Tag: lodd

A woman has been charged in the traffic accident that killed a firefighter working on a wildfire in South Carolina on November 13. Neida Ortega, 34, was charged with driving without a license and driving too fast for conditions. Ortega does not speak English and has a license issued in Mexico but does not have a United States license. Investigators are also trying to determine her citizenship status. After being charged, she was released on bond.

Firefighter Chance Hyatt Zobel, 23, of Columbia Fire Department, was suppressing a grass fire in the median of Interstate 20 when the van driven by Ortega rear-ended a sedan as they approached the fire scene. The sedan was pushed into two parked fire trucks causing them to crash into firefighter Zobel and another firefighter, Larry Irvin. Both firefighters were airlifted to a hospital where Zobel died and Irvin remains in critical but stable condition.

A visitation open to everyone will be held on Tuesday, November 16, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Dunbar Funeral Home at 7600 Woodrow Street in Irmo, SC. The funeral will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17, at Shandon Baptist Church at 5250 Forest Drive in Columbia, SC. Fire departments wishing to attend or bring apparatus to the service should call the Columbia Fire Department at 803-545-3749 for more information.

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UPDATE @ 7:10 p.m. ET, Nov. 16

This morning federal immigration officers went to Neida Ortega’s house before she left for work and took her into custody. She acknowledged that she had been in this country illegally for 10 years and was taken to Charlotte for deportation proceedings.

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UPDATE @ 11:20 a.m. ET, Nov 17

The State is reporting that Ortega will have to deal with the traffic accident before she is deported:

The [SC Highway] patrol’s [Kenny] Lancaster said that even though Ortega had been taken into custody and is slated for eventual deportation, nothing will happen quickly.

“Deportation is a lengthy process,” Lancaster said. Those targeted for deportation have a right to due process and can only be deported after hearings, he said.

Ortega probably will be released pending deportation proceedings to return to her Sumter home, and she will be checked on by authorities while the process is under way, Lancaster said.

The traffic charges against Ortega stemming from the firefighter crash will no doubt be resolved before she is ever deported, Lancaster said.

WISTV is reporting that two firefighters from Columbia, South Carolina were hit by a vehicle while operating at a grass fire in the median of Interstate 20 in Richland County. One of them was killed and the other has serious injuries.

From WISTV.com:

The South Carolina Highway Patrol reports one of those crashes involved two Columbia Firefighters. Troopers say the firefighters were called to a brush fire in a median at 81 mile-marker around 2 PM Saturday afternoon. The fire truck stopped on the inside lane. Investigators say an Impala started to slow down as it approached the fire truck, when a van then struck the Impala. Troopers say one of the vehicles then went into the median and hit 2 firefighters. It’s not clear which vehicle hit the firefighters.

FirefighterCloseCalls may have more information later.

Our sincere condolences go out to the families and co-workers.

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UPDATE @ 9:00 a.m. ET, Nov. 14:

Sconfire.com is reporting that the names of the two firefighters have been released. Firefighter Chance Zobel passed away last night. Firefighter Larry Irving has multiple injuries and is expected to survive. They are both from Columbia Fire Department’s Engine Company 4.

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UPDATE @ 8:10 p.m. ET, Nov. 15

More information from abcnews4 today:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — Charges have been made in an accident that killed a Midlands firefighter and left another severely injured in the line of duty Saturday.

Officials say 34-year-old Neida Ortega of Sumter was driving too fast for conditions on I-20 when the vehicle she was driving entered the median and struck the two firefighters.

Chance Hyatt Zobel was the Columbia-Richland Firefighter who lost his life.

Chief Jenkins said Zobel was a three year veteran with Engine Company 4 and stationed at Spears Creek Church Road. Zobel started with the Department in October 2007 as a Fire Flow Tech and transferred to Suppression in November of 2009.

The second Firefighter is Larry Kewon Irvin. He was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition. Irvin has been with the Department for over three years and was hired in January 2007.

More information from WISTV

We are saddened to report another firefighter fatality, this time at a brush fire on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. William Harold “Hal” Clark collapsed while working on a fire in New Church, Virginia off Route 13 on September 24. He was transported to a hospital in Salisbury, MD where he was pronounced dead. An Autopsy is planned to determine the exact cause of death.

Mr. Clark was president and life-time member of the Atlantic Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company. Their Facebook page is HERE.

A funeral service with full firefighter honors will be held Friday, October 1 at 2 p.m. at Union Baptist Church in Chincoteague, VA. Interment will be held at the John W. Taylor Cemetery in Temperanceville, VA. Friends are invited to call Thursday, from 7-9 p.m. at Union Baptist Church in Chincoteague.

Obituary

Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Hal Clark.

From Firefighter Close Calls

OHIO FIREFIGHTER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY, 1 INJURED (Update)

The Secret List FireFighter Close Calls

Reports are that Firefighter Ryan Seitz, 27 of the McArthur FD (Ohio) was operating on or near an apparatus that had a pressurized tank of some kind. The 2nd Firefighter injured, as reported earlier with non life threatening injuries has since been released from the hospital.

Initial reports are that FF Seitz was killed when pressure inside a water tank built up, for an unknown reason, to the extent that it blew up. The remnants of that reportedly struck FF Seitz and killed him in the Line of Duty. Firefighter Seitz joined the MFD in August of 2010, was not married, has no children but is survived by his parents. R.I.P.

In all, over a dozen fire companies from Ross, Vinton, Hocking and Pickaway counties all operated at the fires including the one above, where the Firefighter was killed in the Line of Duty.
Updates to follow.

Take Care-BE CAREFUL.

BillyG

The Secret List 9-24-10 / 2156 Hours

Our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Seitz’s family and co-workers.

EuroWeekly News is reporting that a firefighter died while working on a wildfire in Spain:

SENES – A 46-YEAR-OLD fireman died when extinguishing a wildfire in Senes. The fireman, who was originally from Turillas, worked for the Junta de Andalucia Infoca Brigade and died after falling and hitting his head. He had been working with Infoca for 15 years and apparently fainted for reasons which are not yet known.

He was wearing protective clothing and equipment and had passed medical examinations. Doctors attempted for more than one hour to save his life.

The Environmental Councillor, Jose Juan Diaz Trillo, visited the family to give them his condolences.

The fire was controlled in less than one hour and burned 10 hectares of scrubland. The investigation is ongoing, but it appears it was caused through negligence.

Our condolences go out to the family and co-workers.

The BBC is reporting that two firefighters have been killed while working on fires in Spain.

Two firefighters have been killed in wildfires that have broken out in Spain. The blazes hit near the village of Fornelos de Montes in the country’s northwestern Galicia region, close to the border with Portugal, where several forest fires are still raging.

The exact circumstances of the firefighters’ deaths are not yet known.

Across the border meanwhile, 50 people have been evacuated from a village in Portugal’s Peneda-Geres national park.

Reports say the fire in Spain is still being brought under control.

The regional president of Galicia, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, has cancelled all his appointments to focus on the problem.

More than 230 firefighters are still tackling blazes in northern Portugal. France has sent two water-dropping planes under the European mutual aid system. Northern Portugal continues to be ravaged by wildfires

Earlier this week two Portuguese firefighters were killed on duty, including a 21-year-old woman who died after being trapped by flames.

According to the country’s National Forest Authority, 19,346 hectares (47,805 acres) of forest have been burned and destroyed.

There are reports that three firefighters have been killed recently while working on fires in Portugal. That is an update from an earlier report that two died on fires.

Reuters is reporting that two firefighters have been killed this week on wildfires in Portugal.

Civil protection officials said a female firefighter died, one fireman was badly burned and their team had to be evacuated on Tuesday when they found themselves surrounded by flames after a sudden change in the direction of the wind in Gondomar region.

On Monday, a fireman was killed and another seriously injured when their truck fell into a burning ravine in the mountaineous Sao Pedro do Sul area, where the blaze was only put out on Tuesday after a four-day effort by hundreds of firemen.

Our condolences to the families and co-workers.

UPDATE: August 12, 2010

CNN is reporting that three firefighters have been killed in fires in Portugal.

The following information was distributed by the International Association of Wildland Fire’s Firenet listserv.

Name: Chris Adams

Rank: Ranger 1 (Firefighter)

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Status: Wildland, Full-time

Years of Service: 2

Date of Incident: 02 August 2010

Time of Incident: approximately 1030 hours

Date of Death: 02 August 2010

Fire Department: Arkansas Forestry Commission

Address: 3821 West Roosevelt Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72204

Fire Department Chief: State Forester John T. Shannon

Incident Description: Firefighter Chris Adams was operating an Arkansas Forestry Commission 2002 International tractor trailer, and was en route to check on the status of an earlier fire. The tractor trailer load reportedly shifted causing the vehicle to cross the roadway center line, go into a ditch and then overturn. The accident is under investigation and undetermined at this time. Adams was reportedly wearing a seatbelt.

Incident Location: The accident occurred on Highway 360, approximately one-half mile east of Highway 29 in Lafayette County, east of Bradley in southeastern Arkansas.

Our condolences go out to his family and co-workers.

Chet Bauermeister, chief of the Franklin Fire District 4 in Basin City, Washington, was killed on June 23 when his snow cat that had been converted to a fire apparatus rolled about 100 feet down a hill while he was working on a vegetation fire.

Here is an excerpt from an article at the Yakima Herald:

Fire District 4 was among fire agencies that responded to a wildland fire in Adams County near the border with Franklin County in the Wahluke Slope area of the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.

Bauermeister was killed when an ATV he was on flipped over backward on a steep slope, said Pasco Fire Chief Bob Gear.

Another firefighter was riding with Bauermeister. He was taken to a hospital, apparently with minor injuries, said Sgt. Jim Dickenson of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials with Adams Fire District 5, the lead agency on the fire, were reported to be still at the scene of the accident at 9 p.m. and few details were available. The fire was out Wednesday evening.

The Washington state Department of Natural Resources is expected to investigate the cause of the fire, which was on private land. Firefighters from Hanford and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also helped fight the fire to prevent it from spreading to the wildlife refuge.

Bauermeister was the third chief for Fire District 4, taking over the job from his dad, Don Bauermeister, the district’s second chief, near the end of 2003.

Our condolences go out to Chief Bauermeister’s family and co-workers.

UPDATE @ 10:25 a.m., June 25

From an article at the Bellingham Herald:

Bauermeister’s family said Chet didn’t want a formal funeral service as typically is held for firefighters killed in the line of duty and officials said his wishes will be honored.

They will, however, use the community parade July 3 to honor Bauermeister. Fire departments from around the state will be invited to participate.

A celebration of life is planned from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Don Bauermeister’s farm, and a memorial is set for 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Basin City Fire Hall.

Bauermeister’s father said his son wanted people to have a party and remember the good times instead of grieving. His family said his favorite saying was, “Live your life so no one has to tell lies at your funeral.”

A memorial fund in Chet Bauermeister’s name has been established at the Bank of Whitman.