Newsletter

Feb. 19, 2009 -Structure Collapse

At 1610 hours York County DES paged the ATR Duty Officer. ATR-5 (Cadden) contacted the dispatcher at the 911 center. Command 3 requested that the ATR Duty Officer call him on the scene of an automobile into a structure with collapse. No one was trapped at the time of the call. ATR-5 contacted the Command officer discussing his concerns with the structure's foundation possibly in danger of collapse. The patient had been extricated, home occupants evacuated and there were no firefighters or emergency personnel in the hazard zone. Shoring of the structure was discussed as an option but during the conversation Command 3 felt that the vehicle could be removed without causing further damage or hazards to personnel on scene. ATR-5 advised Command 3 to contact a local contractor to secure the foundation.

March 19, 2009 -Mutual Aid Stand-by Detail Millersville University, Lancaster County

York County ATR placed resources on stand-by to assist Lancaster County Collapse Teams and the South Central Counter Terrorism Task Force. YorkCounty ATRsupported response teams formed due to controversialWilliam Ayresspeaking engagementat Millersville University. Security was heightened in response to this eventand planned protests against Ayers. The evening concluded without incident.

March 29, 2009 -Mutual Aid Lancaster County Structure Collapse

At 2008 hours ATR 1 (Sanford ) was contacted by the Lancaster County ATR team leader to provide mutual aid and consult with a local fire company in Lancaster County near Marrietta due to a potential structure collapse. Lancaster County's team was unavailable due toworking an incident in Clay Township near Ephrata where eight mobile homes were destroyed ina tornado that passed through the county around 1700 hours. The York County ATR team was placed on standby while ATR 1 drove to the scene.Flood waters removed soil from under the old rock wall foundation of a farm housecausing a collapse hazard to one sideof the structure. Occupants had beenevacuated and it was determined there were no risks to emergency services personnel. The local fire company wasadvisedto have the homeowner contact a contractor to manage the damage to the structure's foundation. ATR 1 placed all resourcesavailableat 2033 hours.

April 6, 2009 -Elevator Rescue Box 25-1 North York Borough, George Street

At 1315 hours ATR team was placed on stand-by for a reported elevator rescue. Crews from each station reported to their respective stations and remained in quarters until released by Command 25 after it was determined that the victims were rescued without requiring ATR resources.

April 6, 2009 -Confined Space Rescue Box 27-01 York Haven Borough, Front Street

2216 ATR was alerted to respond, at the request of Chief 27-1, to a reported confined space rescue. ATR equipment responded for a subject reported to be in a tunnel or shaft that experienced a collapse. York County 911 lost contact with the male cell phonecaller. Resources from Stations 27,21 and local police searched the area in attempts to locate the victim.ATR equipment that responded was Rescue 9, Utility 9 with collapse trailer, Collapse 36, Utlity 36, Heavy Rescues 46 and 61. ATR equipmentwas requested to levelone stage at Station 27.

York County 911 used the last knowncell phone GPS coordinatesto vector the area. They deternined that thesignal was located near the sewage treatment plant in Springettbury Township and dispatchedStation 89 to investigate. Both areas were searched and no subject was located. Police were dispatched to his homewith negative results.Command 27 placed ATR resources in service at2336 hours.

Rescuers search for man who turned up safe
Daily Record/Sunday NewsUpdated:04/07/2009 12:22:15 PM EDT

Several York County fire companies responded to an emergency-rescue call Monday night in York Haven in response to a person reported to have been trapped in a shaft collapse.The man was located without injury. He had not fallen into a shaft. Monday night, the man's fiance called police to say she was speaking on the phone with him when he fell, police said. The woman called 911. After a large-scale investigation by police -- including tracking his cell phone signals -- the man was later found to be in another town with a friend. He had been drinking when he fell, but was not injured or trapped in a shaft, police said.

About 30 to 50 firefighters, including some from Shrewsbury and Hanover, and police officers from Newberry Township, Northeastern Regional and Springettsbury Township responded to the incident.

May 10, 2009 - Water Rescue -Lake Redman , Jacobus

1703 hoursYork County DES alerted ATRfor a water rescue at Lake Redman . It was reported that a sailboat overturned in high winds and the occupants were thrown into the water. ATRpersonnel responded and were cancelled by Command 18whenit was determined that the occupants of the boat were safely transported toshore by a fishermanusing his boat.Station 18 hasswift water rescue trained personnel and rescue boats. Station 18 provides a valuable resource to our team. ATR resources are used to assist their personnel with waterrescues.

May 15, 2009 - Structure Collapse, Red Lion

At 0243 Chief 34, Red Lion requested an ATR Duty Officer to provide assistance for a vehicle into a structure. York County DES alerted the officers and ATR-3 (Gouker) responded to the request to provide an assessment of the structure. It was determined that allvictims were accounted for and no emergency servicespersonnel were at risk. ATR-3 advised Chief 34to have the homeowner contact a contractor to secure the foundation damaged by the striking vehicle.

May 26, 2009 -Structure Collapse,Chanceford Township

At 0755 Duty Officer 39 (New Bridgeville) requested the ATR Duty Officer to contact him for assistance with a vehicle into a structure. The incident was an accident involving a school bus into the Brogue post office. One patient was reportedinjured, none were trapped. ATR - 2 (Jansen) responded to request for a duty officer receiving information from YCDES. Glenn contacted ATR -1 (Sanford) who was closer to the scene. ATR-1responded to the scene with an engineer from Kinsley construction to provide an assessment and consult with Duty Officer 39 on scene.An evaluation of the structuralintegrity was done by the building engineerand communicated to Command 39 prior to the decision to remove the bus from the structure.ATR-1 and the engineer from Kinsley remained on the scene until the bus was removed and verified that the structure was stable and did not requireshoring.

June 10, 2009 -Swift / Flood Water Rescues -Codurus Township

1705 hours ATR was alerted to stand-by at the request of Duty Officer 12 after many reported water rescues and a structural collapse in Codurus Township. A localized storm dumped 5 to 6 inches of rain in a very short period of time causingflooding, strandingresidents,motorists and animals. Rescue's 46 and 61 staged in the area while ATR resources fromStations 9 and 36 remained centralized to coverthe remainder of the county. ATR-1 (Sanford) requested additional boatsfrom Lancaster and Cumberland counties transfer to station 19to assist our team as needed.

An additional storm was reported to EMA by the National Weather Service expected to hit Glen Rock and Shrewsbury withheavy flooding rains. This storm fell apart and team resources were returned to service around 1900 hours.Glen Rock Fire Company advised they may need to evacuate their station due to rising waters.

At 1940 hours EMA requested ATR support to assist with thepotential evacuation of a portion of Glen Rock borough due to rising waters in the branch of the Codorus creek and another set of strong storms predicted to hit the already saturated area. York County's mobile command post and two boat resources staged at Susquehannock High School. Local officers from Stations 59, 58,61,ATR-1 and ATR-5monitored the situation using the new EMA channel usingYork County's new radio system. At2130 hours after waters receded and storm cells yet again fell apart Chief 59 placed all resources available. A long night for all.

July 16, 2009 -High Angle (Tower )Rescue - York Township

ATR resources were alerted to respond at the request of Duty Officer 19 for a tower rescue in the area of 2319 South Queen Street. ATR 3 (Gouker), Collapse 36, Rescue 46 and 61 responded to the incident. A worker on a cell phonetower suffered heat exhaustion and was unable to climb down on his own. The worker was in a harness and had a rope and safety system attached to him. He was on the tower working with another worker when he suffered the attack. Prior to ATR arrival the cell tower workers began using the belay system attached to the worker and his harness to lower him. Truck 34 positioned their tower bucket and brought the victim to the ground.

July 27, 2009 -Structure Collapse -Windsor Township

ATR 1 answered a duty officer pageregarding a request to assist Red Lion FD, with a structural evaluation as the result an a vehicle accident, car into a structure resulting in partial collapse.

ATR1 responded (covering for ATR 4) to 840 Bahns Mill Road, Windsor Township to find a car into an breezeway, which was attached to a single modular home, displacing the exterior bearing wall which allowed the roof to become unstable with partial collapse.

Several factors affectedalerting of Collapse 36 at 23:53 for emergency stabilization purposes, the only usable entrance being blocked, an infant residing in the trailer, along with the hazard of the unstable roof on the car.Assesment pointed to the needto stabilize the roof so the car could be removed and access gained into the trailer. Teamsplaced 2 temporary support poststo stabilize the structure.Chief 34 placed the box in-service at 00:32,with all units in service and at their stations by 00:52.

August 7, 2009 -East Manchester Township -Trench Rescue

YCDES alerted the ATR team for a Trench Rescue with two victims reported trapped. This is the first ATR call where we used the new digital trunked radio system. The radios permitted all responding units the ability to communicate throughout the county and hear updates from first arriving units. ATR officers are now able to communicate county-wide to coordinate equipment and personnel forming the incident action plan prior to arrivalusinga separate ATR talkgroup while monitoring the incident operations talkgroup.

ATR resources responded to the incident but were placed in service when EMS arrived on the scene and found that both victims had been extricated prior to their arrivaleach was complaining of chest pain.

Many trench rescues involve second victims and "would be" rescuers that enter the trench to attempt a rescue without the proper shielding and protection systems in place. Over 50% of trench collapses result in a secondary collapse.Do not enter a trench to perform a rescue without the proper sheeting and shoring systems in place.

Addtional story and photos:http://www.unionfire23.com/actionphotosstories.htm

August 12, 2009 -Flood Water Rescue -York County

At the request of ATR-1 (Sanford) the team was placed on stand-by due toreported swift/flood water rescues in several areas of the county. Boat 60, Lake Clark Rescue, was moved to the center of the county staging at Station 24 for easy response within the county if needed.

Storm cells plagued the county shortly before 2100 dropping heavy rainfall causing small streams and roadways to flood. Weather updates were provided by theYCDES Supervisordirectly to team officers. The 911 supervisorwas in contact with the National Weather Service to obtain information on the storm. Crews from all stations maintained personnel until midnight when the storms subsided.

August 28, 2009 -Flood / Swift Water Rescue -Shrewsbury Township, CodurusTwp., Springfield Twp.

At 8 PM heavy rains began in Southern York County on already rain saturated ground. Immediately roads and small streams began to flood. Stations in the southern part of the countyresponded for many requests of flooded homes and roadways. The first rescue was reported at 2230 and at the request of Chief 61 the ATRteam was alterted to respond in Shrewsbury Township onDeer Creek Road toassist Station 61 ATR water rescue personnel with evacuatingresidents due to floodwater confinement after the waters from Deer Creek rose significantly from the storm. Over 4 inches of rain fell in a short period of time trapping residents in their home. After ensuring back up and safety team members were in place water rescue crews from station 61 entered the water, made contact with the victim, placed a PFD on her and escorted her to dry ground. A second rescue was set-up to evacuate residents from another nearby structure however, after conversation with the residents they wanted to remain in their home and advised they woulduse the egress to the rear of their residence of the waters continued to rise.

A third rescue was dispatched and ATR resources responded with Station 59 in Codurus Township. A vehicle crossed a flooded roadway and became disabled. Boat 59 was unavailable due to their crews already working in Carroll County Maryland assisting with water rescues. Upon arrival crews found that the occupants were on the roof of the vehicle. Boat 18, Jacobus, made the entry and rescue prior to arrival of ATR resources. As crews were clearing this rescue a fourth was dispatched, again in Station 59's area, this time in Springfield Township for a vehicle in flood waters. Station 18 and 61 personnel assisted with rescuing one victim and searched for a potential second victim. Search was terminated after verification that a second victim did not exist.

ATR 1 placed Lake Clark Rescue 60 on stand-by and moved Cumberland County boat resources to central York County at station 24. Rescue 9 and 46ATR personnel wereplacedin station 18 to stand-by for additional calls as 36 and 61 crews were engaged with active rescues.

November 1, 2009 - Codurus Township -Collapse Rescue- Sinkhole

Station 62 Seven Valleys was dispatched fora woman trapped in a sinkhole. Duty Officer 62 responded and was advised by YCDES dispatcher that a woman was trapped as a result ofa groundcollapse that created a sinkhole. He requested the ATR team after arriving on scene findinga womantrapped in a sinkhole. AsATR team members were enroute to the station ATR 1 & 5 responded and werecancelled by Command 62 after the woman was rescued from the sinkhole.