Bridgeport cited for serious safety violations in death of two firefighters

[Geppetto 31]

STAMFORD ADVOCATE

Friday, February 11, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- The Bridgeport Fire Department has been charged with five serious federal safety violations in the July 24 blaze that killed two firefighters.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the department did not perform tests on the firefighters' breathing gas tanks; failed to conduct medical evaluations and ensure firefighters were fit; did not make sure firefighters wore breathing equipment inside the burning building; and failed to follow "mayday" procedures....

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Bridgeport-cited-for-serious-safety-violations-in-1009085.php

[turk182 37]

All the violations are "serious" yet the total fine is only $5000. What a joke.

[NJMedic 96]

I've said it before and I'll say it again....don't expect OSHA (or a State OSHA) to come in like a knight to strike fear in the hearts of fire chiefs or local governments. $5000 for two guys, please. Chump change to a City like Bridgeport.

[FD828 77]

What really matters here is that they fix the areas that they were deficient in so that they don't have a repeat of this tradgedy, not the amount of the fines. Hope that they see the big picture.

[Geppetto 31]

Bridgeport Fire Department faulted in firefighter deaths

Daniel Tepfer, Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Report-Bridgeport-Fire-Department-faulted-in-1446033.php#ixzz1R6XtsySG

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Many-lessons-in-fire-report-1446231.php

NIOSH REPORT

http://statter911.com/files/2011/06/CT-Bridgeport-LODD-NIOSH-report.pdf

[FFPCogs 863]

For what it's worth I will post here what I posted on another site in regards to this topic.

Re: Bridgeport Fire Department faulted in firefighter deaths

Could this tragedy have been averted? I do not know as I was not there. I have not read the report in it's entirety but what I do know is that in almost every such instance the reports that stem from LODDs invariably say that they can be and should have been avoided. I do not believe that to be a fair assessment in every instance since it is always easy to find fault after the fact. The Officers and FFs on scene did what was for them the right actions at the time. That events spun out of control and ultimately led to the deaths of two members is tragic, but to me definitely not due to negligence or incomptence. At the risk of sounding cold or unconcerned I have to say it: we must remember that firefighting is an inherently dangerous undertaking. That means that we all run the risk of serious injury or even death in perfoming our duty. No amount of safety officers, or regulations is going to lessen that risk if in fact we are to continue to enter burning buildings. In the end it is a risk vs benefit decision and sometimes given the available information that decision can turn out badly as it did in this case. My heart truly goes out to the families and the members of the BFD and I too mourn the loss of these two FFs. To me their memory will best be served by learning the lessons that can be learned to help prevent similar events in the future.

And this is where NIOSH and other LODD reports come into play. We must heed the information that is learned from the investigations. If areas are lacking they must be corrected inasmuch as resources allow that to occur. Recrimination is useless and in fact counterproductive. If "bad" decisions were made then it is far more important to find out why they were made rather than to assign blame for them. Nothing will be gained from the "blame game" other than to paralyze the fire officer's ability to make decisions lest he make the wrong one and face professional repurcussions or worse. As an aside in talking with my British colleagues here I have learned that in the UK right now there is a Chief and a number of other Fire Officers that are being prosecuted for manslaughter. The charges stem from a fire in which 4 FFs were killed in a roof collapse. These officers are being held criminally responsible for the decision to send them into the building in which there was a report of possible victims (in the end there were none). What this has done is effectively eradicated the ability of officers to make hard decisions, risky but necessary decisions, about commiting FFs for fear of going to jail. I fear that we too are fast approaching a time when a similar attitude prevails here, and to me that would be the most self defeating and destructive outcome imaginable.

For many of us that came up in years past we relied on our training and experience to get us through tough spots, and to my mind this cannot and should not change. But with that must come the realization that in some ways the job itself has changed and so too must our attitude and actions when working a fire. I do not believe we need a safety officer to tell us that. Instead our training must reflect the new realities we face, and the culture of the department itself must also reflect them. But this must be done without losing sight of the fact that in the end we will face perilous and potentially deadly circumstances in performing our duty, if in fact we are going to continue to perform it.

The Officers on scene that day, like so many in others cites and towns across the Nation that face an LODD, will carry the burden of the decisions they made forever. We need not blame, fault or cite them for those decisions as I am sure they believed them to be the right ones at the time. All we can do, in fact what we must do all of us, is learn from tragedies like this and apply what we have learned. If equipment is faulty, fix it. If the training is lacking, fix it. If members are out of shape, fix it. If communications is an issue, fix it. If the culture of your dept is stuck too far in the past, change it.

RIP Lt Velasquez and FF Baik. Let us honor their memory by continuing to save lives and put out fires.

Sorry for the rant

Cogs

Edited July 4, 2011 by FFPCogs

[WAS967 97]

$5000 may be chump change in fines, but it opens a HUGE door for civil lawsuits from the next of kin.

[SOlsonBFDL14 35]

Very well said Cogs! VERY well said. You hit the nail on the head, at the end of the day it IS a dangerous job. We get hurt, injured & sometimes die. It is what it is. I was not there (obviously) so I don't know what happened, but if the IC made his decision based on the best available information that what happened is a tragedy & nothing more.

"Carpenters bang their fingers, electricians get shocked, and firemen get f***ing burned!" Capt. Fred Gallagher, FDNY Rescue 2