By Raul A. Angulo
The August 21, 2004, headline of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette read, “Girl dies after being struck by hose from fire truck. Authorities baffled by bizarre accident.”
It was a Thursday summer afternoon on August 19, 2004, when the engine of the Coraopolis (PA) Volunteer Fire Department was pulling the hill on Chess St. The members were responding to a reported basement fire on the 400 block of Mount Vernon Ave. As they were approaching the intersection, about 30 feet of 1¾-inch hose came out of the Mattydale slot. The nozzle caught the edge of a car tire and deployed the rest of the load, taking out a birdbath and two hibiscus plants before the tension pulled the nozzle loose, causing it to swing around like a giant whip. The six-pound nozzle struck two 10-year-old girls on the right side of their heads. One was killed as a result of a brain stem injury and the other was seriously injured and disfigured. The noise of the diesel engine climbing the hill, the siren, and the fact that the crew members had already donned their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) face pieces prevented them from hearing or noticing what had happened. Two years later, a jury awarded the families $5 million.
It happened again on October 18, 2014. A 58-year-old male was riding his bicycle when a Toledo, Ohio, fire apparatus on an emergency response lost 150 feet of 1¾-inch hose, and the nozzle struck the cyclist, killing him. The force behind the hose was so strong, it yanked the rear wheel off the bicycle.
![1 Numerous Hose Alert clamps can accommodate every hose load and every hosebed on the fire apparatus. Each clamp is tethered to the apparatus with a thin steel cable. Each clamp has a glow-in-the dark strip for easy visibility at night. (Photos by author unless otherwise noted.)](/content/dam/fa/print-articles/volume-22/issue-3/1703FA_Angulo1.jpg) |
1 Numerous Hose Alert clamps can accommodate every hose load and every hosebed on the fire apparatus. Each clamp is tethered to the apparatus with a thin steel cable. Each clamp has a glow-in-the dark strip for easy visibility at night. (Photos by author unless otherwise noted.) |
In 2002, Tualatin Valley (OR) Fire and Rescue accidentally dropped hose off one of its apparatus, which was thought to be the cause of a motor vehicle accident that killed a 41-year-old man from St. Helens. On October 22, 2013, a Troy, Michigan, fire truck accidentally dumped a hose load on the freeway that damaged 12 vehicles that ran over the deployed hose. On December 24, 2013, a fire truck accidentally deployed hose, damaging several vehicles in the northbound lanes of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. In February 2014, a Vancouver (WA) fire apparatus dumped 800 feet of large-diameter hose (LDH) on the Glen Jackson Bridge, causing a two-car accident.
It is hard to keep up with all the national emergency and nonemergency fire service news, and I must tell you, these stories got past me. I was shocked to hear about them - not so much about the accidental hose deployments; I’m sure most firefighters are aware that this happens. It’s not as rare as you think - we’re bound to experience it or hear about it within our department once or twice throughout our careers. It’s usually a professional embarrassment for the driver and the crew, so unless there’s an incident, everyone inside the “cone of silence” is sworn to secrecy. No crew wants to be the butt of the joke or departmentwide ribbing for laying out the entire LDH inventory on the highway. However, with cell phones everywhere, it probably is impossible to cover this event up without some civilian recording it and posting it on social media. What shocked me were the civilian