Accident Report Detail
Accident: 202509006 - Employee Is Burned In Fire Fighting Rescue Attempt
Inspection | Open Date | SIC | Establishment Name |
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314329798 | 03/15/2012 | 9224 | City Of Vallejo Fire Department |
At approximately 3:33 p.m. on September 29, 2012, Employee #1, a firefighter, was called to a house fire in a mobile home park. The fire was in a two-bedroom double-wide mobile home. Upon arrival, the fire company did not immediately notice a fire in the structure, but shortly thereafter, light gray smoke was noticed coming from the rear corner window. The front door had a wheelchair access ramp leading to the porch area and front door. The ramp was in the up position and the front door was locked. Employee #1 and another firefighter climbed onto the porch area and broke open the front door. After breaking open the front door, Employee #1 surveyed the first room, which had gray smoke 1.5 feet from the ceiling. Visibility was good and he could see the far corners of the room through the smoke. A coworker was approaching with the fire hose and another coworker was donning his SCBA. Employee #1 entered the structure in full firefighting gear with SCBA. Upon entering the structure, he proceeded down the hallway toward the back room. In the hallway, there was dark gray to black colored smoke 3 feet down from the ceiling and just outside of the bedroom door. While approaching the bedroom door, Employee #1 could see small flames in the smoke on the upper right side of the doorway. He crouched down and looked into the room. All walls and several objects in the room were burning, except for the wall directly to his left. A bed located in the middle of the room was also burning. Employee #1 crawled into the room a few feet to see the occupant, who was located on the far side of the bed, propped up and wedged in the far corner of the room with his feet facing out. Employee #1 crawled over to the occupant and pulled him by his feet until the occupant's head was facing Employee #1's midsection. He then lay on his left side, under hooked the occupants left arm, and attempted to drag the occupant away from the bed to the nonburning wall/area of the room. As he was dragging the occupant, the occupant was grabbing at his jacket. When Employee #1's left hand came up, the occupant grabbed his glove and it came off. Employee #1 put his hand down again to continue dragging the occupant and his hand was burnt from the melted carpet. He then changed positions to his left shoulder and knees to prevent having to put his hand on the carpet again. He proceeded to drag the occupant around the bed, but as he approached the door, he felt the room getting hotter. The occupant was pulled approximately 6 feet from the door and then he could no longer pull the occupant. Employee #1 began to yell for his captain while still attempting to pull the occupant. The room was getting hotter, and Employee #1 felt like he was burning in his turnouts. He listened and looked for his crew at the doorway or for water, but did not see any signs of help. While still attempting to pull the occupant, he noticed a flame come across the floor in front of him from the left and run up the entire wall directly to his right (the previously nonburning wall). The floor then ignited and Employee #1 rose to his feet, dove out the door into the hallway and exited the structure through the back door. Upon exiting the structure, he moved toward the front and announced that he was out of the structure. Employee #1 then asked for assistance from a coworker to cool him down with water as his bunker gear was smoldering. After being cooled down, he was directed to the ambulance for further treatment. Employee #1 was transported to Kaiser Vallejo, where he was treated and then transferred St. Francis Hospital Burn Unit in San Francisco. He suffered third degree burns to his left palm, little finger, left middle and ring finger, as well as second degree burns to his left face, ear, and left buttock. He also received superficial burns to his upper back and right buttock. A flashover occurred at 3:33 p.m. and Employee #1 reported being out of the structure at 3:34 p.m.
Employee # | Inspection | Age | Sex | Degree | Nature | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 314329798 | Non Hospitalized injury | Burn/Scald(Heat) | Firefighting occupations |