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Volunteers failed to publish a follow-up report of a fatal fire on Feb. 5. Spotsylvania Fire and Rescue Chief Chris Eudailey said the oversight by the volunteers will be corrected soon Date published: 3/20/2010
RELATED:Fatal fire being probed
By DAN TELVOCK Chancellor Volunteer Fire and Rescue did not follow standard operating procedures requiring within three days a detailed follow-up report on a Feb. 5 fatal house fire. Spotsylvania County Fire and Rescue Chief Chris Eudailey said yesterday this was an oversight by the volunteers and that a report will be completed. The report is supposed to be written by the incident commander in charge of the 45 volunteers who responded to the house fire on Spotswood Furnace Road. It is important because it could answer some questions raised about the fire-fighting and rescue tactics used. Firefighters saved a 17-year-old girl from the house and the girl's mother escaped on her own. But Sandy Hill, 43, died as a result of the fire. Although an autopsy report has not been finished, fire officials believe Hill died of smoke inhalation. Hill was trapped in her bedroom for more than 20 minutes. For some of that time, she was pleading with a 911 operator for help and provided directions of where she was in the house. According to the county Fire and Rescue Department's standard operating procedures, a follow-up report in a fatal fire should contain six parts: A narrative of the incident, including a summary of the operation A review of problems or obstacles encountered A review of operations that went well A diagram of the incident Recommendations for changes to standard operating procedures and any commendations A critique with all crews. Kevin Dillard, Chancellor's administrative chief, said he expects the report soon. "Some good things will come out of this," he said. Separate from the follow-up, Eudailey has assigned a four-person team to conduct an internal review of the operations, communications and tactics used at this house fire. He said that team--consisting of two volunteers and two career members--has met four times since March 12. One of the chief questions the review team is trying to answer is why it took so long for firefighters to find Hill. Three times, rescue crews reported that a search of the second floor had been fruitless. More than 20 minutes after the initial 911 call was made at 12:54 a.m., firefighters found Hill on her bedroom floor. She was not breathing and was unresponsive, and was pronounced dead at Mary Washington Hospital. In addition to the written critique, standard operating procedures require a post-incident review as soon as practical. Dillard said a verbal review was done with some of the responders about two weeks after the fire. The Department of Fire and Rescue has two sets of standard operating procedures: one for paid staff and another for the combined system of career staff and volunteers. Fire and rescue experts said it is uncommon for a combined system to have two sets of standard operating procedures. Dillard said one change that could result is developing one set of standard operating procedures for the entire combined system. Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
we all agree 24/7 staffing is whats best for the citizens and visitors of Spotsylvamia its doesn't matter if its a combined system but there should be no gaps in service. . lets start with holding people accountable for their actions . lets have one set off rules for all to follow, uniform rank structure . look at the sop for riding as officer in charge of a fire truck on both sides . is a fire truck without properly trained people any good? I am not saying this was the case this time but it dose happen.
I agree with 110% of what you are saying.The citizens REALLY need to understand how truely back [*#@!]wards this County functions from the Commission, to the volunter system, to the County Administrator.Volunteers forgetting to file a report is an oversite...ARE YOU KIDDING ME.!Wake up Spotylvania County citizens call your BOS and start asking questions.....you will be shocked by the anwsers. Lets prevent this from happen to another family in the County. 24/7 career followed by new SOP's would be nice.
Lastly, if people haven't realized it yet, it is time for an outside review of how the County does business. Chief Eudailey has requested this before and has been denied by the Commission. For obvious reasons of course. They don't want anyone to know how screwed up things really are. Kind of like this internal review of the fire. Someone is trying to hide something. Now, is it the Fire Chief, Kevin Dillard, or the County Administrator? Time will surely tell.
Secondly, the reason for multiple SOPs relies solely on the shoulders of the illustrious Fire & EMS Commission. It took nearly three years to develop eleven SOPs because the volunteer leadership didn't think they needed to be bound by them. In actuality, you will find more than two sets of SOPs for the system as a whole. Chancellor has their own. Spotsylvania Vol. Fire has their own. Spotsylvania Vol. EMS has their own. There is the combined set and finally the career department has a set.
This article raises several issues. First, did Chief Eudailey even know that this policy existed? If so, why did it take so long for him to request it? My guess is he had no clue. Spotsylvania County Code Chapter 9 Section 9-37 gives the Fire Chief the authority over the supposed combined system. Maybe it's time for him to start exercising this authority.
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