Firefighters rescued a man who was trapped in his car after colliding with a semi truck Friday morning on Seattle's Alaskan Way. Police and fire crews responded to the scene, near Pier 34 and South Massachusetts Street, at about 7 a.m. after receiving reports of a serious crash. A damaged car and a semi rig were found at the scene, with the driver of the car trapped inside his vehicle.
- PUB DATE: 5/4/2018 8:08:05 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000

SHELBY, NC—HURST Jaws of Life® recognized more than 1,500 first responders from across the country with Green Cross honors last year, noting their dedicated efforts to save or free entrapped patients. The 1,541 recipients include fire fighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers from 28 U.S. states, Canada, and South America.

“The stories of dedication and heroism we hear from the first responders who use HURST Jaws of Life rescue tools are part of our inspiration to continually raise the bar in rescue tool performance,” said Bruce Johnston, director of marketing and product management for HURST Jaws of Life, which first presented the award in 1973. “We’re proud to share their mission of saving lives and we’re honored that they’ve chosen HURST Jaws of Life to be part of their team when the respond to a call.”

The honor is presented to individuals and team responses to incidents, such as a Web-site-featured story that recognized a team of 10 volunteer first responders in Mercer, Pennsylvania. East End Volunteer Fire Department responded to a multivehicle crash including an ambulance and four passenger vehicles with multiple entrapments.

“We had a wide range of age and experience, so I sent each officer to a different vehicle. It was almost three separate incidents,” said Chief Bill Finley Jr., describing a scene in which there were about 100 yards from one end of the crash site to the other end. “We had all three people out within 20 minutes of arriving at the scene. We were really proud of that.”

Finley said the team used a variety of tools from the HURST Jaws of Life eDRAULIC line, relying on the portability to quickly get to the patients, saying. “It’s not common to have multiple vehicles with entrapment, but we had our cordless rescue tools and could spread out and easily get from one vehicle to the other.”

First responders, their co-workers and supervisors can register for Green Cross honors online or by calling 704-487-6961 to request a registration form. Recognition includes a patch bearing the Green Cross symbol that should be applied to the first responder’s HURST Qualification Patch.

For more information, www.jawsoflife.com.

DAYTON, OH—Honeywell announced an innovative new thermal liner for firefighter turnout gear that is specially engineered to release the heat that quickly builds up inside a firefighter’s protective coat to help protect against heat stress.

The Honeywell Heat-Release Liner is comprised of strategically placed air vents and ports in the protective thermal layer that enables heat trapped within the layers of the garment to be rapidly vented and expelled after the firefighter leaves the super-heated environment.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, stress and overexertion can lead to heart attack, strokes and heat stroke, common causes of firefighter injury and fatality. Inside a burning building, temperatures can soar to as much as 400-500 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures that feel like the inside of a pizza oven.

“Firefighters work under extremely harsh conditions where heat stress and exhaustion are significant hazards,” said Christie Newsome, marketing director, Honeywell First Responder Products. “Our new Heat-Release Liner is engineered with patent-pending features to create better airflow and heat dissipation to improve firefighter comfort and reduce the risk of heat stress. This becomes increasingly important as we see increased encapsulation of the gear due to particulate filtration.

“Honeywell’s Heat Release liner releases heat more quickly and effectively than traditional liners and  helps firefighters stay comfortable and productive in their turnout gear even when they respond to nonfire alarms, which account for most of all calls in some departments”, added Newsome.

Warm air trapped within the garment liner is directed to the upper chest and  back where the vents and ports work together to facilitate it being more quickly exhausted to the outside. The patent-pending vents and ports on the thermal liner are activated when the firefighter loosens the throat strap/upper storm shield and SCBA belt after they leave the fire structure, enabling cooler air to enter the thermal liner, vent the heated air and bring faster relief to the firefighter.

For more information about the Heat Release liner, visit https://www.honeywellfirstresponder.com/.

A Las Vegas Fire Department captain paralyzed in an on-duty crash almost 15 years ago has died. Thelonious “Theo” Adams, a captain and 13-year veteran of the department, was paralyzed from the neck down after a fire engine responding to reports of smoke in an apartment rolled over on Halloween night in 2003.
- PUB DATE: 5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

A veteran Harris County firefighter is suing his former department, claiming that his bosses fired him for missing a holiday shift as retaliation for whistleblowing on illegal behavior by the department’s leadership. The state district court lawsuit alleges that Jeramie Casiano, a lieutenant in the Harris County Emergency Services District 48’s fire department, first warned in January 2017 of “highly concerning and illegal practices,” including the misuse of government property and services by the ESD’s leadership.
- PUB DATE: 5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle