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Your CSFA Protection Line of Safety Article – Trailing Wisdom Straight from California’s Fireground.
“What We Didn’t See Coming.” Fire Capt. Daniel Magallanes shares an experience from twenty years ago, August 28th, 2005, on I-15 near Hwy 138 in San Bernardino Ca. “Everything changed in a moment. I’ve rarely spoken about this, though I’ve heard others share their versions of what happened.
We arrived on scene and took the left flank. The fire was running parallel to the freeway. We parked on the right shoulder and began preparing a hose lay when an F-250 towing a boat slammed into the back of our engine. It missed me and my partner by only a few feet. Our driver was knocked unconscious in front of the rig.
I remember searching for him and finding him on the ground. A San Bernardino County crew ahead of us immediately sent their medics running to help. Meanwhile, the fire pushed towards our truck. One of our firefighters fought to hold it back with what little pressure we had left, the pump was still engaged, so all l had to do is throttle it up and continue doing the only thing we knew to do.
Captain Magallanes take-away from this incident: When working along a freeway, your greatest threat isn’t always the fire, it’s the traffic. Always make yourself visible. Wear a reflective vest if possible and position yourself so drivers can clearly see you. A few seconds of visibility can mean the difference between life or death. It all happened in seconds. I don’t know if, given more time, we could have done anything differently.
Firefighter Roadway Safety https://binged.it/47oHCdH
Do You Have a Coattail of Safety to Share?
In the fire service, every call carries risk. The lessons that keep us alive and effective often come at a cost, sometimes paid by another firefighter, another crew, or another department. That’s why it’s so important that we “ride the coattails” of others when it comes to safety. If you have a Coattail story that could prevent injury, CSFA would love to hear from you whether a recent incident, years ago or an unusual incident/situation – share so we can learn from it! Submit to [email protected] Articles need to be a short story of the incident, with lessons learned and with photo(s).