay there until he feels ready to come home."

Rilling said the accident should have been reported to the state Department of Labor's Division of Occupation Safety and Health, as required by law.

But Thomas Hozebin, division program manager, said at about 1:20 p.m. Wednesday that the accident had not been reported to the division, which handles matters involving public state and municipal employees.

Hozebin said if an officer is in a position where he or she can't avoid overhead dangers, then it would be appropriate for that officer to wear a hard hat. "It all depends on the type of hazards present."

But typically, police officers don't need to be in the same situations as construction crews, he said.

"I'm not looking for law enforcement personnel ... providing traffic control to be exposed to the same constant hazards as are the workers, and that being said, I wouldn't expect a hard hat," he said. "I would expect the police ... to be aware of the hazards that they face and not expose themselves to those hazards. Certainly I would have hoped that he would have positioned himself somewhere where he wouldn't be exposed to that."

Hozebin said that, once the information is reported, "we would have to weigh our priorities and where we would concentrate our resources" in determining how to proceed.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Bridgeport area office referred comment to Hozebin.

Henion said the last serious accident involving a Norwalk officer on an extra-duty work site was about four years ago, when a truck backed over Officer John Zilliox. Zilliox survived, and retired soon after the accident, he said.

Noelle Frampton covers police and courts. She can be reached at (203) 354-1006 or nframpton@thehour.com.

Good site, well done and neat. Very professional looking.

My website is below in my signature...click it and check it out.

Date: 9-26-2007

Time: 12:15

Location: Connecticut Ave. Underground Powerline Project Site

Frequency:

Units Operating: NPD, NFD, Norwalk Hospital EMS

Description Of Incident: A Norwalk police officer sustained a serious head injury Wednesday morning when he was struck by a trench box. Officer John Russell Wynkoop was directing traffic at a construction site on Connecticut Avenue at about 12:15 a.m. when he was hit by the large steel box, which is used to prevent sidewall cave-ins of trenches. The construction site is part of Connecticut Light & Powers installation of high-voltage power transmission cables beneath Connecticut Ave. After the accident, worked stopped for over an hour while police and personnel from the construction company investigated what occurred. Police at the scene said Wynkoop was knocked unconscious by the blow, but regained consciousness by the time he was placed in ambulance and taken to Norwalk Hospital. Wynkoop is the second-longest serving police officer on the force, which he joined in 1975.

Writer: J. Coppola

PS: Incident description courtesy of The Norwalk Hour Newspaper and Reporter Harold Cobin, who covers Police & Fire matters for the newspaper. I will post Officer Wynkoop's condition when I get more details.

I have a few good CT HS Football Rivalries, some from the past, some from present:

Greenwich-Fairfield Prep (present)

Greenwich-Stamford Catholic (past)

Stamford High-Westhill (past and present)

Stamford Catholic-Rippowam (Past)

Am I showing my age?

Joe

I just read on Stamford Fire Local 786's website that an off duty, laid-off member of 786/career member of belltown fire made an attempt at a rescue of the deceased man. From reading the article, it seems he did one hell of a job trying to get to him and I am proud of his effort!

www.local786.org (front page)

Perfect case of when the crap hits the fan, instinct takes over and BS gets put on a back burner.

Nice job mike!!!

Joe C.

Thank YOU, Joe! I wish the photos had come out better, I was a little off today as my mind was somewhere else. I'm becoming a lighting snob of sorts. But I'll be back up for a visit when it goes into service, so I'll make it up then.

I should mention if it hasn't already that Engine 1 is first due to the Norwalk section of the Merrit Parkway. So, it will have extrication equipment in the rear compartment so they can begin extrication at a pin job until the Rescue can get there.

It's also interesting to note that Norwalk Hospital has changed their paint/lettering scheme with the delivery of their fifth Lifeline ambulance, a 2007 Ford E-450 SD/Lifeline Superliner.

And I'm a fan of the bell too....I believe Yonkers has bells on their ALF engines if I'm not mistaken......it is a unique sound, and it is good for when going through a crowd or anywhere there is a lot of people where a siren would be overkill.

Another note...Norwalk Police also changed thier color scheme to black/white/gold on their crown vics this year...a trifecta!

I had a chance to photograph this engine this morning, with special thanks to Joe, Scott, and Alan for hooking me up. Photos can be seen on http://www.emtbravo.com

Although I am a Norwalk White fan, I must say that this engine looks good in red!!

For those who don't know:

Norwalk is appox. 45 minutes from NYC, on the Long Island Sound off I-95 in Southern Fairfield County, CT. They serve a very diverse city, with a large mix of income levels. Also, a very large area of diverse residential, commerical, industrial and institutional facilities, as well as several major roadways.

They have a really, really great and talented apparatus maintainence staff, that has built several custom apparatus for the department using a mix of aqquired chasis and bodies. They operate from a former transit bus garage opposite the Volk Central Fire Station (Sta 2) across I-95. The spacious facilty houses a large, well equipped shop as well as housing for Norwalk's antiques, and special operations vehicles.

As far as the lightbar for the light buffs who noticed, the Federal Signal Aerodynic lightbar is preffered by NFD because, quite frankly, LED's can be a little too bright, and at night can cause vision problems. It's also hard to see the LED's in sunlight, and the combination of LED flashers on the front, rear, and sides with the halogen lightbar has proven effective for them. That's what I am told. And it can be proven, just drive by a new CT State Trooper car with an Whelen LED lightbar, and it's blinding- almost contradicting what a lightbar is supposed to do. Works for them.

Thanks Seth! The pictures came out really nice! I put an email out to all of our members linking them to the shots.

I have to be honest, my expectations were particularly low of the engine, as I am a huge fan of Pierce and Seagraves, but I am pleasantly suprised, I think it looks good. The bell was an idea of an old-timer that was on the apparatus committee. He has deep roots in his volunteer company, and having come from one myself, I can see where his thinking was when he pushed for a bell...it brings a little tradition to an era where technology is what it is all about.

Nice rig...BUT.........

I cant get use to it. I am use to white in Norwalk, its just not right!!!

When will it be in service?

It should be in service soon, as old E1 is a mess. The thing that I think is not right is the bell...I couldn't tell you where that idea came from!

The best way I can say it, and without offending any old timers from my job, over the past few years, "traditionalists" have become key decision makers in Norwalk. This included a push to go back to black turnout gear, leather helmets and finally red trucks. I have mixed opinions on the red, as the rest of our fleet will remain white and will only change thru attrition. Don't rule out a tiller in Norwalk...these "traditionalists" are making that push currently and we are in the chief of operations' ear about it and he is listening! Next on the slate for replacement is first Rescue 2 then the year after Ladder 1, (both to be ordered in the new color scheme).

I like the idea alot. It gives the IC good flexibility in decisioin making. Since E6 is kind of an "extra" engine or a "Squad", it makes sense to have it be a quint. I also find it nice that SFRD has 4 year old spares. Our spares in Norwalk are real "beaters", old refurbed macks. Engine 1 is about to go into spare status as new engine 1 has arrived.

Sorry for the delay...E1 has been in for over a week but I have been on vacation and unable to get shots of it. These are courtesy of my apparatus maintenance guys.

The New Canaan, CT Fire Department will hold a wet down for its new Tanker 8 on October 13 from 1400 to 1600. The event will be held at our firehouse located at 60 Main Street.

Come see our new Seagrave 3,000 gallon semi-eliptical tanker!

Some preview pictures on EMT Bravo and on newcanaanfire.com.

Tanker 8 looks nice...good job on the spec. Looking forward to seeing it at fires!