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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: Nov 1, 2016

Growing Middletown (DE) to Add Paramedic Station

New Castle County is spending $718,000 to purchase five acres for a new paramedic station south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to improve response times as the area continues to grow. County Council approved the purchase last week after years of discussion over where local government will grow its emergency services in the southern part of the county.
"The location couldn't be better," said Councilman Bill Bell, who is one of two council members representing residents south of the canal.

Southern New Castle County is one of the fastest growing areas in the state.

The land sits off North DuPont Parkway near Boyds Corner and east of Middletown. It is adjacent to a planned shopping center that will be known Huber's Crossing. The property is between Del. 1 on the east and U.S. 13 to the west as well as Pole Bridge Road to the north and Bayview Road to the south.

The station will be next to an Odessa Fire Company station on the north side of the property, Bell said.

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Posted: Nov 1, 2016

Three Confirmed Fatalities in SW Baltimore Crash Involving School Bus, MTA Bus

BALTIMORE (WBFF) -- Emergency responders were called to the scene of a fatal bus crash in southwest Baltimore Tuesday morning. The crash happened in the area of Frederick and Monastery Ave and involved an MTA bus and a school bus.Baltimore Police spokesper

Emergency responders were called to the scene of a fatal bus crash in southwest Baltimore Tuesday morning.

The crash happened in the area of Frederick and Monastery Ave and involved an MTA bus and a school bus.

Baltimore Police spokesperson TJ Smith noted that "significant injuries" were being reported and confirmed three fatalities.

"We are in the process of gathering information on the bus crash," Smith wrote in a Tweet. "We will advise once we have more. Understand this is a fluid situation."

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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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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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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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