Baltimore FF Recruit Training Death

[ohbdow1 6]

City firefighter recruit dies

Mother of 2 collapses while training in rowhouse blaze set by instructors

By Annie Linskey

Sun Reporter

Originally published February 9, 2007, 10:30 PM EST

A 29-year-old recruit with the city Fire Department died during a training exercise Friday as she tried to extinguish a blaze set by instructors in a vacant rowhouse in Southwest Baltimore, according to fire officials.

Racheal Wilson, mother of an 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, was inside a three-story dwelling when she collapsed about noon and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. She died shortly after she arrived, fire officials said. Details of her injuries were not released Friday. She had started training in November.

"We're in shock," said acting Fire Chief Theodore Saunders. "Today is a reminder of how dangerous this profession is." Saunders did not answer questions at the brief news conference outside the hospital.

The president of the Firefighters Union Local 734, Rick Schluderberg, said the incident raises questions about the practice of using vacant rowhouses as training grounds for recruits. The house used is in the 100 block of S. Calverton Road, near West Lombard Street.

"Things like this are not supposed to happen in training," Schluderberg said Friday night. "We like to make it as real as possible, but this got out of hand." He pointed out that the department has a building on the grounds of its training academy on Pulaski Highway that can be used to introduce cadets to the hazards of dealing with a fire.

Chief Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the Fire Department, gave few details of the investigation or how Wilson might have been put in jeopardy. He would not say where in the building she was but said the rowhouse appeared to be structurally sound, and he didn't believe any part of it had collapsed.

He defended the practice of setting vacant rowhouses on fire for training purposes. "It simulates the kinds of structures and environments that the recruits will be operating in when they go out to the field," he said.

Wilson was a firefighter-paramedic apprentice. Recruits often go through joint training and decide later whether to become paramedics or firefighters.

Two others were injured in the fire: a female member of the recruit class and a male firefighter. Both were treated Friday from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and released.

Fire Chief Williams J. Goodwin was in Israel for a series of homeland security meetings Friday. He left the meetings early and is expected to be in Baltimore Saturday.

Members of the recruit class were being interviewed at fire headquarters Friday night. "We need to get everyone's account," Cartwright said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is participating in the investigation.

Wison's death was announced at a news conference in front of Shock Trauma. "As I stand here in the cold, my heart right now is very heavy for the loss," Mayor Sheila Dixon told reporters. "To the firefighters who make a major sacrifice every day, I want to just extend our wholehearted condolences."

Dr. Thomas Scalea, the head of surgery at Shock Trauma who treated Wilson, also offered his condolences. "I assure you that this individual received everything, everything that we have to offer," he said.

A wreath was placed in the doorway of the brick rowhouse Friday, which is at the end of a block with other vacant dwellings.

Wilson's academy was expected to graduate in March and has one of the highest number of female recruits in recent memory, Cartwright said.

Wilson lived near Belvedere Square in North Baltimore with her son, Cameron, her daughter, Princess, and her boyfriend, Cartwright said. She was originally from Louisiana, and her parents live in Denver.

The last firefighter to die in the line of duty was Allan M. Roberts, 40. He was burned while trying to put out a fire in a Greektown rowhouse in mid-October. Two other firefighters were injured during that blaze.

[firecapt32 282]

We are on a record setting pace again this year. My heart goes out the family. There is condolances in knowing she was doijng something sh always wanted to do.

We and the military are the only pepole that kill our members in training.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Very sad to see another firefighter die during training. I hope it wasn't something that was forseeable or preventable during a training evolution. We have to remember that even in training, when dealing with live fire, there are extreme risks that need to be limited as best as possible.

[jloftus 28]

God bless her and her family.

[FFD941 20]

Another uneccessary death, what were those instructors thiniking.

[CTFF 65]

Another uneccessary death,  what were those instructors thiniking.

←

While this death of a fellow firefighter is tragic, I think we should refrain from questioning the instructors until all of the facts are out.

[Guest partyrock]

Another uneccessary death,  what were those instructors thiniking.

←

Before you start condemning guys who were probably on the knob back when you were still holding mom's hand, at lest look into the story a little. No cause of death has been released. The only facts that have made it to press are that she collapsed while venting the floor above the fire. She was with at least an instructor and another recruit. The building has been deemed structuraly sound and there were back-ups in place in event something were to go wrong.

This to me implies a medical cause of death. Maybe there were symptoms of some illness or other sign that was missed. Or maybe there was some underlying condition that the stress of the environment triggered to cause her death. Eventually that will be determined. Until then how about just keeping it to sympathies for the family and support for our brothers.

[Remember585 815]

There's nothing in this article, nor anything I have read elsewhere indicating any wrong-doing on the part of the Instructors. The last thing we should do is criticize them before any implication that something was not done right. I am sure those involved feel awful and are having a hard time dealing with this. Training in acquired structures is a very difficult task and so many things have to be in place in order to do it. There's no doubt in my mind that NFPA standards were met, if not exceeded. I too feel as though something medically was wrong with this poor woman, and extend my condolences to the Baltimore FD and her family.

My thoughts too are with her classmates, I am sure they are in nothing less then complete shock.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

FFD: I don't know exactly what led you to make that comment, however no cause of death has been given, nor circumstances. Time will tell. Are there some possible flammatory statements in the article yes. But again only until more facts are released and if they are fully released will there be anything to know or learn. There isn't an instructor out there that I know of that would ever put their students or fellow firefighters at risk. My thoughts go to them as they deal with something that is often unspeakable and unthinkable.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

While I understand the Chief's point of view of attempting to prepare probies for what they will encounter in regards to the row houses. Is it necessary to do it under live fire conditions? I'm just speculating, but I'm thinking that they probably do evolutions without fire and I'm hoping that companies get to rotate through to hone and sharpen their responses to these dwellings as well. I understand the importance and need for live fire training, and I support it as long as it is compliant with NFPA 1403. Many of you know I am not a huge fan of acquired structure live fire training as it is. But sometimes you can achieve just as much without a live fire burning.

Baltimore City Fire Department Won't Use City Buildings For Training

By WBAL-STAFF

1st Responder Network Story Number 021307110

Disclaimer: This article is a direct street report from our

correspondent and has not been edited by the

1st Responder newsroom.

Firefighter Racheal Wilson Killed During a Burn Drill

BALTIMORE -- The fire department will stop setting city buildings on

fire for training until a probe into the death of a trainee who died

last week during such an exercise is complete.

Other training practices will be reevaluated, a spokesman said.

Racheal Wilson, 29, collapsed during an exercise Friday and died at a

local hospital. Two other firefighters were injured when they went to

Wilson's aid

She was one of 24 recruits taking part in the exercise and was on the

third floor with two other trainees responsible for punching holes to

ventilate the building. A fire had been set on the second floor.

The cause of Wilson's death has not been determined.

Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. has said that a safety official was

present, a second fire hose was held by an instructor and several

experienced firefighters were there to help cadets who ran into trouble.

While Baltimore's fire department has a training facility off Pulaski

Highway that includes a tower and other buildings, Baltimore has been

training cadets with fires set in city dwellings since the 1970s, The

(Baltimore) Sun reported.

Chief Kevin Cartwright, a fire department spokesman, said that training

in buildings owed by the city is important because Baltimore's narrow

rowhouses present a challenge that cannot be reproduced at the training

grounds.

"Can you image a 29-inch wide stairwell?" Cartwright said. "You go into

a dwelling and the entry door is hanging by one hinge, cardboard or

sheets are hanging up the walls (to cover holes). Unfortunately these

are the conditions that we find sometimes."

Edited February 13, 2007 by alsfirefighter

[IzzyEng4 427]

I do believe in live fire training and no fire training at a house or building as long as it can be controlled properly for trained personnel. Even that can be dangerous of course, but I don't think that this should be done during probie class or even FF-I. These classes in my opinion should be done at a burn building either with controlled fires (propane) and also old furniture and other class A products to get the heat.

I trained at New Haven, Fairfield and the old Derby fire schools and got used to refining my tactics there. My department has gotten old buildings but we never burned them, we always burned at one of the schools.

[Truck4 48]

Suspensions in Fire Training Death

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_043180657.html

Fire Chief & Lt. Suspended After Recruit's Death

(WJZ) BALTIMORE A Baltimore City Fire Chief and a lieutenant have been suspended in connection with the recent death of a cadet recruit during a fire training session.

As WJZ's Kai Jackson reports, the Chief of Training for the Baltimore City Fire Department and a lead fire instructor have been suspended without pay. The suspensions were announced after the Department found several safety procedures were not followed when Racheal Wilson died during a training exercise last week.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Still doesn't allude as to whether or not the NFPA 1403 violations contributed to our sisters death. However, I give Baltimore City FD credit for taking a stance on this, which they may just be doing it to save their own behinds after the wake of the trial for the death of a FF Candidate in FL during live fire training. The risks are always real, but you will never get true "real world" scenario's during training. When you go to the police academy they do not shoot back at you, when you go to combat training they do not shoot back at you. While there are deaths during training in the military, few are from live fire training where when they are shooting live rounds over you it is very controlled. Do accidents happen on rifle ranges absolutely but that is usually human error.

We all have to stick together and keep striving for safety in all aspects and we must have the "courage to be safe."

I hope that the suspensions are just due to not following NFPA 1403 and that it had nothing to do with the death of the firefighter. I'm sure the Lieut. and the instructor were very good and dedicated to what they do and made bad judgement decisions that could have led to the death of one of our own.

[RWC130 594]

This is EXACTLY what really pisses me off!

Yes, the Training Academy, Staff, and Safety Precautions can

and will come under fire. Rightfully so...

Did we forget the LODD part?

WE LOST A FIREFIGHTER!!!!

How about condolences?

That would be a nice thread.

MAY SHE REST IN PEACE!

[Guest alsfirefighter]

RWC...you are right...many posts discuss the fact that we lost a firefighter and guys have posted condolences. However with that...the title of this forum is "Baltimore FF Recruit Training Death, Discussion and Updates." Start a strictly condolences page....I'm all for giving a brother and sister their due...but we also are finally getting to a phase where we are getting past just condolences but discussing the route causes and that is what I thought this thread is for. But again you are also right, we need to feel the pain of our family and learn to do what needs to be done to not feel that pain again.

[Monty 35]

It seems in something I read that it implied that there were multiple fires in the building. Wasn't that one of the factors in the Lairdsville death that was highlighted as one of the problems (along with using FF's as victims)? I'm not sure what NFPA 1403 says about it but if there were multiple fires in the building I'm sure that will be a factor in the investigation.

I remember when I started how much I learnt from observing and participating in live burns. I expect now that they weren't 100% NFPA 1403 compliant. Well worth doing live training if you get the chance - but a lot of work to be compliant and to minimize the risks of doing so.

[Truck4 48]

"Baltimore's head of firefighter training was fired for "unacceptable mistakes" after a recruit died during a training exercise, Mayor Sheila Dixon said Thursday."

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_052230719.html

[Guest alsfirefighter]

NFPA 1403 doesn't allow anything more then 1 fire in an acquired structure. That is any structure that is not designed to be a "burn building."

In regard to Lairdsville, the main problem was that an assistant chief ignited a couch at the bottom of the stairs. It was mainly foam rubber and it the couch took off and burned with an intensity that he was not aware that it was going to occur. This completely blocked the egress of those upstairs (violation #1), it was a fuel that was used that didn't have known burning characteristics (violation #2), there was no apparatus on scene, no hoselines in place, no safety officer present when he ignited the fire (multiple violations), and then on top of it he had 2 firefighters upstairs with another firefighter, who were untrained to be used as victims. (Huge violation in regard to NFPA 1403) As we know, 1 person was killed, Bradley Golden, who Bradley's law is named for in NYS that makes it illegal to use live victims in live fire training, 2 others were significantly injured. This was and still is a major embarrassment to NYS on a national level and on many forums this is still discussed. This case set a strong precedence that NFPA must be followed, or you can and more then likely will face strong criminal and civil prosecution with its use. The arguments made by Mr. Baird's defense, note I did not use chief...he is no longer allowed to be a firefighter in NYS, were ridiculous. Maybe we should discuss this on here as well as there is a lot of info out there that blends with numerous recent incidents. We just don't get it often.

Bottom line is, NFPA 1403 does minimize the risk significantly. In fact you will be hard pressed to find any LODD during a live burn where NFPA 1403 was followed. Too many allow live fire training to become what it is not suppose to be. A roast. It is an adjunct to allow students to feel some heat, get a feel for what they will encounter. I've been to acquired structure live fire training, where the skills I saw were terrible. Taking too long to stretch a line, shoddy primary searches that were slow and so on...but what was on most lips "man, this is a great drill, its getting fairly hot in there." That's not what its all about.