LODD: LA City FF Killed By Engine Backing Up

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RIP. Apparently she was killed when she was riding on the back step while the driver backed up, watching for obstacles and alerting the driver via a buzzer system. She fell off the back step, and the driver did not see her as he was backing up. The rear wheels struck her.

This just shows how every part of our job can be dangerous.

ENCINO — Authorities investigated the death of a rookie firefighter who was run over by a fire engine after crews put out a house fire in Encino, a city fire official said. 

Jaime L. Foster, 25, of Palmdale, was pronounced dead at Tarzana Regional Medical Center yesterday afternoon, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. 

Foster, who was assigned to Station 73 in Reseda, was the first female city firefighter ever to die in the line of duty, according to the Daily News. 

A faulty heater on a terrarium sparked the fire at 5716 North Jamieson Ave. shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, said Humphrey. 

The owner was out of town, the Daily News reported. 

It took five engine companies 14 minutes to put out the fire, but "when leaving the fire, there was a single vehicle accident which caused a traumatic injury to one firefighter," Humphrey said. 

The fire crew was leaving the residence just before 2 p.m. when Foster, who was on a running board at the back of the truck, fell and was pinned under a wheel, police told the Daily News. 

She suffered major head trauma, according to the newspaper. 

"It is with great sadness that the men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department inform you of the death of an on-duty Los Angeles firefighter," fire officials said in a statement. 

"Obviously, it's been a very traumatic day. We're not ready to comment," Assistant Chief Roxanne Bercik, the highest-ranking female firefighter in the department's history, told the newspaper. 

Women firefighters were first admitted to the city fire department in 1983, the newspaper reported. 

A multi-agency investigation will determine the exact cause of Foster's death, said Humphrey. 

Colleagues said Foster had been with the fire department for about six months and that she also worked as a nurse in the Antelope Valley, ABC7 reported. 

She was the first city firefighter to die in the line of duty since March 1998, when Capt. Joseph C. Dupee was killed while battling a blaze at a commercial building in South Los Angeles. 

Two weeks later, three county firefighters -- Michael McComb, Eric Reiner and Michael Butler, along with 12-year-old Norma Vides -- died when the helicopter air ambulance they were in crashed in Griffith Park as they were taking the girl to a hospital. 

LAFD Information 

Your Personal Handwritten Condolence and Words of Sympathy To Firefighter Foster's Family and Co-Workers is Warmly Welcomed via: 

Los Angeles Fire Department

200 North Main Street, Room 1800

Los Angeles, CA 90012 USA

Further information regarding Funeral Services will be sent to members of the LAFD 

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Very unfortunate Incident. RIP Firefighter Foster...

Another incident to show people how very dangerous our job is in every aspect and how dangerous it was and apparently still is to be riding the tailboard anytime a piece of apparatus is in motion.

There is a good article in firehouse magazine on apparatus safety entitled "Emergency Vehicle Operations" called "Ignorance?"

Read it!

[WAS967 97]

Riding on the back step using a buzzer? Whats the matter with just using a portable or good old hand signals while the driver looks where he's going in his mirrors. I know the stufff is big but come now.