MOTORCYCLIST FLOWN AFTER CRASH WITH SUV

June 30 2006 - As the afternoon dragged on, the Engine was sent out for an auto accident on Mathis Avenue at Carriage Lane. As they pulled out of quarters, the call was upgraded to a motorcyclist struck bringing the Tower, Chief, and Attack Unit. Engine 501 and Medic 509 arrived to find one patient down on the sidewalk. The patient, who had been driving the motorcycle, was suffering from an open tib/fib fracture. The Engine Officer requested a helicopter and cut the Attack Unit loose to handle the LZ. Aircare 1 landed with no problem at a local elementary school just down the street and transported the patient to a local trauma center.

20 RUNS ON FRIDAY... 16 MORE SATURDAY... AND 2ND DUE ON THE APARTMENT

June 24 2006 - As torrential storms continued to plague the Metro Area on Saturday, the Volunteers of Company 1 once again didn’t see much of the firehouse. The day started off to be fairly a quiet one until after lunch when at 1523 hours mutual box 11-15 was struck for the apartment fire, bringing Engine 501 as the second due company. Engine 511 went on the scene with nothing showing from a 4 story garden apartment. Engine 501 arrived and helped 511 secure a water supply. As the crew from Engine 511 opened the door to the reporting apartment, they were met with heavy smoke conditions and reported a working fire in apartment 103. The men from Engine 501 quickly advanced the 300" to back up 511. The fire was located in the kitchen area and was quickly knocked down by Engine 511. With the first due truck not yet on scene, Engine 501 conducted a primary search while opening up. The crew from Engine 501 also assisted with overhaul and secured the utilities. Once the smoke cleared it was realized that the small fire was the result of a fully involved pumpkin pie left in the oven, which broke the glass on the front of the oven and began extending to the microwave and cabinets. Engine 501 had the command until the arrival of Battalion Chief 501 and cleared about an hour later. The rest of the day was spent going between auto accidents, fire alarms, storm related hazards, water rescues, and, of course, medical locals. The runs continued straight through the night, with little sleep, until about noon the next day.

2 FAST, 2 FURIOUS..... TOO BAD YOU WRECKED YOUR CAR

June 24 2006 - At 0022 hours this morning, the Engine was sent out for an auto accident on Sudley Road at Godwin Drive. On arrival, they found a single vehicle that had crashed into an electrical transformer. It seems that while drag racing, things didn't go as planned and the vehicle left the road, traveled through the grass and mud for about 50 feet, hit a transformer ripping it from its concrete base, spun around, and came to a stop facing the road. The Engine assisted with patient care and went ready 10 minutes later.

MANASSAS VOLUNTEERS ANSWER 28 RUNS IN FOUR HOURS

June 22 2006 - Severe thunderstorms moved into the Manassas area late Thursday evening leaving behind a trail of destruction that is sure to keep utility crews busy for several days. It all started just after 2200 hrs as storms began to sweep through the area bringing heavy rains, high winds, hail, and lightning. 911 Calls began to pour into the Manassas City Emergency Operations Center and within minutes, units began hitting the street. Initially with 3 crews and 12 volunteers, firefighters from Company 1 answered runs for everything from wires down, trees into cars and buildings, as well as investigations and a first due box. Additional personnel answered the call from home and at one point a total of 17 volunteers on board the Engine, Foam Engine, Wagon, Mini-Pumper, and Tower as well as the Chief were running up and down the streets. In all nearly 40 calls for service were handled by EOC during the storm (Robyn, you did a great job). Units from the Rescue Squad also placed several units in service and a combined effort from both stations worked together to cut up trees and remove debris from area streets. Not that we saw the station, but power was also lost for several hours in the firehouse as well as everywhere else in Manassas. To get the Foam Engine out, the crew literally had to dismantle the bay door since our wonderful backup generator failed. Just as it looked like things were going to slow down a bit, mutual box 16-08 was struck at 0133 hours for the report of a house fire at 7007 Kodiak Court in the Buckhall section of Prince William County. This assignment brought Engine 501 (2nd due), Wagon 501 (3rd due), the Tower, and the Chief heading down the Parkway looking for some action in the sticks. Units arrived to find nothing showing and investigated, but nothing was found. Chief 501 had the command and units cleared 45 minutes later. We would have cleared much sooner, but we had to pick up the 1000 feet of 4 inch we layed into the court because the first due company had an issue with their supply line. In all, the 1 house answered 26 runs Thursday and at the time of this report units had answered another 12 by sunrise Friday. One can only wonder what the weekend will bring.

ENGINE LANDS AIRCARE 2 IN YORKSHIRE

June 18 2006 - At 2224 hrs, Engine 501 responded on mutual box 08-03 to 8006 Centreville Road to set an LZ after a motorcycle accident. Units from Prince William County requested a helicopter for the passenger because of the mechanism of injury. Engine 501 landed Aircare 2 and went ready at 2256 hrs. On the way home, the Engine took in a medical local in the Park as their units were tied up on other calls. The crew was glad to finally get home after a long day of runs that included the first due box.

CREWS MAKE QUICK WORK OF FIRST DUE BOARDING HOUSE

June 18 2006 - At 0504 hours, City Fire Communications transmitted box alarm 81-09 for the reported house fire in the 9500 block of Liberty Street in Old Town. Engine, Wagon, Tower, and Chief 501 along with Battalion 581 hit the street with 17 Volunteers. Immediately after units made the right out of the firehouse, they could see a large column of smoke. As the companies made their way through Old Town, smoke filled the streets. Asst. Chief Lausch in Tower 501 went on the scene with heavy fire through the roof of a large two story balloon frame colonial that had been converted into a rooming house. Though the building was under renovations, it was still occupied. On arrival of the Chief, a second alarm was requested and ordered to stage on Prince William Street in the line of approach. A resident in the front yard reported that everyone was out, but Tower 501 wasted no time completing an aggressive primary search. Engine 501’s crew split and quickly placed two lines in service. Upstairs, the Engine and Tower found a large volume of fire that had took complete control of the attic and was dropping down starting to light the rooms off on the second floor. They quickly went to work opening up and extinguishing all visible fire. Second due Wagon 509 arrived and stretched a back up line to the fire floor. Wagon 501 took the third due spot and laid out from an independent hydrant to side A and ran a line to the second floor to extinguish fire in the B/C corner. The bulk of the fire was knocked in 10 minutes. All searches were negative and command began to scale the incident back. One firefighter from Tower 501 received 2nd degree burns to both wrists and was treated on the scene. Chief 501 had the Liberty Street Command. Thanks to all of the mutual aid companies for their assistance as well as the rescue squad and firehouse auxiliary for providing refreshments to the crews. An excellent job by all operating on the fireground brought this fire under control quickly. Units from Manassas cleared a little after 0800.

Photos and video by Cheryl Yamanaka, MVFC Firefighter.

ENGINE COMPANY DEALS WITH STUBBORN AUTO FIRE

June 15 2006 - Just after 2100 hours, Engine 501 was sent out to investigate the report of an auto in the 8800 block of Centreville Road. They found the vehicle in the shopping center parking lot. While the crew was getting a knock on the fire, the fuel line burst. At that point, they were forced to protect the adjacent vehicle and await the arrival of the Foam Engine. Units cleared within the hour.

BRILLIANT DRIVING RESULTS IN CRASH WITH INJURIES

June 14 2006 - At 0741 hours, the assignment for an auto accident with entrapment was sent to the 8800 Block of Centreville Road for what was reported to be a T-bone accident involving a dump truck. On arrival, the Engine and Tower found a three vehicle accident with several injuries. It seems that the driver of the work truck was in the right turn lane, trying to merge left into the travel lanes. Instead of slowing down and waiting for an opening, the driver came over, colliding with the mini van which in turn pushed the mini van into the work van. The work truck ended up slamming into the shopping center sign. Three patients were transported, all BLS. Units went ready at 0807.

ENGINE REQUESTED ON ACCIDENT

June 13 2006 - Shortly before 0500 hours, the Medic Unit went out for injuries from an auto accident. Usually that call type is reserved for minor accidents where someone is complaining of injuries. On arrival, the Medic requested the Engine for assistance. Upon their arrival, the crew from the Engine was quite amazed to find two vehicles that had been in a serious T-bone accident, one of which was on its side. The Medic was able to get the patient in the back of the unit before the Engine arrived. Once on scene, the crew cleaned up the fluid spills and assisted the tow truck with up righting the vehicle. ready at 0536

ONE SERIOUSLY TRAPPED ON FITZWATER DRIVE

June 12 2006 - At 1212 hrs, just as they were sitting down to lunch, the Tower was dispatched to 14010 Fitzwater Drive on mutual box 05-08 for an auto accident with the report of a trapped victim. While responding, Engine and Tanker 505 along with Medic 555 arrived and advised the Battalion Chief that one victim was trapped after a single vehicle accident with a tree. On arrival, the Tower's men found the car seriously wrapped around a tree. The crew from Engine 505 was able to pop the passenger door and remove part of the windshield before the Tower's arrival but the extrication would take a lot more than that. Tower 501, along with Rescue 501 and Engine 505 first went to work stabilizing the car and removing the roof. After  peeling away all of the plastic on the dash, it was realized the patient's feet and legs were extremely pinned. At first crews tried to push the dash, but due to the way the crash HAD mangled the vehicle, pushing the dash was not effective. Instead, the Tower and Rescue used two spreaders at the same time to free the patient. The first spreader was used to push from the floor up against the dash, while the second pushed from the tree against the dash sideways, away from the patient. Still, the patients shoes had to be cut off to remove him from the car. With injuries to the patient's legs and the possibility of more serious internal injures, Battalion Chief 501 requested a helicopter. Engine 525 handled the LZ. The patient was removed in under 20 minutes and transported to the LZ by Ambulance 508. The Tower went ready at 1302 hrs.

Some photos courtesy of Jason Brown and Al Kellert.

NO NOSE GEAR = BUMPY RIDE AT THE AIRPORT

June 11 2006 - Shortly after 1800 hours this evening, units were alerted to the Manassas Regional Airport for the second time in just over a week. This time it was for the report of aircraft problems. The Foam Engine and Battalion 581 (Lt. Campbell) along with EMS units from the Rescue Squad responded. Crews arrived to find a single engine plane on runway 34R that had a nose gear failure upon landing. The failure was it fell off when it came into contact with the runway. A quick survey of the scene proved no hazards or injuries and the scene was turned over to Airport Operations and Manassas City Police. Units cleared shortly thereafter.

BUSY DAY INCLUDES DOUBLE PARKING DEMONSTRATION

June 10 2006 - Go figure, when it's slow it's slow, but the minute you try to do something, the calls won't stop. As members from Manassas where training with the new large area search bags and bailout rigs that we recently affixed to our SCBAs, the Engine was kept busy handling the usual assortment while the Tower had several runs on the east end of the county, none of which amounted to anything. The last run the Engine ran before the class was over was an auto accident in the 9000 block of New Britain Circle. On arrival, they found one injured after laying their motorcycle down under a parked car. The driver was transported with BLS injuries.

FIRST DUE BOX IN "THE SOUTH"

June 09 2006 - Just after lunch today, box alarm 81-13 was struck for the report of a fire in a row house at 9851 Buckner Road. Engine 501, the Tower, and the Chief were quickly on the way with seven personnel. First arriving Medic and Rescue 501 initially reported nothing showing, but then came back with smoke coming from a window on the first floor. The Engine arrived immediately afterwards and stretched their line inside while the Tower and Rescue began to open up. The Engine found fire just inside the front door, burning good in the walls. The fire was quickly extinguished and as all searches were negative, the box was quickly held to the units from Manassas and Wagon 509. The fire was apparently started by workers sweating pipes. There were no injuries aside from a neighbor who got a bump on the nose. It seems as crews were checking the exposure, an occupant, who failed to answer the door promptly, was met with the backside of his front door after it was kicked in. (we won't name any names) Chief 501 had the command and all units cleared within an hour.

COMPANIES PARTICIPATE IN EXTRICATION DRILL

June 07 2006 - Today the Engine and Truck crews invited units from down the street at the Rescue House over for a vehicle extrication drill. The day consisted of several scenarios. The first consisted of removing two patients from two separate vehicles that had both rolled over on their sides, roof to roof. The second drill had the crews "tunneling" through the trunk to gain access to a severely trapped patient. The third was another multiple vehicle accident with one on its side and one on its roof. After a lunch, the crews finished off with several "bread and butter" dash roles. We're always glad to have the opportunity to train with the Rescue Squad.

PLANE CRASHES IN THE FIRST DUE

June 3 2006 - Shortly after 0700 hours, three long alert tones broke the Saturday morning silence, alerting units from Manassas Fire, the Rescue Squad, and mutual aid companies from Prince William County, to a plane crash at 10605 Observation Road, the Manassas Regional Airport. Company 501 is use to running to the airport, usually being alerted for the aircraft in distress which normally lands without incident, however this morning would be different. Company 501 responded with 12 volunteers on board the Engine, Foam Engine, and both Haz Mat Rigs along with Battalion 581 (Capt. Higgins) and Chief 501A (Lausch). First Arriving units from Manassas were met with a 35 seat passenger jet that had crashed upon takeoff and landed in the middle of Observation Road. A total of 8 passengers were on board the jet and had already evacuated the plane prior to the arrival of the fire department. 2 of the passengers were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. At first the scene appeared to stable with no hazards but after a few minutes the plane began leaking some of the 1100 pounds of jet fuel on board. The crew from the Haz Mat quickly went to work to stabilize the leak. After that the wait was on as units were unable to take further action until the arrival of the FAA and NTSB. Once on the scene, investigators from both agencies conducted their examination of the crash site and as the day creped by, the recovery team from Willow Spring Towing arrived. At this point progress was made to off load the abundance of fuel from the plane. Then the effort was made to move the plane from the middle of Observation Road. The plan was to flip the plane around, load it onto a flatbed truck, and drive it across the field to a hangar where it could be repaired. With a combined endeavor from all parties, the hazards were secured and the plane was removed from the roadway shortly before 2000 hours. In all, Manassas Volunteers operated on the scene for over 13 hours. Chief 501A had the command. A special thanks goes out to the Ladies Auxiliary for supporting the effort with breakfast, lunch and drinks throughout the day. While the airport incident was going on, the dedicated volunteers from Manassas maintained an additional crew at the firehouse which answered several runs throughout the day. The most notable being the intoxicated and vastly impaired individual in the infamous "South", who decided he would take a swing at our 6 foot 5 Truck Captain, needless to say he lost. Chalk another one up for the female officer on bike patrol who keeps finding patients for us. Just another day in the Big City, go figure!