"Rescue US (Fire, Rescue and EMS in America)" - 5 new articles
Old Station #8, Wilmington Fire Department
Fire Station #8 in Wilmington, DE was my second home. I was raised across the street and hung out there quite often as a kid. I'm a firefighter today as a result of what I learned from the men who staffed this station.  Rescue Turns To Recovery in Haiti
Haiti: Red Tape Endangers Lives!
by: Lou Angeli PORT-AU-PRINCE (Thursday January 21, 2010) -- As of late Wednesday, International USAR teams have rescued 121 people from collapsed buildings in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake, according to Carlos Castillo, a spokesperson for US-based USAR teams. The most recent rescue was that of a 5-year-old boy, who flashed a huge smile and flung his hands upward in victory, as a US-Hungarian rescue team pulled him from the rubble. Currently, 43 international USAR teams, comprised of 1,739 rescue workers, with 161 dogs, are working in Haiti. 6 of those teams are from the United States – with 511 rescue workers from Fairfax County, Los Angeles County, Miami-=Broward, Miami-Dade, Virginia Beach, and New York. In addition, another 1000 or so EMT’s and firefighters from North America have self deployed, working mainly in the villages surrounding Port-Au-Prince. In addition, there are 20 U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels as well as 51 helicopters deployed. As of January 20, more than 5,000 patients have been treated by Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) from the Department of Health and Human Services. Despite DMAT efforts, officials estimate that approximately 2,000 injured Haitian injured are succumbing each day to infection and dehydration. Most of the deaths have taken place in hospitals which have been staffed with volunteer physicians, nurses, paramedics and EMT’s from around the world. Why? These well-trained, highly motivated medical professionals are being denied medicine and equipment that is crucial to providing definitive health care. “We’re working with a Civil War mentality.” said one Trauma doc from San Francisco. “With no meds or surgical equipment, we’re amputating broken limbs with hacksaws and without anesthetics, in order to keep infection from spreading so the patient will live.” Many of the medical professionals who are working these “street hospitals” blame DMAT for hoarding medicine and equipment, which is simply being stockpiled at the Port-Au-Prince Airport. “DMAT can’t meet the level of need here in Port-Au-Prince, They don’t have the numbers” one US nurse complained. “If lives are going to be saved, they (DMAT) need to come off those supplies and distribute them stat!” Officials estimate that nearly 350,000 Haitians are walking wounded, many with serious injuries. They wait in makeshift EMS staging areas, laying on the ground in the scorching sun, hoping to be seen by DMAT or flown to the single operating room aboard the USS Vinson. For many, help doesn’t arrive in time – their dead bodies moved onto a pile to make room for other injured. In the meantime, many drugs, especially antibiotics and pain meds, are being slipped into the country by newly arriving medical groups, which are not affiliated with DMAT. In my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware today, a plea went out to radio listeners asking them to check their medicine cabinets and dresser drawers for any antibiotics or pain medications which can be spared to support the effort of a local team of physicians and medical volunteers. Denying life-saving medicine and supplies to other medical professionals, simply because they’re not wearing a DMAT patch, is absurd. Such thinking is based solely on the belief that unaffiliated volunteers, like the group from Delaware, should be banned from the disaster ground. But this isn’t a FEMA operation – it is a large scale disaster that is international in scope. The term SCUV* is not a four letter word in Haiti – here it is as important as the Star of Life. ----- *SCUV – Spontaneous Convergent Unaffiliated Volunteer -- a term which arose from the ashes of 9/11, referring to those who willingly volunteered to serve during the crucial first 72 hours, when no "official" agency was set up to provide support to the rescue effort. ----  Haiti Rescue and Relief Efforts
From Carlos Castillo (SFTF1 and SFTF2)
As of 1700 hours January 17, U.S. Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams had rescued 30 individuals from collapsed buildings, including one individual rescued at approximately 1615 hours local time and three individuals rescued overnight from the Caribbean Market. To date, international USAR teams have rescued a total of 62 individuals throughout Port-au-Prince. View photos and video at United State Southern Command
 Firefighters' Union Responds To City Press Release
In order to provide well-rounded coverage of the debate over fire department staffing and resources here in Wilmington, Delaware, I'm publishing an open letter to Chief Patrick, written by Kevin Turner, President of Local 1590 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
--- Chief Willie J. Patrick Jr., EFO Wilmington Fire Department 22 South Heald Street Wilmington, Delaware 19801 Chief Patrick, On behalf of myself, the Executive Board and the membership of the Wilmington Firefighter’s Association, I am writing to you to express our grave concerns regarding the continued rolling engine company bypass and the negative impact it continues to produce, including at the recent fire in the 2200 block of West Street. Last year during Labor Management Meetings, you stated that you would not limit the on-duty Battalion Chiefs from being able to perform their jobs. Over the last several months however, the Union has witnessed repeatedly that you or the Deputy Chief of Operations have responded to working fire scenes to ensure that additional resources are not requested or on-scene units are not committed “unnecessarily.” We see this as a clear undermining of the Battalion Chiefs. While the Union can appreciate the City administration’s efforts to reduce personnel costs and other department expenses due to the economic climate, we can no longer stand by silently and allow the Fire Department administration to jeopardize the safety of our members or the public that we serve. For example, the decision at the West Street fire scene to limit the on-duty Battalion Chiefs from calling for additional Fire Department resources had a negative impact on our members working the fire and the public that we took an oath to protect. This was not a sound operational decision. It was a financial one. The short staffing of responding companies due to New Year’s Eve celebration activities affected fire ground operations and fire department efficiency. Two of the first responding Engine companies were short staffed in order to provide an ambulance to stand by at First Night activities. While we recognize the need for public safety at these events, it should not come at a cost to on-duty personnel and apparatus. This was not a sound operational decision. It was a financial one. We believe that the Director of Public Safety played a role in your decision to fail to send a call-back engine to cover a vacant City fire station or to assist units already on the fire ground. Rather than support these important fire activities, the engine was directed to the New Year’s Eve Fireworks Show instead. This was not a sound operational decision. These decisions cause us, as a provider of public safety, to question the Department’s priorities. When the decision to support public entertainment over active fire scene activities affects the safety of our firefighters and the public we serve, we have surely deviated from our true mission of protecting lives and saving property. Since the inception of rolling bypass, firefighter injuries have increased, overall company responses and response times have increased and your administration has callously ignored repeated requests to end the engine company bypass, even when only one or two overtime positions were needed to restore the engine company that was placed in bypass. This minimum expense would have allowed the Fire Department to return to its fully staffed strength of six engines, two ladders, rescue squad and two on-duty battalion chiefs for a total of 38 firefighters on duty. In the coming days, the Union will be making public notice throughout the City to inform our citizens of the danger they have been placed in by the City Administration. We will seek to educate our citizens on the dangers that face them and ask them to demand that their Fire Department be appropriately staffed at all times to handle the emergency needs of all who live, work or visit the City of Wilmington. Sincerely, Kevin O. Turner – President Wilmington Firefighter’s Association CC: The Honorable Mayor James Baker William J. Montgomery – Chief of Staff All Honorable Wilmington City Council Members All City of Wilmington Civic Associations Kevin Turner is a Fire Lieutenant assigned to Engine Co. #6 on the city's west side.  More Recent Articles |
