More details after the break

In Boston flooding forced the closure of Storrow Dr between the Longfellow and Harvard bridges. Throughout the city, especially near the water, there were multiple reports of street flooding making them impassable.

Somerville took the brunt of the storm, and is still feeling the effects of the water. Police Headquarters were flooded out as a result of the rains. The City of Somerville’s website states that police are operating out of the West Neighborhood Police Substation and does not give a timetable for officers to move back.

A dramatic rescue was made by an off duty Somerville fire fighter when he noticed several cars stuck with flood waters rising rapidly. The fire fighter jumped into action and pulled a woman from her rapidly sinking car. Massachusetts State Police officers also responded to the underpass on the McGrath Highway (Rt. 28) at Assembly Square and rescued several other sinking motorists. The troopers, along with the victims, had to be decontaminated due to raw sewerage in the water and then transported to area hospitals. Despite the danger, no one was seriously injured in the water.

Due to the holiday, the ARES/RACES Nets were pushed up to the second Monday of the month so for this month, make the second Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System.

For more visit the Eastern Mass ARES page at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Looking at the incident in a larger view, several other lessons can be learned. In today’s society most cities contract with a private ambulance service to provide for their city. This cross over of emergency services between the public and private sector does not come without it’s growing pains, and requires both sides to find a middle ground to work together. In the end lives depend on both the municipal system and the private system’s ability to work together and communicate clearly. We are reminded that communication by phone, radio, in the field, and through administration needs to be fluid and standardized. There is no doubt that private ambulance companies are usually able to provide a level of care and service that municipalities need, but both the companies and the cities that contract them need to remember to work together as a team to serve the citizens of their city.

Another often overlooked breakdown was the availability of keys for emergency first responders. Allowing fire, police, and EMS quick access to buildings can be both a life and cost saving advantage. Having universal access for fire, EMS, and police is a difficult challenge bringing privacy, security, upkeep, and regulation concerns. Still, despite issues that can evolve from maintaining lock box systems, the benefit of having near instant access to a patient or fire should greatly outweigh the cons.

Quality improvement is a system widely used throughout the business world. The practice of reviewing others mistakes to improve ones own performance results in a better service to everyone involved. Incidents like the situation in Lowell are sad and should undoubtedly be unacceptable, however they provide a valuable learning experience for everyone.

Lowell Dispatcher Fired After Call Mishap

At 8:30 am on April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday an elderly resident of an assisted living home pressed a help button activating a Life Line system. The 911 dispatcher at the Lowell communications center who took the call about the incident from Life Line failed to enter the call into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, did not initially dispatch police and fire, and was recorded speaking to callers in an unprofessional manner has been fired following an internal investigation. More

Other News From This Week

• Cause of Marlboro 8 alarm blaze released
• Fire burns in Lynn on 90 degree day
• Boston battles 2 multiple alarm fires in 12 hours
• Lynn renews ambulance contract

Based on the contract, Atlantic will provide 1 ALS and 3 BLS dedicated ambulances to the city to supplement the fire departments own ALS ambulance. As they have been units will be dispatched on Atlantic 1(151.9100 DPL 311) and will sign on with Lynn Fire (154.4150 PL 74.4)when en route. Atlantic also maintains a simplex channel “Atlantic 3” (155.1600 DPL 263) and a repeater “Atlantic 5” (155.3250 DPL 132) for the ambulances. Trucks will be housed at Atlantic’s bases on High St and North Franklin St.

More after the break

The fire at 127 I St Box 12-7424 (136 H St) was called in just before 2:30 am in a South Boston neighborhood. The building was a 3 story wood and brick building approximately 60’x120′ with fire showing on the third floor of the building. A second alarm was struck shortly after the start of the incident and Car 6 was in command. Operations took place on BFD Channel 2 (483.1875 DPL-265) and were wrapped up in about an hour. The building itself is on the grounds of Heaven’s Gate Church and formerly served as the convent. At the time of the fire the building was unoccupied, and the fire was contained to the original building.

The second fire broke out at 11 Charles St box 1534 in the historic Beacon Hill district of the city around 11am. The building, a 4 story brick in a row of buildings had a grocery store on the first floor and apartments above. The grocery store, the infamous “Deluca’s Market” coined to be the oldest grocery store in the country having opened in 1905.

The fire broke out in the basement of the building, and was noticed by a worker getting stock. The store and apartments were safely evacuated and fire crews responded. Crews had difficulty fighting the fire due to the amount of stock in the basement and the narrow access. The tight quarters along with the hot temperatures forced command officers to strike a 4th alarm, bringing over 150 fire fighters to the scene. Although the main body of the fire was quickly knocked down, crews remained on scene chasing hot spots in the flooded basement throughout the evening. The cause of the fire is unknown, however does not appear suspicious and the owner of the market has promised to reopen as soon as possible.

The dispatcher’s failure to properly handle the medical aid call resulted in a delay in dispatching fire fighters to the scene, possibly causing a deadly delay in treatment of the patient. Along with the dispatchers transgressions, communications problems between dispatchers and the private ambulance company as well as issues with “knock-boxes” in the city were high lighted in the internal affairs report released and printed in the Lowell Sun.

More after the break

Normally when a medical aid call is received at the Lowell 911 center, the dispatcher adds the call the to CAD and sends police and fire as well as calling Trinity Ambulance the contract ambulance service for the city. However that morning dispatcher Jason Lumenello did not follow normal procedure, starting a chain of events that resulted in a major delay in the EMT’s providing critical care to the patient. Lumenello only called Trinity dispatch and told them of the call, and did not dispatch any other resources even though the Life Line operator informed him that there was a lock box at the location but had no instructions on how to access it. When a BLS ambulance arrived on scene at the assisted living facility, they were able to speak with the patient through the door, but were not able to gain access to the apartment because the door was locked. The ambulance crew asked their dispatch about the status of Lowell Fire after several minutes, prompting the Trinity dispatcher to call the communications center again. This time a new dispatcher was on duty and was unaware of the medical call. The fire dispatcher then sent a Ladder company to the scene because she was told the call was now a “lock out” with a medical issue. At this point EMT’s on scene had lost contact with the patient and it had been almost 10 minutes from the initial call from Life Line.

When the fire department arrived at the scene, they could not immediately find the ambulance crew due to confusion about the exact location of the call. Once the ladder company located the crew, they quickly realized that they did not have a key to the key box at the location. The officer in charge went to the attached nursing home to try and find someone who would have a key while the other fire fighters went to try and open the door. While waiting for the ladder to arrive, the EMT’s had tried to open the door with the limited resources available to them, however due to it’s construction their efforts were unsuccessful. The fire fighters saw that they too would need special tools to open the door, and had to return to their truck to get them. In this period of time the officer in charge had located a representative in the nursing home who was able to open the door for emergency workers.

Crews rushed into the apartment and found the patient unresponsive on the ground. EMT’s attempting to call for an ALS unit to come to the scene by radio failed to reach their dispatch and were forced to use cell phones to communicate their needs. Paramedics arrived, and despite the best efforts of the EMTs, fire fighters, and medics the patient was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Lawrence General Hospital.

Shortly after the incident the dispatcher on duty for Trinity Ambulance recognized that there had been a major communications break down with the incident and notified his companies supervisors. Similarly the dispatcher who took over for Lumenello quickly noted the difference in call times she was being told by Trinity and Life Line, the lack of a call back number, and the missing CAD entry and notified the shift supervisor. An internal investigation was performed by the Lowell Police Department, and as a result they found that dispatcher Lumenello had not adequately and professionally performed his duties and terminated him immediately.

More after the break.

There was no one reported to be home at the time that the blaze broke out, however there were painters in the building. Fire officials would not comment on whether they believed that the painters had anything to do with the start of the fire, but several by standers were stating that a heating tool was in use at the time of the fire. Every engine and ladder from the City of Lynn were called to the blaze, along with crews from Salem and Swampscott. Other surrounding communities provided coverage of the stations while the blaze was quelled.

First arriving companies found smoke pushing out of the eves, and quickly took on a defensive stance attacking the fire as quickly as possible. Fire officials credit the fast action of the first arriving crews with saving the building and stopping the fire from taking off. The second alarm was sounded to bring in extra man power to help relieve the heat beaten crews.

Lynn has had several large fires in recent weeks. Coupled with the high temperatures, Lynn Fire has been keeping busy.

Note: Article was updated to correct an error in the address. The address listed above is now correct.

At 12:13 pm command reported that the fire was in a 4 story brick building with the fire contained to the basement and first floors. The main body of fire had been knocked down and all companies are working.

Stay tuned to NERN for more updates as they happen.

The State Fire Marshall’s Office announced on Wednesday that they were able to pin point the cause of the devastating blaze to be a fire in the grease collector of the restaurant on the first floor of the building. Unfortunately it appears that with regular maintenance this disaster could have been prevented. There is no news from the owner of the building or any of the business about plans to relocate or rebuild.