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The purpose of the Fire Mechanics Section is to promote standardization of fire apparatus and equipment preventative maintenance, improve safety standards and practices, promote workshops, conferences, and seminars related to the purposes of this Section, and to promote cost savings through standardization of building and equipment purchasing and maintenance.

RECENT FIRE MECHANIC NEWS

Posted: Dec 23, 2022

Buckhorn (KY) VFD Receives Rescue Truck Donated By Various Businesses

In the last several years, the Buckhorn Volunteer Fire Department in Perry County (KY) has been down on its luck with old and inoperable equipment, WYMT.com reported.

When July’s flood swept through Buckhorn, the volunteer fire department received call after call but had no proper equipment to help rescue people, the report said.

After the water subsided, other first responders poured in with support: donating clothes, equipment and even fire trucks, according to the report.

On Wednesday, the department received a donated rescue truck that will aid them in future rescue efforts, the report said.

Different parts of the rescue truck were funded by various Lincoln County businesses and community members, according to the report.

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Posted: Dec 22, 2022

18 States Sue to Stop Parked Trains Blocking Fire Apparatus

Mike Hendricks – The Kansas City Star
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has joined 18 other state attorneys general in asking that the U.S. Supreme Court restore the rights states and local governments once had to regulate how long trains can block railroad crossings.

Absent that power, the public is put at risk, the attorneys general say in their brief. Countless people have died when emergency vehicles were delayed at rail crossings, The Star reported this month in an investigation of railroad safety lapses.

The problem has only gotten worse in recent years for many communities across the country, The Star reported, as the rail industry’s practices have made blocked crossings more common.

The group led by Indiana Attorney General Theodore E. Rokita requests that the high court hear Ohio’s appeal of that state’s supreme court decision this year invalidating the Ohio law that allowed authorities to levy fines on railroads when their trains blocked a crossing for more than five minutes.

The Ohio Supreme Court said that law was preempted by federal law and could not be enforced.

Several state and federal courts in recent years also have negated the authority of other states and local governments to enforce their blocked crossings laws. Those courts have ruled that only the federal government can regulate train movements, but Congress has failed to pass any laws limiting how long trains can block a crossing.

The brief that the attorneys general filed in support of Ohio’s appeal says state and local regulations are needed because the lack of rules puts public safety at risk.

“Absent enforceable anti-blocking statutes and ordinances, railroads have little incentive to remove idle trains from grade crossings expeditiously,” the brief said. “The results can be tragic, as incidents across the country demonstrate.”

One of those incidents, The Star reported, happened in September 2021 near Leggett, Texas.

K’Twon Franklin was just 11 weeks old when his mother, a nurse, found him unresponsive a half hour after putting him down for a nap. Finding the crossing blocked to the dead-end road where the family lived, an EMT climbed through a parked train to get the child and carry him back to the ambulance.

But before he could get back across the tracks to the vehicle, the train had begun to move. Nearly an hour passed between the 911 call and when the baby was finally loaded into the ambulance. K’Twon was pronounced dead in the hospital three days later.

K’Twon’s story was also one of the examples cited in the brief filed by Schmidt and the others. In a news release, Schmidt said Kansas is among 37 states with blocked crossings laws that, as The Star found, are effectively unenforceable. The law that Kansas has had on the books since 1897 was struck down in 2018 by the Kansas Court of Appeals.

The state of Ohio argues in its appeal that lower courts misinterpreted a federal statute passed in 1995 that dissolved the Interstate Commerce Commission and transferred much of its authority to a new agency, the Surface Transportation Board.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a similar appeal from the state of Oklahoma last year, but Ohio officials believe they have tweaked their arguments enough to get the court’s consideration.

Railroad unions have also filed a brief in support of Ohio’s appeal. CSX Transportation

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Posted: Dec 22, 2022

New $1.5M Ladder Truck Will Replace Two for Lynden (WA) Fire Department

A new fire truck is ordered for the Lynden (WA) Fire Department, LyndenTribune.com reported

Costing over $1.5 million, the Pierce Quint ladder truck will be built over the next two years in Wisconsin and arrive in time for the city’s next fire insurance rating, a city official said.

The city’s previous ladder truck was surplused as worn-out recently, the report said. 

Fortunately, the new engine has not only a 107-foot aerial reach, but also pumping capability to replace a pump truck that also needs to retire in a few years, the report said. That means the new ladder truck is going to replace two apparatus, which will free up a stall at the station, the city official said.

The lack of a ladder truck can be tolerated for two years because there are at least four others in the county, including one in the surrounding North Whatcom Fire & Rescue district, according to the report.

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Posted: Dec 22, 2022

PA Firefighters’ Vehicle Hit While Responding to Crash

Amanda Christman
Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.
(TNS)

Dec. 22—Two firefighters were in a vehicle that was hit by a motorist while responding to a Friday morning crash in Hazle Twp.

Hazle Twp. Fire and Rescue was called out to Route 924 (CAN DO Expressway) at 7:23 a.m. near Oak Ridge Road for a crash with possible entrapment.

Fire Chief Scott Kostician was driving a 2007 Chevrolet utility with another firefighter inside but, upon arrival, the vehicle was hit in the rear driver’s side by another motorist, according to the fire department. Members were about to exit the vehicle to assess the scene when the truck was hit, firefighters said.

Both firefighters received medical treatment for minor injuries at a local hospital and were released. The operator of the other vehicle was uninjured.

Kostician said their utility truck sustained moderate damage and the aluminum bed will have to be replaced. He encouraged motorists to slow down for weather and road conditions, as it was snowing during the wreck and to be aware of vehicles on the roadside.

Valley Regional EMS and Greater Hazleton EMS assisted on the scene.

State police at Hazleton is investigating.

Firefighters and troopers were responding to a one-vehicle crash at the time.

Troopers said Francisco Rodriguez Hernandez, 31, Hazle Twp., was driving a Toyota RAV 4 west on Route 924 when he lost control of the vehicle and began to slide. The vehicle went onto the right shoulder, traveled up an embankment and rolled onto its driver’s side, troopers said. Rodriguez Hernandez was unharmed but his passenger, Jorge Paulino Cruz, 27, Hazle Twp., sustained a minor injury and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton by Greater Hazleton EMS. The Toyota was towed.

Contact the writer:

achristman@standardspeaker

.com; 570-501-3584

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Fire Mechanics Section Board

Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Chair

Elliot Courage
North Whatcom Fire & Rescue
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Vice Chair

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Vice Chair

Mike Smith 
Pierce County Fire District #5
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Secretary

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Secretary

Greg Bach
South Snohomish County Fire & Rescue
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Director #1

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #1

Doug Jones
South Kitsap Fire & Rescue
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Director #2

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #2

Paul Spencer 
Fire Fleet Maintenance LLC
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Director #3

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #3

Jim Morris
Mountain View Fire Department
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Director #4

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #4

Arnie Kuchta

Clark County Fire District 6

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Director #6

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #6

Brett Annear
Kitsap County Fire District 18
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Director #5

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Director #5

Jay Jacks
Camano Island Fire & Rescue
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Legislative Representative

Posted: Oct 21, 2015

Legislative Representative

TBD
TBD
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Immediate Past Chair

Posted: Oct 20, 2015

Immediate Past Chair

Brian Fortner
Graham Fire & Rescue

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