The Odessa Fire Company was honored to supply lunch and a rest spot for the 150 bicyclists that took part in the last ride to National EMS Memorial located in Roanoke, Virginia on Monday morning. The bicyclists were riding in memory of our fallen brothers and sisters that have died in the line of duty and included many Delaware EMS providers. On behalf of EMS Chief Dave Aber and EMS members at the Odessa Fire Company we wish the bicyclists and supporters a safe journey to Roanoke and thank them for remembering our fallen EMS members throughout the country.

For more info on the National EMS Memorial go to : http://muddyangels.org/

At around 21:45 hours Sta  4/24 along with Sta 29 and Medic 5 were alerted to a MVC Car vs. tree on Dupont Parkway North of Heytts Corner Road.  Units extricated 1 paitent who was transported to CER.  Units Responding:  24-8 Chief Lynch, R24, A24, 4-6, U24, OFC Fire Police, A29 (Port Penn), DSP, and Medic 5.

On Thursday April 16th at 1137hrs the OFC was alerted to an MVC on Old Corbit Rd and Silver Run Rd. B-4 arrived to find patients trapped in the vehicle and requested ALS. R24 arrived and FF Oneschuk had command. Crews from R24 assisted in patient care and extrication of patient. Trooper 4 flew 1 patient and A24 transported a second patient. R24 cleared the scene at 1232hrs.

At 09:17hrs, Stations 4/24 and station 15 to assist was alerted to a MVC involving an overturned gasoline tank truck on the off-ramp from Rte 1SB to Lorewood Grove Road. At 09:25hrs, B-4 arrived on scene and advised a overturned gasoline tank truck over the embankment with one subject trapped in the interior cab compartment of the vehicle. The New Castle County Haz-Mat Decon Team along with Department of Natural Resources (DNREC) was requested to the scene.

At 09:29hrs, crews from Rescue 15 & Rescue 24 arrived on scene and initiated extrication efforts along with scene stabilization. The driver of the vehicle was heavily entrapped in the interior cab of the overturned wreckage and numerous rescue tools would be needed to handle the extensive extrication of the victim. Shipping papers were retrieved from the vehicle which revealed the trailer was hauling 7000 gallons of Gasoline and 1000 gallons of Diesel fuel. A walk-around was completed of the area which revealed no obvious leaks of the trailer at that time.

At 09:34hrs, 248-B (Assistant Chief Jesse Hensley) assumed Route #1 Command and requested Valero Delaware City Refinery Station #34 be notified to respond with a foam tank truck to assist with mitigation. Valero complied with the request and dispatched 348-B (Assistant Chief Steve Bennett) and 34-1 to the scene. Simultaneously, Command requested area Fire Police & DelDot to shut down the south bound lanes of Route #1 at Wrangle Hill Road. At this time Command also requested for 15-8(Chief Jamie Rosseel)to assist with command functions at the Command Post as well as appointed Deputy 15 (Deputy Chief Bucky Finnegan)to be the Operations Officer for the incident. Command initiated Level 2 accountability to be established at the Command Post. Command also appointed a Safety Officer (President Gant), Water Supply Officer (Shawn Johnson), Accountability Officer (Krissy Kreutzer) & Staging Officer for the incident.

It was determined there would be a extensive amount of cribbing needed for the extrication efforts & vehicle stabilization as well as additional manpower needed to assist with these efforts. Station 29 was dispatched to assist, with 29-4 & Tanker 29 handling the response. Station 13 also responded with USAR-13 with additional tools & cribbing. Due to the extended extrication, Command requested Trooper 4 to respond and standby for transport purposes once extrication was completed. Command also requested additional Tankers to respond to assist with the foam application, Tanker 24 & Tanker 26 responded to assist with this part of the operation.

At 10:32hrs, Command was advised that a gasoline leak was now noticeable from the two end compartments of the trailer. A blanket of foam was applied to the immediate area. DNREC personnel handled controlling the extent of the leak while extrication efforts were still progressing in the cab compartment area. Command requested B&F Towing as well as Active Crane be notified to respond to assist with rescue & mitigating efforts.

Command also requested the New Castle County Office of Emergency Management be notified of the situation. EMS personnel were in verbal contact with the patient during the entire length of extrication process. The patient was conscious and alert and able to relay information to EMS and Rescue personnel to assist with patient care as well as extrication efforts. EMS personnel also advised Christiana Hospital of the situation and to be expecting patient arrival via Trooper 4 once extrication was completed.

At 11:39hrs, Operations reported to Command the extrication process was completed and the patient was being moved to Trooper 4 for transport to Christiana Hospital. After the immediate life hazard was handled, Command then met with DNREC and fire department officers on scene and developed a game plan to handle the trans loading of the loaded fuel tanker. The plan was initiated and by 13:10hrs the trans loading process was begun with fire department resources standing by to assist.

The trans loading process would continue for the next several hours with Station 15 units being released by the Incident Commander at 14:15hrs to respond to a multi-patient MVC on Wrangle Hill Rd at Route 1. At 18:10hrs, the off-loading process was completed & Command placed the situation under control turning the situation over to DNREC personnel.

**There is a 5 minute video of the incident in Audio/Video Section of Delaware City's Webiste (www.dcfc15.com).

Responding Units: A-15, B-4, Rescue 15, Rescue 24, 4-6, Rescue 29, 34-1, 29-4, 26-3, 27-5, Tanker 24, Tanker 29, Tanker 26, HazMat Units 14,16,17,30, Rescue 17, Rehab-24, USAR-13, NCC EMS Medcom Unit, Medic 5A, ALS-21, ALS-17, EMS-1, Trooper 4, DNREC, DELDOT, Fire Police, & DSP.

Story By: Delaware City Chief Jamie Rosseel

The Odessa Fire Company showed appreciation to its 2008 active crew on Feb. 14, 2009. Several awards were given out and the members enjoyed a excellant dinner by Golden Apple and dancing by DJ Vic-Accent Entertainment. Click the link below to see photos of the evenings activities.

Member of the Year- Lori Rollins

Junior Member of the Year - Shelby Rollins

EMT of the Year - Tom Johnson

Presidents/Chiefs Award - Richard Trincia, Sr.

Top Fire Responder - RG Whittington

Top Ems Responder - Frank Gant, Sr.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/slideshow/21568819

The Office of Highway Safety reminds you that it’s the law in Delaware for the driver and all passengers to wear a seat belt, even in the backseat. And right now, during Click It Or Ticket, officers are watching extra closely. So if you or anyone in your vehicle isn’t buckled up, expect to get a ticket.
 
 
Seat belt use is 10% lower at night, but the risk of being in a crash is three times higher. So no matter when or where you drive, always wear your seat belt. And make sure all passengers are buckled up, even in the backseat. It’s the law in Delaware. Click It Or Ticket.
 
 
Fewer people wear their seat belts at night, although your risk of being in a crash triples. The Delaware Office of Highway Safety reminds you that during Click It Or Ticket, officers are watching, particularly at night. Expect to see night time checkpoints and patrols out there this week —and if you or anyone in your vehicle isn’t buckled up, you will get a ticket.
 
 
The Office of Highway Safety reminds you that it’s the law in Delaware for the driver and all passengers to wear a seat belt, even in the backseat. A ticket will cost you at least 25 bucks, and if you have a Graduated Driver’s License permit, your license could also be suspended. Click It Or Ticket.
 
 
Don’t put your license—or your life—at risk. It’s the law in Delaware for the driver and all passengers to wear a seat belt, even those in the backseat. And right now, during Click It Or Ticket, officers are watching—particularly at night. Expect to see checkpoints and patrols this week in the evenings. And if you or anyone in your vehicle isn’t buckled up, you – the driver - will get a ticket.

The officer and members of the OFC were allowed to be part of the 2009 Inaugural Parade Washington,DC. In attending from the OFC were Past President/ Captain Frank Fitzwater, Past Chief ken Getty, Firefighter / EMT Lorie Rollins, Firefighter Shelby Rollins and Firefighter Brian Conway. It was estimated that over 400 firefighters from Delaware marched during the parade. Odessa Firefighter Bob Aellis was choosing as one of 5 that called cadence in which keep the group in step.

Station 26 was alerted at 2115 to a L3 Residential fire with the report of "Fire from the roof" at 1096 Caldwell Corner Road. At 2118 26-Portable-1 went on scene and reported a two story single family home fully involved. Stations 4/24 were alerted at 2119hrs for the RIT, and Rescue 24 and Tanker 24 were responding before the second dispatched completed at 2120hrs. At 2123hrs 26-2 went on scene  as well as 26-8. 26-8 had command and had two lines in service by 2126hrs. At 2128hrs R-24 arrived for RIT and Tanker 24 arrived at 2129hrs. At 2205hrs station 4 and 24 were alerted again for a Rehab request. 29-4 was alerted to cover station 24, and 44-4 was alerted to cover station 26. The scene was placed under control at 2203hrs and units continued working. The temperature remained at 27 degrees for most of the night and the crews stayed warm with coffee and hot chocholate from R-24 and Rehab 24. Del dot stood by and salted the roads due to ice.

Units on Scene: 26-8, 26-2, T-26, 26-3, R-26, L-27, 27-5, R-1, R-24, Rehab 24, T-26, 4-5,  Q-45, KME3, KM6, KMT3, KM6, A-29, 45-4, Delaware State Fire Marshalls OFfice, NCC Medic 5D, Del-Dot, 29-4 (cover station 24),  44-4 (cover station 26), DP&L and Delaware State Police.

The night of Sunday, January 18th in-climate weather hit the Odessa area bringing a light layer of snow and made roads very treacherous. Stations 4 and 24 were alerted to three rollovers with injuries between Sunday evening and Monday morning. The first rollover occurred on Hyetts Corner Road in front of St. Georges Vo-tech. Units were dispatched at 2106 hours. Units cleared shortly after. Early in the morning at 0435 hours an MVC occurred at Appoquinmink Creek / Route 1 Northbound. Roads in the local had become very icy and dangerous. Crews arrived to find a single vehicle MVC and evaluated and transported patients to the hospital. At 0642 hours crews were alerted to an MVC at 1099 Fieldsboro Road to find an MVC with vehicle on it's side. Roads remained icy for many hours with several PD accidents throughout the district. The Delaware State Police reported as many as 170 crashes throughout the state from Sunday evening to Monday morning.

From VHC27.com -- Jake’s Hamburgers in Delaware announced today that they will be holding a fundraising event on behalf of the family of Delaware City Firefighter Michelle Smith. The event will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at all Jake’s Hamburger locations in Delaware. Jake’s will donate 20% of all sales that day to the trust fund that has been established for the benefit of Michelle’s daughter, “The Emily A. Burge Trust Fund,” c/o the Delaware City Fire Company. In addition, Firefighters will be on hand at each location throughout the day to accept donations on behalf of Michelle’s family. Please join us in supporting this very worthy cause, and in honoring Michelle’s service to our community. For more information on this event, please contact Jeff Smith by email at jsmith@vhc27.com.

From the officers and members of the Odessa Fire Company, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of fallen firefighter Michelle Smith. Your service and dedication will be missed.

Please see www.dcfc15.com for more information.

Also  http://vhc27.com/message.cfm?id=17&ss=1

On Friday, $20 million in Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG) was awarded to 195 fire departments within the United States.

This was the fifteenth round of FY '08 grants awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The goal of the AFG program is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and non-affiliated emergency medical services organizations.

The Odessa Fire Company was awarded $73,308.00 for Operations and Safety. 

At 16:06 the OFC was dispatched to an MVC with 1 injury reported at Dupont Py / Scott Run. At 16:07 with a  crew of 7 in quarters, R24 under the command of LT24 (T. Lynch) went en route along with A24. Shortly after both 4-6 and 24-3 went en route to the scene. R24 was notified of a new location at Dupont Py / Lorewood Grove Rd. R24 and 4-6 went on scene at 16:14 and advised of correct location. R24's crew found a single vehicle into the pole with one occupant self-extricated, and secured the vehicle. 4-8B placed the scene under control at 16:24. A24 transported one to the hospital.