Oregon | Portland firefighters perform perilous night water rescue in Willamette River
Portland | 26 Jan 2012
At 11:15 pm, Dan Sinclair was riding his bicycle along the Eastbank Esplanade headed southbound when he heard a voice calling for help from the river below. Upon scanning the water, he spotted someone splashing in the Willamette River about 25 yards off shore.
Sinclair immediately rode his bike the short distance to Portland Fire Station 21 (Eastbank/Hawthorne Bridge) to alert firefighters that someone needed help. Also on shore were two men, Sam Policar and Justin Wisdom, who were sturgeon fishing. While Sinclair went for help, Policar and Wisdom attempted to hook onto the man with their fishing lines to pull him to shore. Fortunately, the river’s current pushed the struggling man closer to shore. Wisdom took off his coat, poked one of his coat sleeves through a fence, and the man was able to grab on.
Portland firefighters responded from Station 21 with the Eldon Trinity rescue boat and from Station 1 (Old Town) with a rescue craft, which is operated by a driver and a rescue swimmer. Rescue Craft 1 spotted the man in the water where Wisdom was struggling to hold onto the man and water rushed over his body.
As Rescue Craft 1 driver Mike Held came alongside the man, Bill Schimel, a 12-year veteran of Portland Fire & Rescue, slid into the water and attempted to pull the man onto the platform of the water craft.
With the current running swift and high, Schimel began struggling to hang onto the man and pull him to safety. As the craft drifted along with the current, Held called upon Policar to assist him in steadying the craft from shore while he helped Schimel pull the man onto the rescue craft.
“I knew that if I lost my grip on him, he would drift under a massive debris field of logs that was floating just 100 yards downstream and likely be pulled under,” said Schimel. “In my 12 years as a firefighter, this was the most dangerous rescue I’ve ever taken part in.”
Firefighter Held immediately returned to Station 21 where firefighter/paramedics administered aid to the man and he was transported to Oregon Health Sciences University. It is unknown how the man in his 30’s ended up on the water.
Oregon | Accidental grease fire leads to two injuries – Firefighters encourage citizens to be prepared
Portland | 24 Jan 2012
On January 18, 2012 at just after midnight, Portland firefighters from Station 11 (Lents) were dispatched to a reported fire in SE Portland off 87th Avenue. While en-route to the scene, Engine 19’s Fire Lieutenant Tim and Firefighters Chris, Dion, and Steven were notified by a 9-1-1 dispatcher that an occupant had been burnt during an attempt to put out a grease fire.
Firefighters arrived and found two patients. The first, a young woman, was standing outside of the building coughing due to smoke inhalation. The second was a young man who was still inside the building running cold water on his arm.
As firefighters treated both patients, the young man explained that he was in his apartment and had decided to cook onion rings. He began to heat oil in a pot on the range top, walking away to allow time for the oil to heat. When he returned, the pot was on fire and the flames had expanded to the hood. The young man panicked, and tried to extinguish the fire with rags and then a lid, both to no avail. Desperate, he picked up the pot and attempted to carry it outside. Unfortunately, the hot grease splashed onto his face and right arm and he threw the pot full of burning oil towards the back sliding door.
Both the young woman and man were treated by Portland firefighters and ambulance personnel, and then transported to Emanuel Hospital. The young man received second-degree burns and was admitted to Emanuel’s Burn Center.
Portland Fire & Rescue Public Education Officer Scott Goetchius reminds citizens that grease fires are extremely dangerous because the fuel source is a liquid and easily splashed. “Grease fire burn very hot and can quickly spread to cabinets or other flammable areas of the kitchen,” he notes. “When a grease fire occurs, you may only have a few moments to either put out a grease fire or escape your home.”
Here’s how:
- DO NOT USE WATER ON A GREASE FIRE! Start evacuating everyone from the building. Fires spread extremely fast and can overwhelm victims in minutes. Treat burns only after evacuating the building.
- Call 9-1-1.
- The easiest way to smother a grease fire is to cover it with a pan lid. Be careful with glass lids; they can break from the extreme heat of open flame.
- Grease fires can also be smothered with baking soda, but it takes a lot of baking soda to do the trick. Unless the baking soda is easily accessible, it’s usually easier to quickly find a lid.
- A dry chemical fire extinguisher will also work, but it will contaminate your kitchen and food.
Tips:
- DO NOT PUT WATER ON A GREASE FIRE! This can not be stressed enough. Pouring water on burning grease or oil will not extinguish the fire. It will only cause the burning oil to splash, spreading the grease fire around.
- DO NOT TRY TO CARRY THE FIRE OUTSIDE! Trying to carry a pot or pan full of burning oil will just slosh and splash the grease fire.
- Treat burns only after the fire is contained or the building is completely evacuated.
- If clothes are caught on fire; STOP, DROP, and ROLL to extinguish them.
Oregon | Portland to launch first citywide test of community notification system on Jan 26
Portland | 24 Jan 2012
On January 26th , the anniversary of the region’s last great earthquake, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) - in partnership with Multnomah County- will initiate the first-ever, citywide test of Portland’s community notification system.
This relatively new system has been used successfully in real, small-scale emergencies. But it has never been stress-tested on a large scale. During this citywide test, PBEM will attempt to send a single message via landline phone, cell phone, text, and email to a maximum number of Portlanders in the shortest amount of time possible.
“We want this test to expose any weaknesses in the system,” said PBEM Director Carmen Merlo.
Greater participation in the test will ensure a larger sample group and help PBEM gauge the system’s functionality. Merlo encourages Portlanders to register for this and all future notifications by signing up at www.PublicAlerts.org.
Personal contact information provided during registration is kept private and used only for the purpose of sending geographically tailored emergency messages.
During the January 26th test, residents will be notified only if the contact information provided corresponds with a Portland mailing address.
It bears reminding, the Portland region could experience a magnitude 9.0 or greater Cascadia subduction zone earthquake at any moment. The last one occurred January 26, 1700. Scientists say we are in the average window of time during which these massive, destructive earthquakes occur. The community notification system may serve as an invaluable communication tool during this and other kinds of emergencies.
Oregon | New series of tsunami inundation maps for Oregon coast
Portland | 24 Jan 2012
The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) has released the first of its new, second generation tsunami inundation maps for communities along the Oregon coast.
DOGAMI TIM-Coos-05, Tsunami Inundation Maps for Coos Bay – North Bend, Coos County, Oregon by DOGAMI, 2012, scale 1:12,000. Includes two plates showing local-source (Cascadia Subduction Zone) and distant-source (Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone) tsunami inundation scenarios.
DOGAMI is pleased to initiate the release of a new style of tsunami inundation maps that incorporate all the best tsunami science that is available today, including recent publications by colleagues studying the Cascadia Subduction Zone, updated computer simulation models using high-resolution lidar topographic data, and knowledge gained from the 2004 Sumatra, 2010 Chile, and 2011 Tōhoku earthquakes and tsunamis.
Plate 1 displays five scenarios, labeled as “T-shirt sizes” (S, M, L, XL, and XXL), of the impact of Cascadia Subduction Zone tsunamis that reflect the full range of what was experienced in the past and will be encountered in the future. The geologic record shows that the amount of time that has passed since the last great Cascadia earthquake (312 years since January 26, 1700) is not a reliable indicator of the size of the next one, so the size ranges are intended to fully bracket what might happen next.
Plate 2 shows tsunami inundation scenarios for two distant-source tsunamis that were modeled and originate in Alaska. These distant tsunamis are not nearly as dangerous as the local ones, as Oregonians will have several hours instead of only minutes to evacuate and the tsunamis themselves are much smaller. For these reasons DOGAMI’s focus is on the big Cascadia events. If the ground shakes for an extended period of time, don’t wait for more warning, evacuate to high ground as fast as possible.
These maps include a wealth of information, including projected tsunami wave height time series charts and a measurement of the exposure each community has to the various tsunami scenarios: we count the number of buildings that are inundated by each scenario.
We hope that the public, planners, emergency managers and first responders, elected officials, and other local decision makers will use this detailed and innovative map product to mitigate risk and to reduce the loss of life and property.
To learn more about this publication and to see the anticipated publication schedule for other publications in the TIM series, visit: http://www.oregongeology.org/pubs/tim/p-TIM-Coos-05.htm
DOGAMI publication TIM-Coos-05 can be purchased on CD-ROM for $10 from the Nature of the Northwest Information Center (NNW), 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 965, Portland, Oregon, 97232. You may also call NNW at (971) 673-2331 or order online at http://www.naturenw.org. There is a $4 shipping and handling charge for all mailed items.
Oregon | Red Cross response continues across the state
Oregon | 24 Jan 2012
The Oregon Red Cross response to the January Winter Storm disaster began on Jan 18.
The storm has been accompanied by hurricane force winds in some parts of the coast, heavy rain, snow, ice, power outages, fallen trees, flooding, landslides and two fatalities. The storm has affected ten counties to date, and has impacted Salem, coastal areas, and some small towns in the Coast foothills and central Willamette Valley.
Current impact-to-residence totals across Oregon, as identified by Red Cross disaster assessment teams, as of January 23rd, are:
• 167 residences have been affected in some way that caused the occupants to require Red Cross assistance;
• 52 residences have sustained minor damage;
• 37 residences have sustained major damage;
• 6 residences have been destroyed.
The Red Cross is currently completing Disaster Assessments in several counties and also developing a list of unmet needs for partner organizations, such as: disposal dumpsters, sheet rock, and rebuilding supplies.
“The Oregon Red Cross is at a high level of readiness and gearing up for the next weather system,” said Maree Wacker, Regional Executive with the Oregon Red Cross. “We are preparing to move resources as weather dictates on today and Wednesday.”
We continue to send assessment teams into areas where river waters have receded. We are restocking trailers and activating volunteers in anticipation of additional flooding, with Disaster Response Teams standing by to respond in several locations in the Willamette Valley and the Oregon coast, including:
Lincoln County
Tillamook County
Clatsop County
Columbia County
Washington County
Yamhill County
Polk County
We have contacted the Emergency Mangers in all of these counties, offered our assistance and requested they notify us if they are considering opening their EOCs.
We are sending a Shelter Team to assist with a Red Cross supported shelter in Hood River. This shelter was requested by Hood River Emergency Management due to snow, icy conditions and power outages that have continued in the area for several days.
A Red Cross shelter has been opened across the Columbia River from Hood River in White Salmon at White Salmon Fire Hall, 119 NE Church Street.
We are also standing by with shelter teams if the Nehalem River begins to rise to flood levels in Vernonia.
You can search for Red Cross Shelter sites online at: http://www.redcross.org/nss/
For more information on preparing for floods, download the attached PDF.
Support the Red Cross
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help people affected by disasters, like the recent storms and flooding, by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters.
Contributions may be sent online at http:// www.redcross.org, or to your local American Red Cross chapter, or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
Red Cross needs blood donations…
Severe weather in the state has disrupted blood donations. If you have an appointment to donate blood, don’t forget to come by, or if you would like to sign up to donate, go to: http://www.redcrossblood.org/ or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to schedule an appointment.
Red Cross Safe and Well…
The Oregon Red Cross encourages everyone displaced by flooding, and anyone attempting to locate friends and loved ones, to use the Red Cross Safe and Well site at: https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php
Oregon | Firefighters rescue four victims from two cars on flooded SW Fernhill Road in Forest Grove
Crews deploy the FGF&R rescue boat. In the distance are the headlights of the stranded cars.
Forest Grove | 22 Jan 2012
Around midnight on 22 Jan 2012 firefighters from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue received a call for a motor vehicle accident on SW Fernhill Road near the Fernhill Wetlands.
When firefighters arrived they met with Forest Grove Police and Washington County Sheriff’s Patrol Officers who advised them that there was one driver in a small sedan who had attempted to travel north on Fernhill Road when his engine stalled in the flood waters.
Crews could see headlights approximately 600 yards south of the intersection with Taylor Way where barricades were in place at the edge of the dirty brown flooded area.
Rescuers quickly dispatched the Rescue Boat to the scene and while it was in the process of being deployed into the water a second vehicle came into the flood waters from the south and it too became stranded near the first.
Two Firefighter/Paramedics from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue used the rescue boat to follow the roadway out to the stranded motorists and found their cars stalled in approximately 18 – 24 inches of murky flood water. Working from one car to the next, they were able to quickly get all four adults into the boat and bring them to shore safe and unharmed.
SW Fernhill Road has been closed since Friday due to flood waters near the Tualatin River and Fernhill Wetlands. This stretch of SW Fernhill Road floods regularly during high rain events each winter and there are barricades in place at both the north intersection with Taylor Way and the south side where it intersects with SW Geiger Road.
As with the tragedy in Albany this week, it doesn’t take much to flood your engine or float your car off the road surface; and this incident in Forest Grove is fortunate to not have ended in tragedy this evening.
Please do not move barricades and road closed signs, and even if you do not see a sign never attempt to drive through a flooded roadway, remember to always turn around – don’t drown, and choose an alternate route.
Oregon | Portland firefighters respond to reports of man pinned beneath vehicle
Portland | At 6:39 this morning, Firefighters from two Portland Stations: Station 1 (Old town) and Station 13 (Lloyd District) responded to reports of a man pinned beneath a vehicle at the intersection of NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and NE Grand.
Incidents of this type are dispatched as “Pin-In” accidents; these incidents draw additional resources, as entrapped victims may require technical extrication.
According to witnesses the patient was first struck by a different vehicle and was lying in the road when another vehicle, a PT cruiser, was unable to stop and struck the man—pinning him face down between the Cruiser and the road.
Multiple calls were received with each caller providing a different address. This often occurs when accidents occur between intersections. The more accurate the location provided, the more efficiently responding vehicles can determine routes and reach the location. When crews first arrived at the address, nothing was located; with multiple calls received, the four responding apparatus began searching the area. Squad 1, a Heavy Rescue, arrived on scene first and correctly identified the address as MLK at the Interstate 84 overpass; Truck 13, Engine 13 and Engine 1 all arrived within the minute. A paramedic from Squad 1 made contact with the trapped man and determined his condition to be life threatening.
On most “Pin-In” accidents, engine companies pull protection lines for the safety of the victim and first responders—due to the critical condition of the patient, firefighters opted to forgo standard procedure and worked together to lift the 3200 lb. vehicle off of the patient. “We were putting a plan together and realized how many of us were there—we had two firefighters with the patient to help pull him out from beneath the car—and then eight of us lifted the car off of him—it wasn’t pretty but it worked,” said Firefighter Mick Held, a 16-year veteran of the Fire Bureau. “We pulled the man out onto a backboard and transferred him to an ambulance.” The patient was entered into the State Trauma System and transported to Emanuel Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Oregon | Portland Fire & Rescue responds to three structure fires in three hours
Portland | Portland Fire crews from across the city responded to three fires in as many hours this morning–capping off a busy New Years weekend. Already this year crews have been dispatched to more than 250 emergencies, eighteen of those emergencies fire related.
At 6:49 a.m., crews from Portland Fire Station 13 (Lloyd District) arrived at 1937 NE Pacific, to a two-story home with fire showing from the back corner of the building. The building, reported to dispatch as possibly vacant, required firefighters to forcibly enter the structure before an interior fire attack could begin. Once access to the interior was made crews searched the structure for occupants while others placed water on the fire. As is common in most older homes, the construction in this building allowed fire to spread between void spaces in the walls; one crew was sent to the second story to open walls, search for fire extension and extinguish hot spots. The fire was brought under control at 7:08, though crews remained on scene until 8:47 to ensure complete extinguishment. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
At 6:56 a.m. while crews were still actively engaged in the Pacific firefight, an engine from Portland Fire Station 14 (Alberta Park) responded to reports of smoke in a commercial structure at 4120 NE Fremont; crews arrived to find the windows of the occupancy blackened by smoke–an indication of smoldering fire. Again crews were forced to enter a locked structure; once inside they found the structure full of smoke, the result of a smoldering electrical fire. A truck company from Station 1 (Old town) was called to assist the engine company; exhaust fans and salvage equipment were used to remove smoke from the building and perform salvage and overhaul, the processees of removing burned or damaged contents from a building and preventing further damage. Firefighters limited damage to an estimated $40,000–the building is valued at 1.8 million dollars. Engine 14 and Truck 1 remained on scene working until 9:17.
A third fire, this one at 15529 SE Harrison, dispatched at 9:36 a.m. The caller, the son-in-law of the buildings owner, arrived to perform maintenance work on the home and discovered smoke under pressure issuing from roof vents and cracking sounds–he immediately called 911. An engine from Portland Fire Station 31 (Rockwood) was first to arrive and confirmed a working structure fire. Firefighters entered on the first floor of the building to find the entire ground level clear of smoke and fire–without hesitation, firefighters searched the structure and fire attack crews located and made entrance into the attic which was engulfed in flames.
Concurrently, crews from truck 7, equipped with both chain and circular saws, were sent to the roof to cut holes; this firefighting tactic is referred to as “vertical ventilation” and allows heat and smoke to escape the enclosed area and dramatically improves conditions for firefighters operating inside. The fire was brought under control (recalled) at 9:59 and crews remained on scene working until 10:37 a.m. Damages were estimated at $8,650. Electrical wiring was determined to be at fault for this fire.
These fires come in the same week that three concurrent fires challenged the Portland Fire Bureau during the early morning hours of December 28th. Yesterday, marine resources were called to overlapping marine incidents: a jumper from the I205 bridge, a reported boat fire, and a surface rescue of two kayakers in the Willamette river. Contingency planning within the system allows fire response to overlapping incidents without compromise to response times or safety–something that would not be possible without adequate resources, appropriate distribution of personnel and apparatus, and cross trained firefighters.
Last year Portland Fire and Rescue responded to more than 3,000 fire incidents and more 68,000 emergency calls.
Oregon | Portland Fire & Rescue respond to second jump incident from I-205 bridge in past three days
Portland | Portland and Fire responded again today to reports of a jumper off of the Interstate 205 Bridge. This is the second jumper from the bridge in the past three days.
At 4:13 p.m., dispatchers received a call from a man who witnessed an individual, described as a female in her mid thirties, jump from the southbound lanes of the bridge above the North Channel of the Columbia River. The individual who jumped from the bridge was seen struggling in the river for a short time before submerging.
A Water Rescue Incident was dispatched at 4:13 p.m.; upon receiving details of the incident. Commanders balanced the response to a Dive Incident. Though the Dive Van, a vehicle that transports divers and equipment, is located at Portland Fire Station 1 (Old town), many other dive team members are dispersed throughout the city allowing for rapid response to all area waterways.
This afternoon divers responded from Station 2 (Parkrose), Station 7 (Mill Park), and Station 1 (Old town). Land based resources from Portland Fire Station 12 (Sandy Blvd.) arrived on scene and assumed command until the arrival of Battalion Chief 3 a short time later.
Fireboats from Station 17 (Hayden Island), Vancouver Fire, Port of Portland Fire, and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
Firefighters located the witness and worked to determine the last seen point of the individual who jumped; establishing a quality last seen point is crucial in determining a location from which to begin search operations – this would not have been possible without the willingness of the witness to remain on scene until the arrival of fire crews.
Fireboats from multiple agencies worked to establish a plan for shuttling divers and equipment to the last seen point, Fireboat 17 began dragging for the individual immediately. As divers arrived on scene and prepared to dive, high current and excessive amounts of debris, the result of recent rains, presented an extreme hazard to water based units.
As darkness set in, dive team operators and Incident Command made the difficult decision that deterioration of conditions had reached the point at which divers would be unable to safely operate. Fire boats remained on scene searching for the individual until 6:15. The individual who jumped has not been located.
On December 30th, at 1:13 p.m., crews responded to another jump incident at the same location. Crews aboard a fireboat from the Port of Portland, working with Portland Fire units on-shore located the individual who was in cardiac arrest. Resuscitative efforts were initiated without delay; it is unknown whether the patient survived.
During the same period this afternoon that search and rescue efforts continued on the I-205 incident, two additional calls for marine response were received. First, a boat fire that turned out to be a large bonfire on-shore; second, a report of two individuals in the Willamette River near Oaks Park-a rescue craft from Portland Fire Station 1 (Old town) made contact with the individuals who had reached the shore and determined that neither had a medical need. A Rescue Boat from Station 21 (Eastbank/Hawthorne) was able to recover the kayak the two were forced to abandon mid-stream.
Portland Fire reminds individuals who are depressed or suicidal that resources are available; Multnomah County has crisis and suicide counselors available by telephone 24 hours a day/7 days a week who can be reached at (503) 988-4888 or 1-800-716-9769. Individuals fearing imminent harm to themselves or others are urged to call 911 immediately.
Oregon | Catching up with Portland Fire & Rescue – Jan 1
Portland | At 12:06 am Portland Fire and Rescue responded to a report of a house fire at 1304 S.W. Spring Garden St.
When Portland Fire Station 10 (Burlingame) arrived they found fire coming from the back of the house.
Firefighters quickly learned that no one was home at the time of fire.
The fire was controlled within 20 minutes, but the fire did extensive damage to the house on the first floor as well as the second floor.
A next door neighbor was awakened after hearing popping sounds. When she looked out her window and saw the fire she called 9-1-1 right away.
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