Friday, September 24, 2010
"Rescue Day" open house, October 2
Rescue Day will feature free fire and rescue activities and displays for all ages, including tours of the station; fire and rescue trucks; live demonstrations of emergency medical, rescue, and firefighting equipment; a special visit by a helicopter; free children's firefighter hats; and a moon bounce. The B-CC Rescue Squad is located at 5020 Battery Lane, at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Battery Lane. To view a video of last year's event, visit http://www.bccrs.org/RescueDayMainPage.html . For more information, call 301-652-0077, or email info@bccrs.org .
And check out our latest email newsletter, at http://tiny.cc/usomj , to read recent news of the Rescue Squad.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Overturned Car on Old Georgetown Rd.
A morning rush hour collision on a busy section of Old Georgetown Road left a vehicle on its side with the driver trapped.
Rescue Squad 741, Medic 741D and Ambulance 726 responded to a personal injury collision at the intersection of Old Georgetown Road and Poindexter Lane, at 0825 hours on a Tuesday morning. First arriving units reported a vehicle on its side with one person trapped inside.
The squad crew used Paratech struts and wedges to stabilize the vehicle before beginning the extrication. They were then able to cut away the front windshield to gain access to the patient, who was then removed from the vehicle through the windshield.
Once extricated, the patient was quickly removed to Medic 741D. Its crew thoroughly assessed the patient and transported to Suburban Hospital with minor injuries.
Other units responding included Engine 726 from Bethesda, which provided scene safety, and Tower 723, from Rockville, which provided additional manpower. Chief 741B responded and took command, assisted by Chief 741E.
Two Killed in Old Georgetown Rd. Collision
Numerous Rescue Squad units responded to a collision early on a Saturday morning that killed the drivers of both vehicles.
At about 0845 hours, Rescue Squad 741, Medic 741, Medic 741E, Ambulance 726, Engine 720 from Bethesda, along with Battalion Chief 2 and an EMS duty officer from Montgomery County were dispatched for a vehicle collision with a report of 2 persons trapped on Old Georgetown Road just north of the Beltway. A Buick station wagon and a Toyota minivan had struck each other in an offset head-on collision, leaving both drivers pinned inside their vehicles.
Unfortunately, the collision was fatal for both drivers, so no immediate extrication was necessary. As a precaution, RS 741 used its thermal imaging camera (TIC) to check in the brush beside the road for any vehicle occupants who might have been ejected but did not find any additional patients. (Use of the TIC for this purpose is not novel.)
RS741 returned to the scene several hours later, along with Truck 706 and Engine 720, to assist the police with completing their investigation.
Ambulance Crew Saves Woman With Allergic Reaction
An ambulance crew’s quick actions saved a woman suffering from a severe reaction to medication.
Ambulance 726, a B-CC Rescue Squad ambulance stationed at Bethesda Fire Department Station 26 on Democracy Blvd., was dispatched at 1925 hours for a report of trouble breathing in a middle aged woman at her residence near Montgomery Mall. They arrived on scene to find a woman who had been to the oral surgeon earlier in the day, and appeared to be having a bad reaction to some of the medications he had given her. She was speaking in gasps and hyperventilating due to the difficulty she was having in breathing.
Prior to the arrival of an engine company with a paramedic, the crew assessed the patient’s symptoms and learned of her medical history, including the oral surgery earlier in the day. They concluded that she was suffering from a severe allergic reaction and anaphylactic shock and began to administer oxygen at 15 liters per minute through a non-rebreather mask.
Recognizing the potential allergic reaction, they also quickly administered a dose of epinephrine using an EpiPen®. This led to a textbook reaction, with bodily shaking and an increased heart rate, while apparently reducing the swelling to the respiratory system. The patient’s breathing slowed down by the time the engine company with a paramedic arrived, and she was doing significantly better by the time the medic was able to evaluate her.
With the rapid improvement in the patient’s condition, the paramedic concluded that no advanced life support intervention was needed; however, the paramedic accompanied Ambulance 726 as they transported the woman to the hospital.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Glen Echo House Fire Injures 3 Rescue Squad Firefighters
Rescue Squad 741 responded to a late afternoon house fire with an initial report of an explosion in the 5600 block of Ogden Road in Glen Echo.
First arriving Glen Echo Engine 711 reported a large 2-story split-level house with attached garage that was fully involved. When the Rescue Squad arrived on scene a few minutes later, it found heavy black smoke coming from the attached garage and from windows on all sides of the house.
The crew quickly forced entry to the front door of the house. With 5 personnel on Rescue Squad 741, the crew split into 2 teams and entered different parts of the house to conduct search and rescue operations. They quickly conducted a primary search throughout the first and second floors with smoke banking down to the floor level and significant heat. During their search, they broke out windows and forced open a door on the D side of the house, opposite the garage in order to provide some visibility.
After the fire was knocked down, Rescue Squad 741’s crew assisted fire marshals in removing the remains of a Jaguar that was parked in the garage for further investigation.
Three Rescue Squad firefighters were slightly injured as they entered the basement and encountered intense heat that was coming from the attached garage. After returning to the station, the three were transported non-emergency to the MedStar burn center for assessment of minor burns received to the ears. They were treated and released after a short time.
To read about more incidents, visit http://www.bccrs.org/Action.html
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Squad Crew Extricates Woman Trapped in Overturned Car
May 8, 2010
Rescue Squad Crews extricated a woman from her overturned vehicle and treated 2 patients injured in a late Saturday afternoon accident at Wisconsin Avenue and Somerset Terrace, near Friendship Heights.
When Rescue Squad 741 arrived on scene, it found a vehicle that had run off the road, sideswiped a tree and flipped on to its roof, landing in the middle of the intersection. One occupant was able to crawl out of the vehicle, but another was not. A medic gained entry into the vehicle to stabilize the trapped patient while the squad crew went to work. First the crew stabilized the vehicle using Paratech struts, cribbing and wedges. They then cut the passenger side door and removed the entire side of the vehicle in order to remove the patient.
Medic 741 was initially dispatched because of the initial report of an overturned vehicle. An additional BLS unit (Ambulance 741 Charlie) was requested so that the two paramedics on the medic could split up and provide ALS treatment to both patients. Both patients were stabilized and quickly transported to Suburban Hospital.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Squad Crew Extricates Driver of Overturned Car in Silver Spring
UPDATED 5/30/10
Squad Crew Extricates Driver of Overturned Car in Silver Spring
The Rescue Squad extricated the driver of a vehicle who had struck 2 parked cars in downtown Silver Spring and overturned during the afternoon rush hour. Original notification of the accident came from a Silver Spring ambulance that came upon the scene shortly after it occurred.
Rescue Squad 741 Bravo was dispatched to the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Thayer Street, in the heart of Silver Spring because Wheaton’s rescue squad was tied up on another call. Upon arrival, the crew found a vehicle had landed on the driver's side, with the driver pinned between the door and steering wheel. After stabilizing the vehicle, they cut the door posts on the top (passenger) side of the vehicle so that they could fold the roof open and provide space to access. They then cut and removed the steering wheel, freeing the patient, who was pinned between it and the driver’s side door.
The patient was transported to Suburban Hospital’s trauma center by Medic 701, from Silver Spring.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Rescue Squad Crews Handle Monday Morning Rush Hour Trap Job
UPDATED 5/21/2010
Rescue Squad 741B and 4 EMS units were needed to handle a serious intersection accident during a rainy Monday morning rush hour.
An ambulance and engine from the National Institutes of Health were dispatched at about 7:20 a.m. to Center Drive on the NIH campus for a personal injury collision. As they were responding, the location was updated to the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Jones Bridge Road, and with a report of one person trapped. NIH arrived on scene and advised that there were 2 vehicles involved with multiple injuries and entrapments. A sedan carrying the driver and one passenger had been struck on its passenger side door by a van carrying a total of 5 persons. The sedan passenger was pinned in the vehicle.
After quickly stabilizing the car, RS 741B's crew used a five-step process to remove the entire side of a car that can be especially effective when there is a side impact. First they cut the B post. Then they spread through the rear door window to pop open the rear door. They next made a relief cut low on the B post. And then they spread the B post out of the rocker panel. Finally, that enabled the crew to pull the rear door and B post towards the front of the car as one single unit so that they could cut the hinges on the front door, removing the whole side of the vehicle. This strategy provided the medics with easy access to the patient with a minimal amount of additional impingement upon the side of his body.
Although this isn’t a new extrication strategy, it worked well because of recent training. The Rescue Squad’s officer had recently completed a week-long seminar in Ohio on vehicle extrication techniques, where he had both perfected ways to execute this strategy and how to identify when it can be most effective.
In addition to a working extrication, the operation was complicated by having 5 separate patients to assess and stabilize. The driver of the sedan, as well as the passenger who was pinned, were declared to be traumas and treated by medics. Two additional basic ambulances were subsequently called to the scene in order transport 3 of the 5 passengers in the van.
Rescue Squad Responds to Another House Fire
UPDATED 5/30/10
Rescue Squad Responds to Another House Fire
The Rescue Squad’s day crew responded to its 4th significant residential fire in two weeks. Rescue Squad 741 Bravo was dispatched to a house on Jamestown Court, in Glen Echo. The initial dispatch included a report of two children trapped.
When the Rescue Squad arrived on scene, the blaze had spread into the house in several places from an attached garage, where it had begun. There was no engine company on scene to provide a hose line or water, so RS741 Bravo’s officer used 5-gallon fire extinguishers and a garden hose to hold the fire at bay while the remainder of the crew made a quick primary search of the upstairs. Fortunately, no children were found.
Once engine companies from Glen Echo, Bethesda, Cabin John and the National Institutes of Health arrived on scene and established a water supply, crews quickly knocked down the bulk of the fire on the first floor. This enabled the crew to complete a more thorough secondary search. They then assisted engine and truck crews in finding and dousing hot spots by pulling a lot of walls and ceiling.
After more than an hour of salvage and overhaul work, the crew was released to return to service.
In addition to Cabin John, units from Glen Echo, Bethesda, and Rockville also responded
Both Medic 741 and a BLS unit from the Rescue Squad responded; however, there were no injuries.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Apartment Fire in Wheaton
UPDATED 5/30/10
Apartment Fire in Wheaton
For the third day in a row, Rescue Squad 741 Bravo caught a working fire. Today, the fire was in both bedrooms of a ground floor garden apartment on Elkins Street in Wheaton.
Rescue Squad 741 Bravo was dispatched on the initial box alarm, even though this location is far outside its first due area, because Wheaton’s rescue squad was committed to another call in Rockville. The Wheaton unit ultimately was dispatched on the Rapid Intervention Dispatch.
Kensington’s Engine 718 arrived on scene first and reported fire showing from the delta side of the building. Subsequently it reported two bedrooms fully involved in fire. There was an initial report of people trapped, but the Squad crew's primary and secondary search found no one. The residents were later found safely located in another apartment building.
After completing its search, the Squad crew spent substantial time pulling walls and ceiling in the fire apartment to find places where the fire might have extended behind the walls. It located a number of hot spots that were quickly extinguished by engine companies.
Units from Kensington and Silver Spring, responded on the initial alarm. Two subsequent task force alarms brought numerous additional units from throughout the eastern part of Montgomery County.
The Squad cleared the scene after about an hour.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Two for Two
UPDATED 5/30/10
Two for Two
The Rescue Squad responded to its second major house fire in two days, this time in the 8000 block of Glenmore Spring Road in Cabin John.
First due Engine 710 from Cabin John arrived first on scene at approximately 2:20 pm with a report of fire in a two-story single family dwelling. There still was heavy fire from the upstairs windows when Rescue Squad 741B arrived a few minutes later.
The crew battled significant heat and dense smoke to successfully search the entire structure and control utilities. After the bulk of the fire was knocked down, they assisted with salvage and overhaul.
In addition to Cabin John, units from Glen Echo, Bethesda, and Rockville also responded.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Rescue Squad Responds to Large House Fire in Glen Echo
Shortly after 9 a.m., Rescue Squad 741 Bravo – at the time an old Montgomery County reserve rescue squad – was dispatched for a report of a house fire in the 5100 block of Wissioming Road in Glen Echo. While the squad was en route, E711 (Glen Echo Fire Department) advised communications that it was on the scene with fire showing from the front of a three story house (Side A).
RS741B was the third unit on scene. While E711 was advancing its 250' of cross-lay hose, the squad crew made entry into the house and completed a primary search of the first and basement floors, with no trapped occupants. They also turned off the gas meter – a precaution that firefighters take to eliminate the possibility of natural gas-fed fires.
The crew of three regrouped on the second floor and quickly performed a primary search of the bedrooms. Fire was still active on the second floor so they were met with heavy smoke, zero visibility. They broke out several windows to assist in venting the structure of smoke and heat.
The crew then made its way to the third floor where it again found heat and heavy smoke. With the help of two other companies, the squad crew took down drywall to locate the extension of the fire from the second floor. They took out more windows, which helped reduce the amount of smoke on the third floor.
In addition to the initial alarm, the incident commander requested a rapid intervention dispatch and two task forces. In all, units from Glen Echo, Bethesda, Cabin John Park, National Naval Medical Center, Naval Surface Warfare center, the National Institutes of Health, Kensington, Silver Spring, Rockville, and Fairfax County responded on this incident.
The homeowners were not home at the time of the fire and no firefighters were hurt. The Rescue Squad returned to service after about an hour.
Updated April 11, 2010
Check our "Squad in Action" page periodically for more incidents:
http://www.bccrs.org/Action.html