2/1/14 News and Notes From Rockingham County

News and Notes from Rockingham County

By: Firefighter/EMT Taylor Roby

Firefighter Close Call in Bridgewater

On Tuesday December 10 units from Company 15 (Bridgewater) and Rescue 15 (Bridgewater) were dispatched to WhiteWave Foods for a reported difficulty breathing call. While responding the units in route were advised that the caller was advising the difficulty breathing patient was secondary to a possible Haz-Mat incident at this location. Harrisonburg Rockingham Emergency Communications Center upgraded the assignment to a possible Haz-Mat incident adding Company 5 (Weyers Cave), Station 41 (Hose Co. #4), Haz-Mat 900, and the Rockingham County Fire Rescue (RCFR) Duty Officer to the call. Once on scene command (Asst. Chief 15, Martin) was able to determine that the Haz-Mat release was contained and the exposure was minimal, EMS treated and transported the patient and fire crews began clearing the scene. Haz-Mat 900 (RCFR) and Engine 109 (Bridgewater) were held on the scene for a short period of time.

While standing on scene preparing to clear the operator of Haz-Mat 900, a volunteer firefighter from Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Company (BWVFC), was standing around talking to another group of personnel from Bridgewater. Suddenly he became unconscious and fell to the ground motionless. Chief 15 (Humes) and the personnel around him from BWVFC quickly realized that their friend and brother had gone into sudden cardiac arrest. Pulses were checked and CPR began within 30 seconds of him falling down. Quickly two BWVFC members ran to Engine 109 and got the cardiac monitor and EMS supplies as Chief 15 called HRECC to have them tone an additional ambulance and a medic from Rescue 40 (Harrisonburg) for a working code. In the mean time CPR continued and the patient was hooked up to an AED which delivered 1 successful shock. After the shock CPR began again but it was quickly realized that the patient had regained spontaneous circulation and was trying to breathe again. Duty Officer 40 (French) arrived and began to provide Medic level care.

He was transported to Rockingham Memorial Hospital by Medic 159 (Bridgewater) and was taken to the cath lab where two stents were placed shortly after arrival. Charlie was awake and talking to friends in his room a few hours later. This event shows everyone the importance of early CPR and AED use on cardiac arrest patients. More importantly it shows the benefit of carrying AEDs on all fire apparatus. The volunteer from BWVFC is living today thanks to the quick actions of his fellow volunteers from BWVFC.

Structure Fire in Clover Hill

At 0106 hrs on January 4, 2014 Companies 17 (Clover Hill) and 15 (Bridgewater) and Rescue 17 were dispatched to the area of West Dry River Road and Shoreshill Road for a reported barn fire with flames showing. Chief 17 arrived to find a 40x100 cabinet manufacturing building with smoke showing from sides Alpha and Bravo. Chief 17 (Stover) completed a 360° walk around of the structure and found heavy fire conditions on the exterior and interior of the building concentrated near the A/C corner and along the C side, Chief 17 established Shoreshill Road Command. Engine 174 (Clover Hill) arrived shortly after and their crew initiated an aggressive exterior attack on side Charlie while a separate crew attempted to force entry into the building. With heavy fire conditions additional Tankers were called to the scene from Singer’s Glen, Mt. Solon, and Hose Co. #4 to complete a tanker shuttle with tankers already on scene from Bridgewater and Clover Hill.

With the fire knocked down, the exterior crews began entering structure to initiate an interior fire attack. Crews from Engine 174 and Engine 109 (Bridgewater) were sent to Division 1 to complete a fire attack and primary search. Due to the fire load in the building a Blitz Fire was utilized to help crews with the fire attack. Units were able to bring the fire under control around 0330. The Rockingham County Fire Marshal’s Office was brought in to investigate the cause and origin of the fire. Efficient work between all departments on scene helped bring this fire under control.