Dallas FD LODD-FF Falls From Overpass

[x635 4,066]

Absolutely horrible. These interchanges and "flyovers" are very scary, and ice up in a flash.. And Texas barely has any sanders or spreaders, so people need to stay off the road if they don't need to be somewhere important and/or drive on the ice.

Among the hundreds of traffic accidents reported late Monday and early Tuesday was one in which a 40-year-old Dallas firefighter was killed.

William Scott Tanksley and at least three other firefighters were on the Highway Spur 408 overpass responding to a wreck Monday night when a second crash caused him to fall 56 feet onto the eastbound ramp of Interstate 20.

According to a Dallas police report, Tanksley was assisting someone whose car had lost traction about 8 p.m. along southbound Patriot Parkway. That car was parked along the shoulder of the iced-over bridge.

At the same time, someone headed south on the overpass "lost traction on the ice as a result of unsafe speed," and hit the parked car, which then hit Tanksley. The report says the firefighter was "knocked over the west side of the bridge."

Tanksley, a 14-year Dallas-Fire Rescue veteran, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Dallas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead "as a result of blunt force trauma injuries sustained in the crash," according to the report. Emergency workers had hoped to transport him via CareFlite, said Jason Evans, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman, but conditions were deemed too dangerous.

"That road out there was horrible," Evans said. "There were so many accidents on that bridge you didn't know if that was what they were responding to or if there were other accidents that occurred since then."

Dozens of Dallas firefighters gathered at the hospital to pay their respects to the Kemp father of three. Besides his children, ages 4 to 12, he also is survived by his wife.

"Scott was a fine officer for the fire department, but also a great family man, father and son to loving parents," said Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, who was at the hospital early Tuesday. "We're all heartbroken by his loss."

Mayor Mike Rawlings, too, extended his condolences to Tanksley's family and Dallas Fire-Rescue.

"His death proves what a dangerous job our firefighters are tasked with every day," he said in a written statement.

http://www.dallasnews.com/weather/20140210-more-drizzle-moves-in-after-slick-roads-leave-4-dead-across-dallas-fort-worth.ece

[Reliance 29]

RIP Firefighter Tansley

[on the job 68]

Maybe... we should forward this incident to the CHP officer who arrested the firefighter last week for trying to protect the scene of an MVA.

[Task Force 7 65]

My thoughts and prayers are with the Tanksley family, and the whole Dallas Fire Rescue family. RIP brother.

[hawkbase 21]

RIP!