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Welcome

The Finest Supporting the Bravest!

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

Crash Drove Allina to Build a Better Ambulance

Posted: Nov 1, 2016

Crash Drove Allina to Build a Better Ambulance

When there's a serious traffic accident with injuries, people take comfort in knowing that an ambulance is on the way. But when the crash involves an ambulance, patients and paramedics are put at risk because ambulance design has not kept pace with developments in vehicle safety.

That’s what happened in January 2014, when an ambulance from Allina Health Emergency Medical Services was hit head-on by an SUV on a snowy night in Buffalo Township. The two paramedics were severely injured and the driver of the SUV died.

“It really set us on a path to say we have to do something different,” said Jeff Czyson, director of operations for Allina’s ambulance service.

The force of the collision drove the ambulance’s steering wheel to the back of the driver’s compartment, leaving the driver with numerous broken bones. The other paramedic, who was attending to the patient, was thrown forward, hitting the front of the back cabin and suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Nationwide, there are about 4,500 ambulance accidents every year, with one-third of them resulting in injury.

After the accident, Allina EMS set out to make its ambulances safer but found that the industry’s designs had changed little since the 1980s. “Compared to the advances in passenger vehicles, it is night and day,” Czyson said.

Instead, Allina EMS decided to design an ambulance of its own.

Casting a wide net, i

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Fire Engine Crash Leaves Five Injured

Posted: Nov 1, 2016

Fire Engine Crash Leaves Five Injured

A dramatic Back Bay fire engine crash injured four firefighters and a civilian while crushing a Jeep, damaging eight other cars and even plowing down a tree and turning a sidewalk to rubble.“It’s shocking,” said Lisa Simmons, whose Saab was one of nine parked cars damaged in a domino effect on Commonwealth Avenue.

The fire truck, which was responding to a report of smoke at 1120 Boylston St., was traveling west on Commonwealth Avenue at 11:26 a.m. when it collided with a Chevrolet Equinox heading north on Dartmouth Street, Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said.

Neither Boston police nor Finn could say who had the light at the time, even though a police camera is on the corner where the crash took place. But the fire truck had its siren and lights on, Finn said.

The truck then swerved onto the sidewalk, mowed down a tree and smashed into a parked Jeep, nearly obliterating it, and causing the chain reaction that left eight other parked cars damaged as well, said Steve MacDonald, a fire department spokesman.

The driver of the SUV the fire truck initially collided with and four firefighters, including a fire captain, all were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Finn said.

Even parts of the sidewalk underneath the fire engine were reduced to rubble, and heavy equipment had to be brought in to lift the truck off one of the parked cars.

Kaitlin Stratton, a Bay State College sophomore, had just parked on Commonwealth Avenue with her parents when the crash occurred.

“I heard the siren coming from behind,” she said. “I felt the ground shaking. I heard my dad yelling to the SUV, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! But it was too late.”

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Middleway (WV) Fire Department Donates Truck to James Rumsey Technical Institute

Posted: Nov 1, 2016

Middleway (WV) Fire Department Donates Truck to James Rumsey Technical Institute

By Shaheed Morris | smorris@whag.com Published 10/31 2016 07:43PM Updated 10/31 2016 07:43PM The Middleway Fire Department donated a 1991 KME to the James Rumsey Technical Institute on Monday, replacing two of the institute's old fire trucks. "The students were very, very exited," said Principal Donna Van Metre.

“To be able to get a new piece of equipment that is functioning completely.”

During the ceremony early Monday, Middleway Fire Department officials received a plaque for the donation. The donated truck was in service last week.

The institute prepares students for careers in fighting fires and as paramedics. Student Chaz Vangilder was excited to see a new fire truck.

“I think it’s awesome getting a new fire truck here,” Vangilder said. “So this class and classes soon-to-be will get the hands-on training for the fighting job.”

Instructor Steven Harris, who is just starting his fourth month at the institute as a faculty member, said the donated truck will play a big role in students’ success.

“It’s going to help the students immensely in achieving their certifications. We had two trucks that didn’t operate fully.”

Vintage Firetruck Stolen During Hurricane Matthew Found in Orlando

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - A firetruck stolen during Hurricane Matthew has been found in Orlando. The 1956 vintage firetruck belongs to a man in Cocoa. It's hard to miss a tow truck pulling a fire engine down the street. That's part of why Charles Fischer has his vintage 1956 engine back.

It was towed home Monday afternoon after a friend spotted it.

“I realized that was my firetruck when I first saw the picture,” said Fischer, a Cocoa realtor.

The picture he saw was an ad on the internet featuring his truck. A salvage yard was selling the truck for parts. A friend of Fischer’s saw the ad and brought it to Fischer’s attention.

The truck had been stolen earlier this month, when someone towed it away in broad daylight from the lot where Fischer kept it in Cocoa.

“It is a little disheartening that somebody can impersonate you as an owner, call a tow company and sign a piece of paper and receive cash, and there goes your vehicle,” Fischer said.

Fischer called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office when he saw the ad. The salvage yard had it towed back to Fischer within hours.

“I see a few things missing. But most of her seems to be there,” Fischer said.