Negotiating Skills Not Required For Paramedics, But Certainly Useful!
By JJohnson | April 5, 2009
On 4/5/09 at around 9:30am, the LBFD was called out to the Westin hotel located in downtown Long Beach at 333 E. Ocean, for reports of a possible suicide attempt from the roof of the hotel. Engine 1 along with Rescue 2 reported that there was a distraught male up on the 16th floor, actually standing on the top of the Westin sign on the exterior of the building.
It was unknown why the male went out or how he got outside of the hotel, but both units went to the roof and began to talk with the man to get him down. One of the LBFD’s Firefighter/Paramedics who was on Rescue 2 began to build a rapport with the man and after about 15 minutes was able to persuade the patient to sit down on the ledge of the roof. Once the man sat down the FF/PM saw an opportunity and grabbed the patient and wrestled him to the ground. This is significant considering that the man weighed in excess of 250 pounds and was intoxicated.
The LBPD handcuffed the patient and he was transported to Saint Mary’s hospital for evaluation.
Topics: Incidents, News | 34 Comments »
Dryer Fire Causes Heavy Smoke Damage
By JJohnson | April 5, 2009
On the morning of April 3rd, 2009 at 9:56am, Long Beach Fire Department units were dispatched to the 2100 block of Lomina Ave. for reports of a structure fire. The first arriving Engine Co. gave a size up of the fire as a single story, single family dwelling with heavy smoke showing.
The fire apparently started in a clothes dryer and quickly spread to other contents of the bedroom. The thick smoke made finding the seat of the fire difficult, but with an aggressive search, units found the fire and confined it to one room. There was significant smoke damage throughout the house.
Thankfully, there was no one home at the time, however the owner arrived shortly after the fire had been extinguished. There were no injuries to neither civilians or firefighters. Public works were called out and provided the “board-up” for the dwelling and utility companies secured the gas and electric utilities.
Total units on scene: E14, T14, R14, E17, E22, BC2
Topics: Incidents, News | 27 Comments »
LBFD Urban Search and Rescue Team Conducts Joint Training Mission with Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Air Ship 5
By frhayes | April 1, 2009
On March 31, 2009 the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) team and the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department (LASD) conducted a joint training mission.
The US&R team met LASD Air Ship 5 (AS-5) at the Long Beach Airport at 0900 hours for a safety briefing and conducted an inspection of all safety gear and equipment required for the drill prior to lift off. The location of the drill was in the Angeles National Forrest (Chilao Area). Mission activities included the insertion of the US&R team by AS-5 into a remote rugged forest area for Search and Rescue of a simulated disabled patient. Navigation through the approximately one mile of terrain was accomplished by the use of maps, compass, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
To reach the patient the US&R team was required to rappel numerous times down cliffs, while carrying all of their heavy equipment, and medical supplies. Once the patient (Hose Dummy) was located the plan was to “Package” the patient in the Stokes basket using webbing, then request AS-5 to hover over the area to hoist the victim up into the helicopter. The US&R team members then attached their harnesses to the cable hoist system to take the approximately 100-foot ride up for extraction. From the Initial reconnaissance from the air, estimates from insertion to reaching the patient were found to be inaccurate. It actually took much longer to reach the patient then initially thought, was more labor intensive then anticipated, and some of the equipment brought in was not necessary, these were some of the major items learned from this operation by the US&R team.
Specifically this cooperative effort allowed the US&R team to focus on improving land navigation techniques, rappelling, and packaging patients for transport via helicopter. LASD AS-5 was able to practice using their hoisting equipment and fine-tune their “Technical Flying” skills. This type of operation is very challenging for the pilots and crewmembers; some of the demands are navigating around dangerous terrain such as steep cliffs and trees. Another very important factor is determining weight (crew, equipment, and fuel) compared to the altitude, heat, and other factors that need to be just right to ensure safe and efficient operations of the Air Ship. In fact with all of the crewmembers involved with these operations it was much easier to come in from Long Beach and land then to take off at a higher altitude, where the air is less dense. During the hover operations involved with extrication of the US&R team multiple trips were required to ensure safety.
One of the tasks that LASD AS-5 is responsible for is responding to many different locations, for the transport of resources, including specially trained personnel to specific types of emergences, where this expertise is required e.g., US&R. The LBFD US&R team responds to incidents within the city, as well as to incidents when requested by other jurisdiction, including State and Federal agency requests, as they did last year being deployed to Galveston for the flooding.
As stated by one of the crewmembers from AS-5 “We respond to requests through the Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the LBFD US&R team could be requested through this agency. It is much better to get acquainted with and work together on a drill now, then for us to meet for the first time on an actual emergency”.
Overall this joint mission was a great opportunity to increase interoperability, demonstrate how both of our agencies are committed to being prepared for any type of emergency, and our desire to build on a partnership into the future.
Topics: Events, Public Safety | 27 Comments »
Railcar Arrives To The Long Beach Fire Department Training Facility
By Jackawa Jackson | April 1, 2009
Long Beach Fire Department Regional Training Center
On March 31st The Long Beach Fire Department took ownership of a full size fuel tanker rail car to be used as training prop at the Long Beach Training Center.
The Long Beach Fire Department Regional Training Center is located in the heart of the City of Long Beach, California, 1 mile south of the Long Beach Airport. The 5 acre site is currently developing additional training props to enhance scenario-based training throughout the region. The training is also available for use by local city departments and community emergency response teams (CERT). Although the Training Center will be open to various agencies, traffic in the surrounding neighborhoods and inconvenience to residents will be at a minimum.
The enhancement to the training site is in response to the Homeland Security Presidential Directive to increase regional response capabilities to prevent, protect, respond to, and recover from domestic events or major disasters in our area of the country. These Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant funded projects will change the training capabilities to the Long Beach Fire Department for many years to come. The directive is focused on multi-jurisdictional response capabilities in multiple disciplines of public service and safety. The most current training props include:
- Hazardous Material Railcar– This decommissioned railcar was purchased, transported to Long Beach, and will be modified to simulate actual hazardous materials incidents that could be encountered during an accidental or domestic terrorist event involving rail transportation.
- MC306 Tanker – This flammable liquid tank car will be transported to the fire training site in the next few months. The tanker will be modified to simulate actual hazardous materials incidents that could be encountered during an accidental or domestic terrorist event on our highways. It also has the capability of rolling over using hydraulically operated tormentors to recreate actual incident scenarios.
- Search and Rescue Fire Simulator – This 2 story, 2880 square foot training simulator will provide extensive training in the areas of search and rescue under extreme conditions, firefighting, forcible entry, and barricaded suspects incidents.
- Collapse Prop – This training simulator will provide local city departments, CERT, and regional Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) fire assets the opportunity to train under realistic conditions. This collapse simulator will incorporate several different structural collapse scenarios to enhance safe rescue and recovery from natural disasters or a domestic terrorist attack.
Topics: Events | No Comments »
Long Beach Fire Department Responds To Large Sunken Catamaran
By Jackawa Jackson | March 31, 2009
At 7:15 am on March 31st, Long Beach Fire Boat 15 and Rescue Boat 2 were dispatched to a sinking vessel at Pier C Berth 57. When units arrived on scene, they located a 115 foot Catamaran that had sunk at its berth and was lying on it’s side in Channel 3 of the Port of Long Beach. Initial actions by the Long Beach Fire Department were to confirm that there was no one was on board the vessel, monitor the water for any oil or fuel spills and to provide on scene vessel traffic control. The US Coast Guard was on scene to monitor the vessel for any oil spills. The owner arrived on scene and was arranging for private salvage operations. There were no deaths or injuries reported with this incident.
Topics: Incidents | 29 Comments »
