The Fire Chief’s Blog

Friday, August 1st, CO Detectors become mandatory in all existing single family homes in Minnesota. CO is a colorless and odorless gas that can kill unsuspecting people while they are at home. Beginning Friday a CO Detector will be required within 10 feet of all sleeping areas in single family homes. For the typical home this means buying one or two CO detectors and for placement in the hallway outside the sleeping areas of the home. I did this at my own house over the weekend, it was no big deal and I can rest easily knowing that this little device is on 24/7 watching out for the welfare of my family. From 2002 thru 2006 there were over 90 deaths in Minnesota from CO.

This simple device will warn you if CO gases are building up to dangerous levels within your home. The usual culprits for CO gas emissions are furnaces, gas dryers, gas water heaters or other gas appliances. Every year in Eden Prairie the Fire Department responds to a few calls where people have flu like symptoms that are the early stages of CO’s deadly effects. By making the small investment in a CO detector all families can be assured of avoiding CO poisoning in their homes. If you have questions about CO detector placement feel free to contact me or any member of our Fire Prevention staff and we will get you up to speed.

Last Thursday a trench collapsed in Eden Prairie with a worker pinned in the collapse. This kind of call is not too common, thankfully, and is complex to remedy. Dirt, which seems so benign to most of us, is in fact a powerful force of nature. A cubic yard of dirt weighs about 2200 pounds, when you are pinned by a large volume of the stuff it is scary and potentially deadly. Crushing injuries are common and can be severe.

The first arriving responders were Police Officers, they did an excellent job of getting people away from the edge of the trench to limit the possibility of an additional collapse. The worker was about 15 feet down in a trench and covered up to his waist with dirt, he was also pinned by the sides of the trench that had broken away and collapsed. It took almost 100 rescue workers more than three hours to free the victim. The time it takes is driven by the danger of the shifting trench conditions and the fact that the victim need to be dug out by hand in order to be freed. Hand digging is very taxing, especially when you are 15 feet down in a trench.

For this call we summoned the “Collapse Rescue Team” from Edina, and they in turn called in their partners in collapse rescue expertise from the Minneapolis and Minnetonka Fire Departments. Additional resources were called in to assist from Fire Departments from Hopkins, Chanhassen, Bloomington, Shakopee and Savage. Also assisting were employees and specialized equipment from our own Eden Prairie Public Works Department and our people from our Media Relations or Communications Department. Also on-scene to provide stellar medical advise and care were our partners from HCMC as well as a doctor from HCMC’s Emergency Room staff.. It takes a lot of people to effectively do the job and on this call we had the full compliment of people to get the job done. For this call we utilized a “Unified Command” structure so everybody on the scene knew what was going on at all times, coordination is key to a successful outcome.

The victim is now recovering from his injuries and will hopefully make a full recovery.

Below is a picture of the trench by first arriving responders, you can see on the right-hand side of the photo how the wall of the trench collapsed and trapped the victim (not visible). An HCMC medic is talking to the victim to help keep him calm. Ultimately paramedics spent some time down in the trench with the victim to administer fluids and medications to keep him in the best possible condition for what was known to be a rather long rescue process.

Thank you to all the people that were able to assist with this call!

Firefighter Nick Palmer is with the Army Reserves and has been deployed to Iraq. This is Nick’s second tour so he has a good idea about what to expect. Nick’s email is as follows and is written to his Lieutenant Jeremy Van beusekom: “Jeremy, I am just saying hi from the birthplace of civilization. We are all doing well here. Psychological Operations is winning hearts and minds. I also can’t say thanks enough for the send off and for how great everyone has been to Jeannie and the kids. This is a picture of the station at Tallil. I will try to get shirts from the guys in Baghdad. Take Care, Nick.”

It is always good to hear from Nick, to know that he is safe and so are the troops under his watch. I know Nick is in the thoughts of all firefighters in Eden Prairie and we are all anxious for his safe return in 2009.

Every new twist in technology can bring with it unintended challenges for the fire service, E-85 is a good example. When I make that statement it is not because I am against E-85 as a way to reduce dependence on oil. E-85 is a challenge to the fire service because of the high alcohol in the product. Most firefighting foams that have traditionally been used to fight fuel fires are water based. I am not a chemist by any stretch, but I do know that alcohol loves water and chews it up, thus the problem with your typical firefighting foams on E-85 fires.

The remedy is simple, buy a foam that is alcohol resistant so that the foam bubbles that are put down stay in place and smother the fire and keep it that way until clean-up can happen. I went to a class this past Saturday to get more in-depth and hands-on experience with E-85, the class was enlightening, to say the least. Another related issue with E-85 is that once it is mixed with just a little bit of water, the 10% gasoline in the product rises to the top, burns off with it’s traditional orange flame and thick black smoke and then the alcohol begins to burn. Alcohol fires are very clean burning, during the daytime it can be nearly impossible to see the flames, making it very dangerous for approaching fire and police personnel. Just another danger of E-85. We are developing new response strategies for E-85 and will be implementing them shortly. No doubt more changes will occur in the fuel business and more changes will be coming our way, that is the business we are in.

Below are some pictures of E-85 and an E-85 fire. The first picture shows E-85 mixed with just a little bit of water, notice how the gasoline separates from the E-85/water mix and rises over the top of the cloudy water and E-85 mixture. The next two pictures are of a real life rail car accident. In the first picture not a lot of flame is visible, but when the sun goes down you can see the fire that was present the whole time, but burning so cleanly it wasn’t very visible during daylight hours.