A Middletown, Ohio Captain was pulled out of a manhole early this morning unconscious and not breathing after attempting to rescue a city worker.  According to initial reports, Captain Todd Wissemeyer, a 20-year veteran of the department was flown to Miami Valley Hospital.

At about 8:30am ET this morning, officials say that three city workers were preparing a sewer site for work, but had no plans to descend down the shaft.  When one of the workers opened the manhole cover and looked inside, he was apparently overcome and fell down into the hole.

“It appears he was standing over the hole,” said Deputy Police Chief Mark Hoffman in a press conference at the site. “Whatever came out, he went in.”

Captain Wissemeyer and his partner, Fire Marshal Bob Hess, both attempted a rescue but were also overcome by the fumes.  Hess was transported by ground ambulance to a local hospital and his condition is also unknown at this time.  The 32-year old city worker succumbed to his injuries.

There normally would be no gasses in hole according to authorities, as it was just a sanitary sewer line. The investigation is continuing and more information will be provided as it becomes available.

Please keep these men, their families and their department in your thoughts and prayers as you continue your day.

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Oxnard, CA fire crews on Tuesday morning were working to rescue a bear that ran around a Ventura County neighborhood for hours before climbing a tree at a cemetery and taking a long nap.

Here’s a video from KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles:

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The body of a Glasgow, WV firefighter was located just after noon on Friday, following nearly a week of searching after he was swept away while attempting a water rescue in Raleigh County.

Donald “Donnie” Adkins, 32, was in a rescue boat with Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marty Blankenship and another firefighter near Beaver when the boat tipped over about at about 1:30 a.m. last Saturday.

A freak rainstorm had inundated the area last weekend, forcing numerous residents to be rescued from their attics and trees near their homes. Flood waters were so high that rescuers were forced to cut through utility lines in order to affect many of the rescues, according to Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper.

Donald “Donnie” Adkins with his sister Renee Coleman, in a photo submitted by the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department.

“It is with deep sadness that we accept the loss of Glasgow Firefighter Donald Adkins,” Carper said in a news release. “While Kanawha County mourns this loss, we respect Donald’s bravery and sacrifice. I also wish to commend the hundreds of volunteers throughout the state, including the State Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis, countless firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, the National Guard and the hundreds of other volunteers who risked their own personal safety in this selfless act of recovery of Donald Adkins who was recovered in Piney Creek, about 4.5 miles from where the boat capsized on Beaver Creek this past Saturday.”

Kanawha County Fire Coordinator C.W. Sigman said for several days this week, there were close to 100 people searching the Gauley River and its tributaries in an attempt to locate and recover Donnie Adkins.

Sigman led the search team that located the body. “He’s downstream in a pile of brush. They’re trying to get him out with chainsaws. There’s a lot of huge brush and tree limbs to cut through to get access to him.”

“It’s in a very inaccessible spot. It’s hard to get to when the water was up,” Sigman said. “When the water went down, it looked like a likely spot, and there he was.”

From the Charleston Gazette:

Adkins was with the Glasgow department for about three years and was a firefighter in Rand before that, Blankenship said.

He had two children and was also like a father to his girlfriend’s daughter, Blankenship said. All are between the ages of 5 and 8, he said.

Adkins had lost his job March 12, the day before he lost his life.

“Donnie was a very loved individual,” Blankenship said. “He was just a good all-around person.”

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said he wanted to commend all of the firefighters and other rescuers who helped with the search, as well as Gov. Joe Manchin, who also lent his support.

“While Kanawha County morns this loss, we respect Donald’s bravery and sacrifice,” Carper said. “We should be reminded that these individuals put their own personal safety on the line each and every day to protect us all.”

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photo: Firenews.net

More Apparatus Accidents

Apparatus Accidents are headlining the news far too frequently again.  After medical issues, vehicle accidents kill more firefighters every year.  Read up the horrific injuries sustained by by firefighters in New Jersey, Kentucky, and North Carolina as related in FirefighterCloseCalls.com Then, take an active role on doing whatever you can to keep your department out of these types of headlines.

Do that today.

When Maydays Bring Crickets

While looking for a way out during a search, two veteran Cincinnati firefighters became trapped by a burning stairwell after one of them tumbled face first down six stairs, knocking his helmet and air mask off.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday!” his partner called out over his fire radio.

Silence.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday!” It was so quiet they wondered aloud if they were on the wrong channel. “Is anybody copying?” he asked as both men got critically low on air.

Why was this happening?  Read the article in Cincinnati.com by Sharon Coolidge to find out more on a new threat to modern firefighters.

Virginia Firefighters in Haiti Safe Following Aftershock

As if they didn’t already have enough on their plate, Mother Nature continued to keep things interesting as a 6.1 aftershock hammered the disaster area Wednesday morning.

All 83 members of the Virginia Task Force 2 were unscathed and are continuing their efforts at this moment.  You can follow VTF 2 on their cool website.

Despite all the obstacles that have been overcome by all of our heroic expert rescuers, the worse may still be on the way. Unfortunately, civil unrest is already making the situation more dangerous as Haitians increasingly turn to violence in their quest for the basic needs of food, water, and medicine.

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