tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-305371682024-03-04T23:22:57.958-09:00Fire and Ice Fire chief recounting over 30 years fighting fires and conducting search and rescues in AlaskaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-80632223565428105982020-01-26T19:20:00.000-09:002020-01-26T19:20:51.724-09:00Retired California State Fire Marshal Ronny J. Coleman said,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPBX3nigdMBpIMvyEAQX2nk6OFUu4qdKH37juniHfX_n-TH5og60uuX6mIfgkUnDbDrOBUc84sufjllIbhYXNU8pJZXS8w-0Rk3w9oC20pzgxSAzqDlO7M74_wu8HKq6sF1ffyw/s1600-h/Memiors+of+Firechief+Front+5-1.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131109004714184626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPBX3nigdMBpIMvyEAQX2nk6OFUu4qdKH37juniHfX_n-TH5og60uuX6mIfgkUnDbDrOBUc84sufjllIbhYXNU8pJZXS8w-0Rk3w9oC20pzgxSAzqDlO7M74_wu8HKq6sF1ffyw/s200/Memiors+of+Firechief+Front+5-1.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0 , 0 , 153);">"My fire service career now almost spans a half a century. I have lost track of the tens of thousands of firefighters that I have had a chance to make acquaintance with. I can’t remember half of the fire chiefs that I had worked on projects with. Yet, when the name Dewey Whetsell is mentioned in a conversation I have this instant image and total recall of my exposure to him. Dewey Whetsell is not only unforgettable but inimitable.</span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000099;">
<o:p></o:p>"When he gave me a copy of this book to review I was looking forward to it for the simple reason that I expected it to be unusual. When I sat it down, I was even more fascinated by what it did to reinforce my perception about the man and his life. Dewey is not only the kind of person who tells you the way things are; but he also tells you the way it ought to be. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000099;">
<o:p></o:p>"I will never forget my first opportunity to meet Dewey at a training conference in <st1:place><st1:city>Anchorage</st1:city> <st1:state>Alaska</st1:state></st1:place> some twenty years ago. Coming up from the Lower 48 I had an impression in my own mind of who I was going to be talking to and what I was going to talk to him about. In a five minute conversation with Dewey, I was disabused from any idea that I was dealing with the back woods – instead I was confronted with a combination of real people who possessed almost renaissance like skills.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #000099;">
<o:p></o:p>"Therefore, it was a pleasure and a unique honor to be able to write a forward of this book. If you complete this book without having an understanding of the passion, the commitment and the competency of this man and his peers in the great State of Alaska, I would be moderately surprised."</div>
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><o:p></o:p>Currently, Ronny J. Coleman is Senior Vice President Emergency Services Consulting Inc.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-79771072998210492432019-11-23T09:13:00.000-09:002020-01-23T21:01:21.549-09:00<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Ice-Tales-Alaskan-Volunteer/dp/0978976681/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258964752&sr=1-4"> <span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ORDER THIS BOOK</span></span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-60953757565278506842009-01-30T12:26:00.002-09:002009-10-27T20:56:07.312-08:00OTHER REMARKS<p class="MsoNormal"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><strong><em><span style="color:#000000;">David L. Tyler, Alaska State Fire Marshal </span></em></strong>"In writing 'Fire and Ice: Tales from an Alaskan Volunteer Fire <span style="font-family:times new roman;">Chief' Chief Whetsell has</span> done an incredible job of combining experience, wisdom and wit. It doesn't matter if you are a firefighter or Fire Chief, ditch digger or Executive VP of a major corporation, the insights in this book will help you to be better at whatever you do, especially if you already know everything..." </strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102)"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><em>Anchorage<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> Daily News</span></em></strong> </span>"Whetsell recounts his adventures in an especially amusing voice.....bubbles with punchy remininiscence..</strong><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal">."</strong></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"></strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:city><st1:place><em></em></st1:place></st1:city></span></p><p><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><em><strong><span style="color:#330033;">Carol Reed, president, Alaska State Firefighters Association</span></strong><span style="color:#000000;"> </span></em>"Chief Whetsell's 'Fire and Ice' not only exudes his ever present wit and wisdom but it showcases what takes place in communities all across Alaska. The Alaskan fire service using their ingenuity and adaptability to respond in extraordinary ways to serve their fellow citizens ..." </strong></p><p><strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><strong><em><span style="color:#330033;">Oil Company Executive Mike Williams </span></em></strong>"Just a few weeks after the Exxon Valdez accident I was sent up to Alaska by BP (British Petroleum) to work on a new oil spill response plan for the Prince William Sound. One of the places I visited to discuss these plans was Cordova. Everyone there was complaining about Alyeska and the oil companies and they were not very interested in plans for the future. Except Dewey; he was different. Instead of complaining he lectured me on the merits of the Incident Command System. I had never heard of ICS and thought he was crazy, but the next morning it dawned on me what he was saying and with his help we introduced ICS to the oil industry. It is now the standard organizational concept for most oil spill response plans as well as other disasters. Thanks, Dewey..." </strong><em><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,51); FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Williams is also a Master Mariner, Fellow of the Nautical Institute, Retired Vice President of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Alaska</span> </em></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span style="color:#330033;"><strong><em>Jill Fredston, author of "SnowStruck" and "Journeys Along the Arctic Edge" and winner of the 2002 National Outdoor Book Award </em></strong></span><span style="color:#3333ff;">"Dewey Whetsell spent half his lifetime responding to shipboard fires, blazing houses, car wrecks, medical emergencies, underwater incidents, and other disasters...he was the heart of the fire department." </span></span><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,51); FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br /></span><strong><span style="color:lime;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"></span></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color:lime;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><strong><em><span style="color:#330033;">The Muncie Star </span></em></strong>"Whetsell's contribution to the safety of mankind is legendary in Alaska." </span></span></strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,51); FONT-WEIGHT: bold"></span><br /></p><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="color:lime;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><strong><span style="color:#000000;"><em>American Fire Journal</em> <em>article </em></span></strong>"Fire Chief Dewey Whetsell is one of the finest small-town chiefs in the country"</span>.</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><em>Chief (ret.) Bud Rotroff, senior member of Alaska-DNR's Overhead Team<o:p></o:p></em></strong> <strong style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255); FONT-WEIGHT: normal">"I love what he wrote about FEMA!"</strong> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><strong style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><em><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Chief Sam Bunge, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><st1:city><st1:place>Petersburg</st1:place></st1:city></span></strong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> (Ak) Fire Department </span></span></em>"After reading it, I bought another 10 copies to give to my officers, because of the tactics and strategies in the book."</strong><strong> </strong></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-90256185472951388042009-01-28T05:29:00.000-09:002009-02-04T19:45:00.083-09:00BOOK CONTENTSKatalla Dive ... Cordova and PWS ... Salvage Operation at Mile 13 ... Rescue on Mt. St. Elias ... Costello and the Dekabrist ... Fire Aboard the Alaska Swede ... The Sea Lark ... The Bristol Monarch ... Marine Firefighting Symposium ... Chugach Cannery Fire ... North Pacific Processors Cannery Fire ... — Concealed Space Fires #1 ... — Concealed Space Fires #2 ... — Concealed Space Fires #3 ... — NIOSH Concealed Space Fire Fatality ... — Concealed Space Backdrafts ... Unique Approaches to Fire Attacks ... — Straight Streams on Rollovers ... — Wheeled Extinguishers on Structural Fires ... Drowning in the Omnipotent Word ... The Ice Auger Amputation ... Drowning and the Small Town Curse ... The Shootout at the Episcopal Church<br />Working with Cops and Miscellaneous Gun Calls ... Air Medevacs ... Dive/Rescue Operations ... -- The Alganik River Recovery ... -- Collapse of the Copper River Bridge ... -- R.I.P. to "What's-His-Name" ... -- Trapped Under a Capsized Boat ... The Death of a Rescuer ... The Frank Hansen Operation ... The Florian Rescue—Hasty Team/Support Team Concept ... Blown Off the Bridge ... Fall From Mount Eyak ... Avalanche at the Tunnel Project ... Avalanche: A Residential Neighborhood ... SAR Anecdotes ... The Secrets of "SAR Central" ... DISASTERS ... -- Disasters and the Ryan Air Crash ... -- The Crash of Coast Guard Helo #1471 ... -- Crash of SwissAir 111 and Convergence on Nova Scotia ... -- The Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill and Convergence ... -- A Word About FEMA ... MANAGEMENT ... -- Scabs Galore ... -- Ammo for the Union ... -- Fire Service Safety: Fact versus Hype ... -- Well-Meaning Outside Agencies ...-- Emergency Medical Services: Foster Parenting to Adoption ... -- "Firemark" and Management Fun ... LEADERSHIP Cultural Basis for Group Conflicts ... —Tribal Affiliations ... — Negativity and Nit-Pickers ... — Process Fixation ... — Mean-World Syndrome ... — The Rosenberg Experiment ... Setting the Groundwork to Minimize Personnel Problems ... Sources of Group Conflict ... — Old Guard vs. Young Turks ... — Management vs. Union ... — Central Office vs. Field ... — My Territory vs. Your Territory ... — Your Rules vs. My Needs ... — Planning the Confrontation ... — Conducting the Confrontation ... Leadership Summary ... TRAINING Not Enough Hours Available ... — Maximizing Training Time ... — Training in Stations ... — Tactics Scenarios ... — Single Large Scenario ... EXPANDING POLITICAL POWER Fighting the Political Battles at the State Level Fire Service Associations ... — Management PrinciplesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158270993679481102009-01-27T05:00:00.004-09:002009-02-04T20:21:41.313-09:00Search and Rescue Operations<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/1600/SAR%20collage%20paint%20jpe.1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/200/SAR%20collage%20paint%20jpe.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">After about 10 years of performing Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for the troopers, a visiting trooper stopped by the station and referred to CVFD as "SAR Central". I thought that was cool.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The first search and rescue operation that we did for them was in 1975, when Tooper Mike Metrokin called me and said a boat was sinking out in the Sound, and although he would usually get some resources out there before the Coast Guard could arrive, he could barely walk because of an injured back.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>We gathered up some dewatering pumps from the harbormaster, some survival suits from the fishermen’s union, a couple of 2-man CO2 inflatable life rafts that can be deployed from an aircraft and flew them out to the sinking boat.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Consequently, grateful fishermen purchased numerous sea/air rescue items to keep at the fire station, and that began a 30-year history of search and rescue operations in an area larger than the States of Massachusetts, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:state><st1:place>Connecticut</st1:place></st1:state>, and <st1:state><st1:place>Rhode Island</st1:place></st1:state> combined.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Whether over open-water, or bear-infested islands, across glaciers or up snow covered mountains, or an avalanche (documented on “Real TV” and subject of a documentary produced in London and aired in Europe), SARs became so routine, we would stress out more trying to organize a department barbeque than run a multi-day SAR involving boats, aircraft, and ground-search teams.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261700016573682006-09-14T04:00:00.000-08:002007-03-30T09:43:49.938-08:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/1600/chugach%20cannery%20no%20date%20smaller.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/200/chugach%20cannery%20no%20date%20smaller.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Chugach Cannery Fires"</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />While the<span style=""> </span>Truck Company crew was crawling around the dock, planning how to cut it in two, firefighters from both engine companies who were not already committed were sent under the dock.<span style=""> </span>Lt Mark Kirko placed the guys under the dock where they stood waist to chest deep in the water and used the handlines supplied by the portable pumps to fight the creosote-pylon fire and hold it back from crawling up to under our feet.<span style=""> </span>Later, my son Jason, told me how eerie it was when boats and forklifts would fall through the dock and splash in the water below creating wakes that would sometimes slurp up to their chins.<span style=""> </span>He also said that oddly enough, they became used to the cold and no longer noticed it.<span style=""> </span>I was able to change that approach after some time, when the tide receded a bit and we took control of the warehouse, in the meantime, we had to rotate crews under there to prevent hypothermia.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158256994570601642006-09-14T03:50:00.000-08:002007-03-30T09:45:15.994-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/1600/Plumb%20TV%20Interview%20smaller.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/320/Plumb%20TV%20Interview%20smaller.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">f</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">rom "Avalanche at the tunnel site"</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A small slide was spotted coming down, air horns sounded, and the probers scattered.<span style=""> </span>They returned, this time accompanied by Points North, and Plumb pulled everyone back out of the slide area who was not wearing avalanche beacons.<span style=""> </span>Another large slide was spotted and the searchers retreated from the area.<span style=""> </span>One CVFD member was stuck in the snow but was pulled free, and Gypsy got bogged down and had to be lifted out.<span style=""> </span>She injured her hind legs permanently.<span style=""> </span>This slide piled an additional 15 feet of snow on the previously search area.<span style=""> </span>The toe of the new slide was now 20 feet from the excavator .<span style=""> </span>Plumb moved the staging area further back down the road.<span style=""> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158259259254377432006-09-14T03:40:00.000-08:002007-03-30T09:45:39.774-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/1600/Mt.%20St%20Elias%20small.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/320/Mt.%20St%20Elias%20small.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >from “Rescue on <st2:address>Mt. St. Elias</st2:address></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">”</span><br />---We were throwing our packs of medical gear and mustang suits in the corner when a couple of local EMTs and the town's physician’s assistant (the town has no doctor) came into the lounge and spoke with us.<span style=""> </span>They gave us some antibiotics and betadine solution.<span style=""> </span>Andy took the antibiotics while I found a waste basket, inserted a new plastic trash bag, filled it with warm water and betadine, and placed Andy's feet in it (they were badly blistered).<span style=""> </span>Andy then commenced to eat about four hundred hamburgers.<br />---By <st2:time minute="0" hour="21">9:00 p.m.</st2:time></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> the wind had picked up and rain was pounding the little airport.<span style=""> </span>It flowed in sheets across the tarmac as two C-130s landed.<span style=""> </span>One carried a mountain climbing team from <st2:city><st2:place>Juneau</st2:place></st2:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, and the other had a team from <st2:city><st2:place>Anchorage</st2:place></st2:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (475 miles away from the other direction). The lounge filled up quickly as about a dozen rescuers burst in the door, dripping and sputtering.<span style=""> </span>Pretty soon the corner containing our gear filled up with packs,bundles of<span style=""> ropes</span><b style="">, </b>ice axes, crampons, and coats.<span style=""> </span>As the rescue crews milled around looking for dinners and drinks, the locals began drifting out.<br />---One of the <st2:city><st2:place>Juneau</st2:place></st2:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> climbers was Dick Rice, an EMT-3 from the Juneau Fire Department.<span style=""> </span>He recognized me and came over to introduce himself.<span style=""> </span>We talked for a while and I explained Grove's condition to him.<span style=""> </span>I then introduced him to Rick and explained the standard EMS protocol, that since Dick was qualified in more advanced care than I (I was an EMT-II at the time), that Dick would be in charge of patient care when Grove was reached.<span style=""> </span>Incidentally, Dick Rice, a bit of a climbing celebrity himself, was mentioned in a 1985 National Geographic article about the <st2:place><st1:sn>St.</st1:sn> <st1:middlename>Elias</st1:middlename> <st1:sn>Range</st1:sn></st2:place></span><span style="font-size:8;"><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261630177775442006-09-14T03:30:00.000-08:002008-01-12T13:11:53.645-09:00<p class="MsoBodyText3"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">from "Expanding Political Power</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">"</span><br />Governor Cowper and I weren’t buddies, or anything.<span style=""> </span>We just had occasions where we talked about things during my stint as President of the Alaska Fire Chief’s Association.<br /><st1:date year="1988" day="7" month="12">December 7, 1988</st1:date></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, a devastating earthquake struck the Soviet Republic of Armenia, burying thousands of people in the rubble.<span style=""> </span>I watched the news coverage that Wednesday evening.<span style=""> </span>Thursday morning, in the shower before work, it occurred to me that <st1:state><st1:place>Alaska</st1:place></st1:state></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> could send some search dogs and handlers over there to help locate trapped victims.<o:p></o:p><br /><st1:time minute="0" hour="7">7:00 a.m.</st1:time></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, at work, I called the Governor’s office.<span style=""> </span>He wasn’t working yet, so I told the woman who answered the phone that he might consider offering the services of the Juneau-based SEADOGS (Southeast Dogs Organized for Ground Search).<span style=""> </span>I had used their services here in Cordova a few times and knew their veteran handlers, Bruce Bowler and Jeff Newkirk (a <st1:city><st1:place>Juneau</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> firefighter).<span style=""> </span>I explained to the Governor’s aid that it might be a good way to pay the Soviets back for a couple of favors they did for us earlier that year:<span style=""> </span>They had successfully searched for seven missing walrus hunters from Gamble who were adrift on an ice flow, and also had sent an ice breaker to free two trapped gray whales in the ice pack near Barrow.<o:p></o:p><br />A few hours later, Cowper called me to say he had first contacted the U.S. State Department who told him that there were plenty of search dogs already in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Armenia</st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> and that the SEADOGS would not be needed.<span style=""> </span>“After I hung up, I said ‘screw it’, and called the Soviet Foreign Minister, Edward Shevardnadza, who said they could use the dogs.<span style=""> </span>I called Bruce Bowler who said they would be glad to go, and that ‘We owe ‘em.’<span style=""> </span>Then I wrote to Soviet Ambassador, Yuri Dubinin, to make the offer official.”<span style=""> </span>He continued to explain that the U.S. State Department would give him a bunch of shit over this, but he didn’t feel he needed any permission from the Federal government.<span style=""> </span>He was just going to do it.<span style=""> </span>Cool.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261544184020742006-09-14T03:00:00.000-08:002007-03-30T09:46:24.447-08:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Mean-World Syndrome"</span><br />--Her boyfriend, Paul Malek, was an easy-going sort, but when Don forced him off the road, leapt from his car and ran toward him, Paul pulled a .22 revolver and shot.<span style=""> </span>At the same moment, Don spun around to escape, but was struck in his right “love handle”.<span style=""> </span>He ran back to his car and drove himself to the hospital.<br />--Paul drove to the police station and told them he just shot Don.<span style=""> </span>Incidentally, because of that shooting, Paul – who was the singer in our band – would never sing the song “Stagger Lee” because it was a song about Stagger Lee shooting a guy over a crap game, and Paul didn’t want to appear cavalier about shooting someone.<br />--Anyway, after the E.R. doc plugged the hole in Don, we were to transport him in the ambulance to the airport for a medevac flight to <st1:city><st1:place>Anchorage</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">.<span style=""> </span>EMT Mike Gundlach, driver Joe Levey, and I lifted Don’s rotund carcass into the ambulance and took off.<span style=""> </span>Don was still agitated and talked incessantly.<span style=""> </span>Finally, he lifted himself up into a seated position, pulled up his garment and showed me the wound.<span style=""> </span>It entered the layer of fat above his right hip, harmlessly traveled around his perimeter and came out near his navel.<span style=""> </span>“See that?<span style=""> </span>See that?”<span style=""> </span>he said in excited indignation.<span style=""> </span>“Christ Don,” I replied, “if you hadn’t been so damned fat, he would have missed you altogether.”<span style=""> </span>Joe and Mike cackled unashamedly but I knew Don wouldn’t laugh.<span style=""> </span>Even under normal circumstances, he had no humor.<span style="color:red;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261236522136682006-09-14T02:00:00.000-08:002008-01-12T13:12:54.974-09:00<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent3" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><u style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">From "Drowning and the </u><st1:place style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"><st1:placename><u>Small</u></st1:placename><u> </u><st1:placetype><u>Town</u></st1:placetype></st1:place><u style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Curse"</span></span></u><br />---We headed for the door, and the doc peered out and down the hall to his left and saw the crowd of people there, including the boys’ parents.<span style=""> </span>I looked over his shoulder and saw their expressions were saying things like, “Kids, they’ll be the death of us”, whimsical embarrassment, “What are ya gonna do?”<span style=""> </span>Obviously, they had come in after we rolled through the building doing CPR.<span style=""> </span>The doc exhaled, steeled himself, and walked out.<span style=""> </span>I froze at the door and didn’t want to walk out, especially still wearing my dive suit.<span style=""> </span>People always looked at me like they were looking for answers.<span style=""> </span>I don’t have words for these situations.<span style=""> </span>I heard David’s mothers voice, “He Died!”<br />---I peeked out and saw my chance to escape by turning right and out a secondary exit which put me in a walkway between two buildings.<span style=""> </span>I walked to the front of the building, which was jammed with vehicles and, avoiding people, made it to the rescue truck and ducked inside and sat in the dark.<br />---I suppose the crew inside was waiting for me to come by and officially excuse them from the operation.<span style=""> </span>I couldn’t do it.<span style=""> </span>I couldn’t go back inside and frankly resented being expected to be tougher than everybody else.<span style=""> </span>Too many times over the years I avoided meeting and returning eye contact with people after incidents like this.<span style=""> </span>One time I was walking into the post office and the elderly wife of a man we unsuccessfully tried to revive at their house was walking out, saw me, shook, put her hand up to her mouth and started bawling.<span style=""> </span>I went back to my car and drove off.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261006785952812006-09-14T01:50:00.000-08:002008-10-03T22:47:27.132-08:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Exxon-Valdez"</span><br />On May 4<sup>th</sup><b>, </b>Vice President Dan Quayle (and wife Marilyn) flew to Cordova.<span style=""> </span>A little before they arrived on Air Force 2, Quayle’s advance team came in on <i>Wilburs Airline </i>(a small commuter airline).<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Accompanying the advance team was our mayor, Erling Johansen.<span style=""> </span>Their flight was so bumpy that one man’s seat broke loose and he was rocking back and forth on one bolt.<span style=""> </span>The plane landed so hard that the front landing gear collapsed and the plane skidded on its nose to a stop.<span style=""> </span>Local DOT employee, Robert Cunningham rolled the fire department crash truck out of the station and pulled up to the wrecked plane which was not on fire. Mayor Johansen stepped from the plane and Cunningham remarked, “God, you’re <i>everywhere!”<span style=""> </span></i>Johansen smiled whimsically and walked off.<span style=""> </span>Shortly thereafter, Air Force 2 landed, rolling passed the skid marks, the wrecked plane, the fire engine, and the sign saying “Welcome to the Mudhole Smith Airport”<span style=""> </span>for all the passengers to see.<span style=""> </span>Quayle, wearing his James Dean “Rebel Without a Cause” red nylon windbreaker, and his wife deplaned as though they were not at all surprised.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158260927361436022006-09-14T01:40:00.000-08:002008-10-03T22:48:14.215-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXjp3W8Yp2HK8sQBVpoLM34wDVM20tm62ZSzDiZoHoJcZ1kPnaaNqaOuop5MaUxJ3orEwtl6WnrxeUY3ufVMRf0UVjc1J3dP7iNqBSiWxZKutWuony6r8-AO2EJ6XIBx5hyphenhyphen0LZg/s1600-h/Ryan+plane+b+and+w+2.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXjp3W8Yp2HK8sQBVpoLM34wDVM20tm62ZSzDiZoHoJcZ1kPnaaNqaOuop5MaUxJ3orEwtl6WnrxeUY3ufVMRf0UVjc1J3dP7iNqBSiWxZKutWuony6r8-AO2EJ6XIBx5hyphenhyphen0LZg/s320/Ryan+plane+b+and+w+2.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211815333897314866" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">from "Ryan Air Crash"</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />---Even if your disaster plan is flawless, a glitch in the plan of a related service could bottle-neck yours:</span> It was after dark in November 1987 when the fully loaded Ryan Air twin engine Beechcraft 1900, landing at Homer, Alaska, plowed through a hurricane fence, hit the ground 600 feet short and 250 feet left of the runway.<span style=""> </span>The belly-skid sheared the seats from the floor and the sudden stop caused the 21 persons aboard to be piled atop each other in the front of the plane.<br />---The plane looked in tact as it sat on the snow and frozen ground.<span style=""> </span>But the passengers, most of them high school students returning home from a basketball tournament, were still strapped to their seats, dead or dying.<span style=""> </span>Chief Robert Purcell and his <st1:place>EMS</st1:place></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> supervisor, Marge Tillion directed the firefighters and medics who managed to have all the occupants extricated in about 90 minutes.<span style=""> </span>Only 7 were alive at that time.<span style=""> </span>Four more were to die later.<br />The 7 survivors were taken to <st1:place><st1:placename>South</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Peninsula</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>General</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> where...<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261320320766572006-09-13T23:58:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.414-09:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >from " North Pacific Processors Cannery Fire"</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >That’s where I had the fork lift hoist Kyle up where he cut a strip out of the ceiling so we could see into the concealed space.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >While Kyle was cutting the ceiling, Loyd was working the bombline and some others were using a handline trying to get streams of water into the ceiling assembly of the egg room.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >That was just busy work and everybody knew it.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Funny, it was about that time, the dispatcher radioed me, but because of the noise, I couldn’t understand her and stepped into a compressor room and closed the door.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >She said she had on the phone a Tom Wells, Haz Mat specialist from the Anchorage Fire Department.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Wells wanted to know if we wanted a 3-man “assessment team” to come down?</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >I asked “What does he want to assess?”</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >A moment later, she replied, “The ammonia system”.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >I explained to thank him but that we had the ammonia shut down.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >I went back out but a few minutes later she called me back.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >I stepped back into the compressor room where I could hear her say that Tom was on the line again and he wanted to be sure I knew that “it was ‘free’”.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >I almost felt guilty by saying “no” again.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Incidentally, the next day when I talked to Tom on the phone, he explained that he’d received a call from the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wanting him to go to Cordova to assure there would not be a release of ammonia.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >They had heard of the fire and before the fire department was in full operation, they were calling for outside expertise.</span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158261179387512252006-09-13T23:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.415-09:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Expanding Political Power"</span><br />So a bunch of us met for breakfast Sunday morning before we had to catch our flights out of there and discussed this.<span style=""> </span>State Fire Service Training’s Tom Take said he had a friend in the Cowper “camp” – an <st1:city><st1:place>Anchorage</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> firefighter named Jim Sellers.<span style=""> </span>I suggested that Tom call Sellers and tell him how disappointed the fire service was that Cowper didn’t care to discuss our concerns with us.<span style=""> </span>I instructed, “Imply that we are sitting on 5,000 votes (that’s how many firefighters there are in <st1:state><st1:place>Alaska</st1:place></st1:state></span><span style="font-size:85%;">).”<span style=""> </span>Gaylen Brevick, president of the Alaska State Firefighters Association (ASFA) was there and I asked if it were okay for me to speak on behalf of them as well.<span style=""> </span>He said okay, then we discussed what I would say if Cowper contacted me.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158260857435779252006-09-13T20:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.415-09:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/1600/Spill%20EOC%20arrival.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6567/3277/200/Spill%20EOC%20arrival.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Exxon-Valdez"</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> One morning, I was with ADES, watching in awe as Pete Wuerple spun in circles in the middle of the room, barking out orders.<span style=""> </span>Resources were arriving from across the nation and around the world:<span style=""> </span>Boom from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Norway</st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> flying into <st1:city><st1:place>Anchorage</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> on Northern Air Cargo aircraft, and caravans of ATCO trailers coming into <st1:city><st1:place>Valdez</st1:place></st1:city></span> down the highway.<span style=""> </span>The place was a frenzy of activity.<span style=""> </span>Then some little guy walked in and spoke loudly, everyone stopped and turned to him.<span style=""> </span>I can’t remember his name, but he was from the governors OMB (budget/finance) office.<br /></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">“I’m ordering all acquisitions to stop.”<br />You could hear a pin drop<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">He continued, “From now on, <i style="">I </i>will be the only one issuing purchase orders.<span style=""> </span>Anything you want will be properly listed on numbered requisitions, and the requisitions will include the cost of the items and the estimated cost of shipping to <st1:city><st1:place>Valdez</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">.<span style=""> </span>Some items may require competitive bids from suppliers, and that will be up to you to get them.<span style=""> </span>Turn those requisitions over to me for approval.<span style=""> </span>Then, I will issue the purchase orders.”<br />Pete, stood stunned.<span style=""> </span>His shirt was rumpled, he had been sweating and his hair was sticking up.<span style=""> </span>His staff all looked at him.<br />“Oh, great.”<span style=""> </span>He said.<span style=""> </span>“The elephants are stampeding, and we’re tripping over piss-ants!”<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">The OMB piss-ant never acknowledge the statement, he just acquired a desk and sat down. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">I always admired Pete.<span style=""> </span>I admire anyone who will work himself into such a lather that he has to be hauled away in an ambulance, which is exactly what happened about a week later.<span style=""> </span>He recovered of course.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158260668308403772006-09-13T19:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.416-09:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Bristol Monarch"</span><br />---Anyway, I still wanted to be able to ventilate the compartment before opening the hatch (and taking the hose in) but I didn’t know how.<span style=""> </span>A couple of the guys who reconned the area came up an outlandish idea.<span style=""> </span>To direct the smoke from a hatch in the overhead of the lazarette and force the smoke straight out to the main deck and open air, they suggested using the ships supply of cardboard boxes lashed together with duck tape into a very long tube right through deck 1 and to the main deck at which point the electric smoke ejector would be sitting to suck the smoke with great force.<span style=""> </span>I asked them what would keep the cardboard from catching fire?<span style=""> </span>“Well”, they said after a pause, “you gotta be fast.”<span style=""> </span>How do you argue with logic like that?<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">---I told them to round up everyone that didn’t something better to do and start making the smoke tube</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158260551425528792006-09-13T18:00:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.416-09:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Katalla Dive"</span><br />---I called McAlister in <st1:city><st1:place>Valdez</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> and thanked him for sending his guys over to help.<span style=""> </span>He said that when they got back to <st1:city><st1:place>Valdez</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, they had gone in to see him and told him that they would be glad to dive in the <st1:city><st1:place>Valdez</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> arm or the entire <st1:place>Prince William Sound</st1:place></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> if he wanted, but “Chief Whetsell can take that <st1:place>Gulf of Alaska</st1:place></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> and shove it up his ass.”<span style=""> </span>But, he continued to explain that they (the <st1:place>Blackburn</st1:place></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> brothers and two others) were already deciding which of them would come back if their help was still needed. ….At any rate, within a day or two, the plane broke up in the storm that had been approaching and the body of Mr. Joy was found.<span style=""> </span>The body of the other son was never recovered.<br />---During that operation, I lost a mask, one fin, and ten pounds.<span style=""> </span>But Fred Brady gained a splint.<span style=""> </span>He sold his diving gear within a week and never dived again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30537168.post-1158260487564706492006-09-13T17:00:00.001-08:002009-02-04T17:43:26.417-09:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">from "Management"</span><br />---I was president of the Alaska Fire Chief’s Association, and was in the middle of an Association conference in Juneau, when during a break, I was being interviewed by a TV news crew…. the reporter asked my views on some recent newsworthy problems that were occurring in Fairbanks.<br />---A bitter dispute arose between the </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Fairbanks</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> city fathers and the firefighters union.<span style=""> </span>I doubt that the reporter knew I was a volunteer, and that volunteers don’t always see eye-to-eye with career fire fighters.<span style=""> </span>But he knew I was a chief, and perhaps he thought that I might make an anti-union statement.<span style=""> </span>I knew that those firefighters up there were making lots of money, and apparently the public – upon learning how much – got a bit frazzled.<span style=""> </span>But I knew a bit more about </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Fairbanks</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">, too.<span style=""> </span>I knew that when the….pipeline was being built, people across the state were leaving their regular jobs to make big bucks constructing that pipeline.<span style=""> </span>I knew that </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Fairbanks</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:red;" > <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">had dramatically increased firefighter’s wages to keep them there.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For the most part, it worked.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But there was more.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">---Without sounding too scolding, I explained to the reporter that <st1:city><st1:place>Fairbanks</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> was a city that was “built to burn”.<span style=""> </span>That city was “the last bastion of the Great American Libertarian<i> </i>whose anti-government views fought every attempt at common sense fire code enforcement.<span style=""> </span>Because of this anti-regulation mind-set, the city fathers created a tinder-box city.<span style=""> </span>Then they have the gall to resent paying firefighters who risk their necks dealing with that mess.”<br />---I ended by saying that “The manning of their department is so low, it’s irresponsible.<span style=""> </span>It’s almost criminal, in my opinion”.<br />---By the time it was aired, most of my statements had been edited except “<st1:city><st1:place>Fairbanks</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> was built to burn”; they “fought every attempted at code enforcement”; and “fire department manning is low.”<o:p></o:p><br />….</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> I was chatting on the phone with Anchorage Fire Chief Larry Langston.<span style=""> </span>I told him about some of the data I put in the letter (to Fairbanks city manager) and he told me that he had gone to school with the president of the <st1:city><st1:place>Fairbanks</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> fire fighters union, Dave Rockney.<span style=""> </span>He thought Rockney, who had been under tremendous pressure lately, could use some of the information that I’d sent to the (<st1:city><st1:place>Fairbanks</st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="font-size:85%;">) city manager.<span style=""> </span>...<br /><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com