Great turnout at Fire Station Open Houses October 12, 2013

Thanks for joining us at our annual Fire Station Open House event in honor of Fire Prevention Week 2013. We enjoyed meeting you!

Learn to save a life this weekend!

Just a reminder that CPR Sunday is this weekend! The free training event is nearly full, (about 1,000 participants have signed up already) so in order to secure your preferred class time please pre-register at CPRsunday.net. 

The details:

• Date:  Sunday October 13, 2013
• Location:  Foss High School, 2112 S. Tyler St., 
• Class times at 8 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM. 

Note - this class is "Citizen Level CPR" and does not meet the Washington State Health Care Provider Level card requirements.

Celebrate Fire Prevention Week 2013

Residents can celebrate Fire Prevention Week by visiting six neighborhood fire stations from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, October 12. This year’s theme, “Prevent Kitchen Fires,” encourages everyone to team up and spread the message that fire safety saves lives!

Equipment will be on display and firefighters will answer questions about escape planning, fire safety and disaster preparedness.

The following six stations will host open houses:

Station 3 -   206 Browns Point Blvd, NE Tacoma
Station 4 -   1453 S. 12th (Earnest S Brazil St), Hilltop
Station 11 - 3802 McKinley Ave., McKinley Hill
Station 13 - 3825 N. 25th, Proctor
Station 16 - 7217 6th Ave., Skyline/West End District
Station 17 - 302 Regents Blvd., Fircrest

For more information on the activities hosted at each station, visit the Tacoma Fire Department, or call the Fire Prevention Division at 591-5740. We look forward to seeing you there!

Emergency Preparedness Month Video News Release

Multi-car motor vehicle crash on S. 19th and S. "I" Street

Incident Date: 9/26/13
Issuing Officer: Joe Meinecke
Incident Location: S.19th and "I" Street
Incident Type: MVA

Narrative: At 1:17 PM Tacoma Firefighters from station 1,2 and 4 responded to a reported two car motor vehicle crash.

The first arriving company found two cars that hit head on in the intersection of S. 19th and S. "I" street and three additional cars including one vehicle landing on top of a parked car about 100 feet down "I" street. Crews worked quickly to assess all parties involved and a total of four patients were transported to area hospitals as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.

Noxious fumes send 47 elementary students and staff to area hospitals

Incident Date:  9/20/13

Issuing Officer:  Joe Meinecke

Incident Location:  5830 S. Pine St.

Incident Type:  Hazardous Materials 

Narrative:  At 9:34 AM, a single engine company was dispatched for a reported odor investigation at Edison Elementary School. Upon arrival firefighters noticed a heavy odor in the building and with students and staff reporting feeling light headed and nauseated they quickly upgraded the incident to Hazardous Materials Mass-Casualty-Incident, bringing numerous resources to the scene.  

Operationally, a triage center was established in the playground while the entire school was evacuated. Medics evaluated about 50 students and staff and 18 of those patients were transported by private ambulance to area hospitals and 29 were transported by a school bus to an area hospital for evaluation. All patients were transported for precautionary reasons and there were no serious injuries to report from the incident.

Hazardous materials crews helped ventilate the building and used air monitoring equipment to determine that the air quality was within normal limits around 11:30 AM. Students unaffected by the incident were allowed back in the building to resume their school day by about noon.    

Preliminary indications are that a leaf blower being used for some maintenance on the roof of the structure allowed noxious fumes to enter an HVAC air intake, where it was distributed inside the school with varying levels of concentration. 

Busy evening for TFD's Technical Rescue Team

On Saturday September 14, Tacoma Fire Department’s Technical Rescue team responded to two separate ship-board rescue incidents.  

At 7:53 p.m. crews mounted a high angle rope rescue operation for a longshoreman that fell into the hold of a large cargo ship and sustained a leg injury that prevented exiting from the hold. (APM Terminal -1002 Milwaukee Way). Firefighters tended to the injury and assembled a high angle rope rescue using a stokes stretcher to secure the patient, remove them from the hold and then transport them to an area hospital.

At 9:42 p.m. firefighters responded to a separate reported injured longshoreman. (Pier #7 - 1070 Port of Tacoma Road) In this incident a longshoreman suffered a head laceration and was unable to exit the hold. As in the previous incident, firefighters tended to the injury and assembled a high angle rope rescue using a stokes stretcher to secure the patient, remove them from the hold and then transport them to an area hospital.