A bullet, a pellet, a rock - something shattered a window of an ambulance in North Bellport Tuesday, police and ambulance officials said. Two EMTs from the Mastic Beach Ambulance Company were returning from dropping off a patient at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue when the passenger side window shattered, said Charles Voelger, chief of the volunteer company.
“The window exploded,” he said. “We don’t know if someone threw a rock at it or if someone shot at it.”
Broken glass hit the EMT sitting next to the window and she suffered minor cuts on her arm, he said. “She was turned toward the driver at the time, thank God,” the chief said.
The window was broken at about 3 p.m. on eastbound Sunrise Highway, just east of Station Road, Voelger said.
The incident came on the same day the ambulance company learned its $20,000 grant request to buy bullet-resistant vests had been rejected by FEMA, Voelger said. The money would have purchased about 50 vests for the company, which has six full-time, paid EMTs and a core of 50 volunteers, he said.
Voelger said his members have been concerned about safety due in large part to tense relations between police and some communities across the nation.
He said he’s trying to pursue funding with state officials.
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Posted: Aug 18, 2016
KANSASVILLE - With patient transport times to area hospitals taking anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes, having a reliable ambulance is crucial for the Kansasville Fire and Rescue Department. And for the first time since it began providing ambulance service in 2007, the department is in the training process so it can utilize its first new ambulance.
The new ambulance was purchased after three years of looking for a vehicle to replace its 1997 ambulance, which previously served another department. Due to recent mechanical failures with that vehicle, the department decided to acquire the new rig.
The new ambulance was purchased in late July.
“It’s a bigger vehicle, to begin with, than what we had before,” Kansasville Fire Chief Scott Remer said. “It was time to get our new ambulance.”
The 1997 ambulance was sold with 100,000 miles on it. The new rig, which cost $204,000 and had been a dealer demonstration model, has 5,000 miles on it.
“This is a demo vehicle, so we were able to save significant dollars,” Remer said.
Remer said training is underway with hopes of having the vehicle responding to calls by the end of August.
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Posted: Aug 18, 2016
The Pasadena Fire Department has dispatched two engines and a number of firefighters as part of brush strike team to fight the massive and out-of-control Blue Cut Fire near San Bernardino, now in its second day.
Pasadena Engines 33 and 36 joined Burbank Engine 13 and Glendale Engines 25 and 26, along with one Battalion Chief from the Burbank Fire Department and one from the Glendale Fire Department, to form Brush Strike Team 1203-A.
The five-engine Strike Team rolled out at 3:47 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and is now assigned to structure defense.
Battalion Chief Michael Wakoski of the San Bernardino County Fire Department, incident commander of the Blue Cut fire, told the Los Angeles Times that the fire broke out late Tuesday morning in rugged and steep terrain, making containment efforts almost impossible.
The LA Times said unrelenting heat, gusting winds and tinder-dry chaparral provided bountiful ammunition for the fast-moving fire that has forced more than 80,000 to evacuate.
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Posted: Aug 18, 2016
PARKERSBURG - City officials wanting to donate a fire truck to a department impacted by this summer's flooding in southern West Virginia couldn't find any takers, so the vehicle may end up a little closer to home.
Parkersburg City Council is expected to consider a resolution Tuesday to donate the 32-year-old ladder truck to the Waverly Volunteer Fire Department.
"They have the need for it because they're building a hotel there and one's already built," Parkersburg Fire Chief Jason Matthews said, referring to the Holiday Inn Express under construction and the Sleep Inn and Suites that opened last year.
Last month, council's Finance Committee unanimously voted to donate the aging truck and an ambulance to a department that lost equipment in the June floods. Matthews reached out to the West Virginia State Fire Marshal, but could not find a department with the need for the vehicles.
A new ladder truck is being delivered to the department this week, allowing the current front-line truck to be shifted into a reserve role and making the older vehicle the odd truck out.
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