Buffalo Grove (IL) firefighters and police officers were sent to 1011 Aspen Drive late Monday afternoon for a worker that was reported to be trapped in a hole in the front yard. Workers had been digging apparently to repair a residential sewer service at the home where one worker was in the hole and there was a ground collapse.
Arriving firefighters encountered workers frantically digging to free their coworker. The entire MABAS Division 1 Technical Rescue Team was requested as Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods firefighters initiated a rescue operation. Initial reports were that the worker unconscious and not breathing.
TRT techs arrived and worked for over an hour to free the worker from the collapse. A special call was made for a sewer vac, but the rescue was completed before the unit arrived. The victim, who did not survive, was transported to an area hospital.
A woman was killed and seven others, including three firefighters, were injured after a fire in a Calumet City (IL) apartment building 5/30/22.
Firefighters arrived on the scene and reported heavy fire on the second floor in a unit in the rear of the building, with flames extending to the seventh floor and the roof.
Four building residents and three firefighters were transported to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
On 7/2/2020, Boston Fire Department Tower Ladder 10 was dispatched for a confirmed structure fire in District 9. While responding on South Huntington Avenue, it was involved in an accident with an SUV, puncturing the right front tire, tearing off an outrigger, and causing additional cosmetic damage to the apparatus. Multiple BFD command staff and mechanics, along with Boston EMS and Boston Police, responded to the scene and assisted five members of Tower Ladder 10 as well as the occupants of the SUV. All members of the company were transported as a precaution. The cause is under investigation.
A Cessna Skyhawk skidded off a runway after landing at the Chicago Executive Airport Thursday evening 4/2/20. Only the pilot was onboard and he was able to get out of the plane that came to rest about two feet of water in a drainage ditch alongside the runway.
A multi-vehicle MVC on I-95, sent two people to the hospital Wednesday morning 04-December at 03:24. The accident occurred in Colleton County (SC) near the 55 mile marker northbound, west of Walterboro, when a northbound Peterbilt tractor trailer lost control while traveling at a high rate of speed. The truck entered the median and struck multiple trees, causing one pine tree to fall across the northbound lanes of the Interstate.
Barry McRoy photo
The truck overturned and came to rest approximately 30 feet into the wooded area. The cab suffered massive damage and was in several pieces. The engine and entire drive train were ejected from the chassis, landing approximately 60 feet away. The hot engine started a woods fire. The bulk of the cab was wrapped around a tree with the steering wheel on one side and the driver’s seat on the other. The truck driver was trapped in the seat. He suffered multiple traumatic injuries and was in critical condition. The truck’s saddle tanks ruptured soaking the scene and the patient with diesel fuel.
Barry McRoy photo
Barry McRoy photo
The truck was hauling an intermodal tank which was labeled with a placard indicating it contained diesel fuel, however it was later found to be improperly labeled and contained hazardous chemicals. The tank was not breached and did not leak any contents.
Barry McRoy photo
Shortly after the truck crashed, a northbound Ford F150 pickup struck the fallen tree causing the driver to lose control. The pickup truck entered the median, struck several trees and also overturned north of the burning woods. The driver was wearing a seatbelt and received only minor injuries.
A passenger car then struck the tree and also entered the median and struck several trees. The two occupants were not injured. Shortly thereafter a second semitruck struck the fallen tree. He was able to stop in the breakdown lane. The driver was not injured.
A third semi-truck struck the tree, but was able to stop which blocked the highway and prevented other vehicles from striking the tree. The occupants of the second and third trucks ran to assist the injured people. 9-1-1 was flooded with reports of the accident.
Colleton County Fire-Rescue units arrived on the dark stretch of Interstate to find multiple vehicles stopped around the scene, tree pieces and wood debris scattered around the roadway, the woods in the median on fire, and several vehicles in the median.
Barry McRoy photo
Firefighter-Paramedics immediately requested additional personnel and apparatus to respond to the scene. Crews began checking on the vehicles and the wooded area for patients. A handline was deployed from Engine 1 to extinguish the fire and lighting was set up to illuminate the accident site. The critically injured truck driver was located, trapped in the wreckage. He was making attempts to get out of the damaged cab. Firefighter-Paramedics placed a medical helicopter on standby and deployed Holmatro Rescue Tools to the truck. Crews were able to use hand tools and worked the man free from the remains of the cab. They treated his severe injuries and controlled the bleeding, then transported him emergent in Fire-Rescue Medic 1 to the helipad at Colleton Medical Center to meet with the C.A.R.E. Flight crew.
The patient was soaked in diesel fuel and could not be flown in the helicopter. The Flight Crew then rode in Medic 1 to assist with patient care while the patient was transported emergent to the Trauma Center at MUSC in Charleston.
Barry McRoy photo
The driver of the Ford pickup truck was transported to Colleton Medical Center by Fire-Rescue Medic 26. No other patients required ambulance transport to a medical facility. Traffic on I-95 northbound in the area of the accident was completely blocked. Sheriff’s deputies shutdown the northbound lanes of the Interstate at Exit 53, detouring traffic to Sniders Hwy (SC Hwy. 63). While working the traffic assignment, a northbound tractor trailer struck a Sheriff’s vehicle, totaling the fully marked Dodge Charger. The deputy was not in the car and was able to run out of the way to avoid injury. Traffic remained heavy through Walterboro most of the morning as detoured vehicles slowly made their way through town. Recovery crews and SCDOT worked all morning to clear the accident site. The SC Highway Patrol and State Transport Police are investigating the crash.
Engine 1, Rescue 1, Medic 1, Medic 26, Battalion 1, Car 27, Car 112 and Car 118 responded. Battalion Chief Brent Dalton served as Incident Commander.
Barry W. McRoy –Fire Chief Colleton County Fire-Rescue
