Fire investigators are trying to determine how powdered milk exploded at a processing plant, sparking a two-alarm fire.
Seven fire engines responded to California Dairies Inc., where an explosion Monday blew a hole in the side of a powdered milk processing building and forced the evacuation of 200 employees.
One employee suffered heat exhaustion while helping firefighters navigate the building. Visalia Fire Chief Mark Nelson said the employee was treated and released at a local hospital.
The fire caused $200,000 in damage to the plant and equipment. Nelson speculated that a spark ignited the milk powder.
HESPERIA - Rescue workers managed to free a man from a collapsed trench after he was buried up to his waist for about one hour, officials said.
“We didn’t want to go in there and start digging the victim out and cause another incident,” said Division Chief Tim Wessel of the San Bernardino County Fire Department’s Hesperia station.
A city of Hesperia worker was part of a pipeline replacement crew working in the trench at Arrowhead Lake Road and Main Street when the collapse took place, according to Kim Summers, spokeswoman for the city.
The man remained conscious during the rescue but was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after he complained of back and hip pain, fire officials said.
The collapse was caused by an older fiber-optic trench nearby that became unsteady while the crew was digging a new one, officials said.
The man was kneeling in the trench at the time of collapse, and became buried up to his waist, officials said.
Urban Search and Rescue personnel worked to stabilize the trench before removing the man, officials said.
Witnesses at the scene declined to comment on the incident as it is under investigation by officials of Cal OSHA, which establishes, monitors and enforces workplace safety regulations.
Story and Photos by VV Daily Press / James Quigg
Newstip Submitted by SBcoFD Firefighter J. Kern
Hazardous materials crews continue to remove toxic debris from the remains of a methamphetmine super lab that exploded Friday in rural Madera County.
Crews filled at least 33 55-gallon drums and waste from the explosion, but Madera County sheriff’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart said workers have “barely scratched the surface” of all that needs to be removed from the property at 18659 Avenue 16 1/2. Several deputies are still experiencing symptoms from fumes they breathed while responding to the meth fire, she added.
When firefighters arrived at the scene Friday, they found two shacks burning, along with signs that a methaphetamine lab was the source of the blaze. Deputies reported finding large numbers of acid gas cylinders, cans of lighter fluid and alcohol and kitty litter — all ingredients used to make the drug.
Stuart said deputies are looking for a 33-year-old woman who is a Mexican national in connection with the lab. She was renting two structures in the back yard of a home at the address. HAZMAT crews reported that the soil around the labs was highly caustic and would have to be removed, Stuart said.
Madera County sheriff’s deputies were still reporting symptoms today after inhaling fumes from what they called a “super meth lab explosion” at a home Friday.
Firefighters went to at 18659 Avenue 16 1/2 and found two shacks burning, along with signs that a lab for producing methamphetamine had sparked the fire. It brought county environmental health and state hazardous materials teams to the scene.
The fire posed a health hazard from materials used to produce the meth. Animal control officers also found a dog chained inside a pen next to the fire.
Deputies reported finding large numbers of acid gas cylinders, cans of lighter fluid and alcohol and kitty litter — all ingredients used to make methamphetamine. They said the lab could produce several hundred pounds of the illegal substance. They also prepared to remove four 55-gallon drums of soil contaminated by the meth manufacture and explosion.
It was the third large meth lab explosion in six years in Madera County Cost of the initial cleanup, to be paid by the state and, ultimately, taxpayers, could reach $25,000, the sheriff’s department said.
Firefighters say a family of four narrowly escaped with their lives Saturday, after discovering a fierce blaze inside their home.
Capt. Richard Bohn of the Cal Fire/Merced County Fire Department said 12 firefighters responded to the scene at the 1400 block of Eighth Street in Livingston around 4:15 a.m. Fortunately, no one was injured, Bohn said.
Bohn said the family, which was asleep, became alerted to the fire after the daughter was awakened by the sound of an exploding computer monitor. Bohn said a smoke alarm had went off, but none of the occupants heard it.
The firefighters, which included seven volunteers from Livingston, Cressey, Winton and Delhi, brought the blaze under control within 45 minutes. Bohn said the family stayed with relatives afterwards.
The family’s cat also escaped unscathed from the blaze, Bohn said.
The fire started in one of the home’s bedrooms and extended into the living room, Bohn said. Investigators said damage to the home is estimated at $40,000. The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical, possibly from an overloaded circuit, Bohn said.
Bohn said firefighters are reminding residents that smoke alarms should be placed in each bedroom, as well as the kitchen and other areas of the home. Each smoke alarm should be tested monthly, and the batteries should be changed every six months, Bohn said.
Three people and two dogs escaped from a burning house Saturday, but the home was a total loss.
The occupants of a house on the 800 block on Arville Avenue were alerted to the fire by smoke alarms at about 4 a.m. and got out of the house uninjured, according to a Barstow Fire Protection District report.
One of their two dogs escaped with them, but a second dog was left inside the building, Barstow district Capt. Steve Ross said. Firefighters found the missing dog hiding in a back bedroom in a search of the house after getting the fire under control. The dog was frightened but unhurt, Ross said.
“If we hadn’t found him when we did, he wouldn’t have fared too well,” Ross said, because of the danger of smoke inhalation.
The fire apparently started with an electrical malfunction in a solar power transformer on the patio Ross said. The flames spread into the house and burned large portions of the living room, dining room and kitchen, as well as a vehicle in the driveway, he said. The damage was increased by the fact that the fire burned outside for a period of time before getting into the building, where it set off the smoke alarm.
The firefighters were also delayed by the fact that Barstow firefighters had to wait for an MCLB engine to arrive before they could enter the building, due to safety standards mandating that for every two firefighters inside a burning building, two more must remain outside, Ross said. He estimated that they were able to enter the house eight or nine minutes after being dispatched to the fire.
Four fire engines and 12 firefighters from the Barstow district and the Marine Corps Logistics Base spent about 30 minutes battling the flames.
The cost of the total loss of contents and severe structural damage was estimated at $250,000.
Pop and Christian recording artist Amy Grant surprised downtown firefighters Saturday night with an impromptu acoustic set after her concert at the Fox Theater.
The singer visited Bakersfield Fire Department Station No. 1 on H Street near the Fox. The firefighters gave her a ride down 21st Street in the ladder truck and a member of her band rode along on a medical call, said Engineer Steve Hamblet. A blog on Grant’s Web site gives an account of the side trip and raves about the intimate atmosphere of the Fox.
“She was so personable, so genuine,” Hamblet said. “For someone to take the time and come over and give a heartfelt little show like she did for us, that was really neat.”
It’s not the first time this year — or even in the past few months — that down-home artists have taken advantage of Bakersfield’s offerings post-show. Martina McBride took her crew to Camelot Park for arcade fun after her Buck Owens Birthday Bash show at the Crystal Palace in August.
Hamblet said he was out on the apparatus floor, where the trucks are kept, when he spotted a band member walking out of the bus at the Fox before the show.
Hamblet and Engineer Tim Ortiz approached the band member and invited the entire group to tour the fire station, something firefighters have done over the years for other Fox performers, including Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, The Go-Go’s and Natalie Merchant.
Around 11:30 p.m., Grant and the band came to the station. Half the crew had gone to bed, but they came down for the show. She sang four or five old and new songs, including a cover of The Beatles’ “Yesterday,” with acoustic guitar accompaniment.
Hamblet said he felt bad he didn’t know all of the songs, but his wife is a fan.
The fire crew gave the band a tour of the station. Grant thanked them for their service to the community.
Today is the second anniversary of the day five area firefighters died in the fierce Esperanza Fire in the San Jacinto Mountains.
For the mothers, fathers, fire captains and others recognizing the day, it is in some ways a more difficult time than the first.
“The first year was so busy with all the functions to go to,” said Vivian Najera, aunt of Daniel Hoover-Najera, one of the fallen firefighters. “This year, it seems like the reality has set in that it really happened. Now we have such an empty feeling and miss him even more.”
The four members of U.S. Forest Service Engine Crew 57 who died at the scene were Engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, of Idyllwild; Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto; fire engine operator Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; and assistant fire engine operator Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan.
The fifth firefighter, Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley, died Oct. 31 at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
In the year following their deaths, there were several events commemorating the five men. Parks and other places were dedicated to them in their hometowns.
On the first anniversary, a moment of silence was observed by San Bernardino National Forest employees.
Today, there will again be a moment of silence at noon.
“It is a time when we will honor our fellow firefighters, who will always be a part of our Forest Service family,” said San Bernardino National Forest Fire Chief Mike Dietrich.
On Saturday, Cal Fire also dedicated the new interagency Station 24 in Cabazon in memory of the hundreds of firefighters who fought the Esperanza Fire. There will be a plaque naming the five who fell, Dietrich said.
A moment of silence will also be held at the memorial event Najera has organized at Jo’An’s Restaurant in Idyllwild.
The event is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and will feature four bands.
There will also be a raffle and CDs will be sold to raise money for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a nonprofit that provides assistance to fallen firefighters’ families.
“We don’t want to sadden everyone,” Najera said. “Our goal is to celebrate their lives because they were very loved.”
The family of McLean has chosen to honor his memory with the first Jess McLean Memorial Baseball Tournament. It began Saturday and is to continue today at Noble Creek Park in Beaumont.
Games will be held on the field that was named after McLean. Money raised will also be donated to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.
Bonnie McKay, the mother of Jason McKay, will mark the day at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley, where her son is buried.
It is a quiet and beautiful place where she has spent many Sundays.
“It seems like it will be even more solemn this time around,” she said. “Time has taught us how to deal with it, but it certainly does not heal it.”
Written by Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer / SB Sun
It is the five year anniversary of the Grand Prix Fire, Cedar Fire and the Old Fire. Those that assisted in these major wildland and urban conflagration fires will remember them as defining moments in their career. The long hours of firefighting and utter devastation is burned deeply into all of our minds.
It was a terrible month for Southern California. Thousands of homes were lost and several lives. Our hearts go out to Brother Firefighter Steve Rucker who lost his life that October 5 years ago while battling fires near San Diego.
I am assured that the loss of lives and property that fire season has not gone in vain. Many of us were able to take something away from these incidents and help build our slide carousel of experiences for future references of lessons learned.
STOCKTON - The Fire Department’s Truck Co. 4 was gut-punched Wednesday morning.
A casualty of the city’s yawning budget deficit, the company now faces likely closure and the reassignment of its firefighters throughout the city.
Fire Chief Ron Hittle visited the station around 10 a.m. to deliver the news personally. It was the first time most firefighters, including those assigned to Truck Co. 4, had heard such a drastic measure was even being considered.
“I knew something big was coming, but I had no idea it would be a company,” Truck 4’s Capt. Randy Howard said.
The likely closure of the truck company, stationed along with Engine Co. 4 at Robinhood and Burke Bradley drives, will shave an estimated $1.73 million off the city’s $23.5 million budget deficit. That savings comes with an increased risk to the safety of the public as well as to firefighters, Hittle said.
“Any reduction in the current staffing of engine and truck companies will result in longer response times and pose an increased risk to public and firefighter safety,” he said.
The Fire Department will continue to look for other savings that could substitute for the loss of Truck Co. 4, Hittle said. The firefighters union already has agreed to sacrifice a $1,200 annual uniform allowance and a 3.68 percent cost-of-living salary raise that started in July - those concessions will save the city about $224,000 and $703,000, respectively.
Howard said the effects of Truck 4’s mothballing will be felt all over the city.
“The ripple effect will go far and wide,” he said.
There are only four truck companies in Stockton - one in the north and two in the south, with Truck 4 in the center. Its primary coverage area extends roughly from Harding Way to Hammer Lane. It includes the old, multilevel, high-density buildings on the campus of University of the Pacific, the architecturally eccentric Sherwood Mall and Quail Lakes, the site of the largest residential fire in the city’s history.
A truck, unlike an engine, does not carry hoses; it carries ladders, chain saws and other rescue tools, like the Jaws of Life. A truck’s crew is concerned with venting buildings - cutting holes to release heat - and rescuing people from burning homes, wrecked cars and malfunctioning machinery.
In Stockton, the standard response to a single-alarm structure fire is three engines and two trucks. The second truck is a backup, there in case the fire suddenly turns much worse.
Division Chief Paul Willette said that role was added after a 1997 fire on Mendocino Avenue, in which two Stockton firefighters, Brett Laws and Bryan Golden, were killed when a second-story addition collapsed on them.
“We all know how quickly things can get outside the box,” Engineer Tim Hill said.
But the potential closure of a truck company affects more than just backup. If any two Stockton truck companies are occupied, that leaves only two other trucks to cover the rest of the city. With one fewer truck, responses will be slower as firefighters have to travel farther to reach emergencies, and the risk that the Fire Department will be overstretched is much greater.
The delay in the arrival of a truck company places citizens and firefighters at risk, Howard said. Truck crews ventilate burning buildings, freeing trapped smoke and gas, and releasing heat. That allows the remainder of the truck’s crew to begin rescue and recovery and protects hose crews from flashover, allowing them to fight deeper into a building.
“A sweet sound is that chain saw running, because you know what’s coming,” Howard said.
The Stockton Fire Department operated with three truck companies from 1969 to 2006, when Truck Co. 7 went into service.
An October 2007 report on the Stockton Fire Department’s coverage found that even with the addition of a fourth company, coverage was “already thin in some areas” and would be stretched beyond its limit by future growth.
Written by Christian Burkin
The Stockton Record Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO — Three families were displaced, one firefighter was injured and a house pet was killed during an apartment fire Saturday afternoon.
San Bernardino firefighters responded at 12:25 p.m. to an apartment complex at 1277 E. Lynwood Drive, according to fire dispatch.
“There was heavy smoke and flame coming from an upstairs apartment,” said fire Battalion Chief Paul Drasil.
Thirty firefighters had the fire under control within 15 minutes. By 1:25 p.m. the fire was completely extinguished, Drasil said.
The cause was under investigation. The Fire Department did not have an immediate damage estimate.
Veronica Krolop, her boyfriend and their two young children were one of the three families displaced during by the blaze.
Having lived in their downstairs apartment a mere two months, they were just barely settled into their new surroundings when the fire disrupted their lives.
Krolop and her mother, Norma Krolop, were busy around 3:30 p.m. gathering the family’s belongings from the smoke- and water-damaged apartment.
Norma Krolop arrived to help her daughter’s family pack and move temporarily into her apartment.
Veronica Krolop said she was sitting outside of the apartment when she heard a smoke alarm go off in one of the upstairs units. At first, she wasn’t concerned, she said, “because periodically that happens.”
She thought food on the stove may have set off the alarm, she explained.
A few minutes later, she saw heavy smoke pouring out of the upstairs window.
None of the residents was hurt, but one firefighter suffered minor burns on his knees and hands, Drasil said. He was treated at a hospital and released.
Norma Krolop said the manager is working on relocating the displaced families to some vacant apartments in the complex.
