Engine 814 from Joppa Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company has been involved in a roll-over motor vehilce collision at Route 152 & I-95 in Harford County.  Its reported that 3 civillians were trapped in a vehicle.  4 Medics and MSP Aviation have been called to the scene. Mutual aid from Baltimore County Station 48 also called to the scene. 

The Officers and Members of MRVAR hope that all involved are ok.

Photos courtesy of Joppa Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company.

- Lt. Christopher Johnson

UNITS WERE DISPATCHED FOR REPORTED APARTMENT FIRE 7900 BLOCK OF MARFIELD PLACE. UPON ARRIVAL CREWS FOUND HEAVY FIRE CONDITIONS ON THE FIRST FLOOR. COMMAND UPGRADED TO WORKING FIRE THEN 2ND ALARM. CREWS WERE ABLE TO CONTAIN THE FIRE TO ONE APARTMENT BUILDING.

At approximately 22:25 hrs Engine 12, PM526, and EMS-4 were dispatched to the intersection of Martin Blvd & Transverse Ave. for a reported overturned vehicle.  Crews arrived to find a single vehicle on its side.  Witnesses stated the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed, then struck the guard rail and came to a rest on it's side.  Witnesses also stated several juveniles were seen running from the scene moments after the car came to a rest.  There were no injuries on the scene.

UNITS WERE ALERTED FOR A REPORTED TRASH TRUCK FIRE NEAR TROOPER 1 HANGER. WHEN ENGINE 222 ARRIVED THEY FOUND THAT THE DRIVER HAD DUMPED HIS LOAD ON THE GROUND IN A EFFORT TO CONTAIN THE FIRE. UNITS FROM MIDDLE RIVER FIRE, MIDDLE RIVER RESCUE ALONG WITH AIRPORT FIRE AND BOWLEYS QUARTERS CONTAIN THE FIRE TO THE PILE.

What to do when someone has fallen through the ice:

 
•Do not attempt to rescue the victim. If the ice could
not support their weight, it will not support your
weight.
•Try to calm and reassure the victim and have them stay afloat.
•Go to nearby location and call 911 for help. Also wait for emergency responders to bring them to the exact location of the victim.
•If with a responsible adult, have the adult return to
try and assist the victim from shore.
•First, is to provide victim with something to help them stay afloat such as plastic milk or soda bottles, or a spare tire.
•If the victim is stable and afloat try to send
something to reach and retrieve victim such as a
rope, extension cord, ladder, branch, boat or tying
clothes together.
•If victim is retrieved to shore, take steps to keep
victim warm [ change clothes, wrap in blanket ]
until rescue personnel arrive.

It takes at least 5 to 7 days of temperatures in the low 20’s before ice may become safe.
 

A 14-year-old girl is dead after being struck by an Amtrak train Tuesday morning. Amtrak officials say the tracks are now open, but passengers should expect major delays in the Northeast corridor.

Police say the teen was walking with a friend shortly after 9 a.m. in the area of Orems Road and Middle River Road.  They were students at Kenwood High School.   

The two heard the train coming.  One was able to jump off the tracks.  The other one was hit by the train.  She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Amtrak officials say it was a Northeast Regional train 181 heading from New York to Washington, D.C. with 123 passengers on board. No one on the train was hurt.

All train service was shut down until 10:45 a.m. when officials were able to open one track at restricted speed. Both tracks are open.  Amtrak and MARC passengers can expect major delays.

Crews are still on the scene investigating.
 

Robert Booker is still haunted by things he saw on a bitterly cold Sunday on the railroad tracks behind his home.

Booker, then 19, was hailed as a hero for what he did that day - Jan. 4, 1987 - when a northbound Amtrak Colonial slammed into an errant train of three Conrail freight locomotives near the small eastern Baltimore County community of Chase.

Sixteen people died. The total might have gone far higher if not for the efforts of Booker, his cousin Michael Cooper and other neighbors and first responders who rushed to a scene of blood and twisted metal to pull survivors from the smoking wreckage.

The crash, in which 175 people were injured, was at the time the deadliest in Amtrak history. Caused when a Conrail engineer who was under the influence of marijuana sped through a warning signal, the wreck led to significant changes in how railroads operate and prompted widespread drug testing in transportation industries.


Dr. Ameen Ramzy, 58, was a Shock-Trauma surgeon who reported to the scene after hearing the first emergency calls going out over his Baltimore County Fire Department radio. He found train cars stacked three high from the force of the impact.

Now practicing in Portland, Ore., Ramzy recalls "how surreal it was on this crisp Sunday afternoon in January."

"I remember one of the air horns from one of the engines being blasted repeatedly," he said. It was warning first responders to back away, as officials worried that the cars would shift and injure the rescuers.

To Ramzy would fall the most difficult cases - not the success stories. He recalls spending most of his time treating four patients who were trapped in the train and critically injured.

"Three of those who were badly injured ... died while they were still entrapped," he said. "One survived and died in the hospital some days later."

Gary Warren, who was the Baltimore County Fire Department's medical commander at the scene, said the Amtrak crash is still being used as a case study in effective disaster response.

"The reason is how the members of the professional and volunteer fire departments and the community people got together," said Warren, 54, now chief of training for the fire and rescue department at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

It was, he said, "a very sad but a very proud moment" in his career.

For Ramzy, the loss of the four trapped passengers remains engraved in his memory.

"I expect that in some way or another it always will," he said.

michael.dresser@baltsun.com
 

Former member and past Captain, Jerry Mitchell passed away earlier this month. There will be a Memorial Service for Jerry at Mountain Branch Country Club, 1827 Mountain Road, Joppa MD 21087, on Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 2pm.

Gamber & Community Volunteer Fire Company's first Search and Rescue dog, Boomer, has passed away.

Starting his training at 3 months of age, Boomer has been functioning as a Search and Rescue Dog for over 9 years. He became apart of the Gamber Dive Team in 2003. Boomer has assisted in the recovery of over 12 drowning victims, responded to WTC site on 9-11-01, assisted the DC Metro police in the search fro Sandra Levy, and also responded during the Pentagon disaster. Locally, Boomer assisted in the Baltimore Water Taxi incident, and also served as a Therapy Dog for the local Pets on Wheels program.

Boomer will be laid to rest at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, with full Fire Department honors. Our hearts go out to Boomers owner, Mike Rehfeld and his family. Boomer will be missed.

Around 3am units were dispatched for a reported Motel fire at the Dukes Motel on Pulaski Hwy. Police first arrived and confirmed a working fire with one person still trapped. First arriving units made quick rescue of the trapped man. Medical units on scene treated and transported the patient to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. The fire was knocked quick and units are still trying to determine a cause of the fire.

IV 526 and Utility 527 on scene of a mvc with rollover.. Pulaski HWY and Martin Blvd... No one was injuried.....

Units were dispatched for a report of a garage/shed fire in the area of Bird River Grove Rd. Units arrived to find 2 structures well involved and went to a exterior operation.

Dive Team 52 responded at the request of the police to help recover a vehicle found in the water off the shore of Rocky Point.

Middle River Vol. Ambulance Rescue Co., hosted a Baltimore County Fire Rescue Academy orientation class for the staff of the University of Maryland Shock Trauma "GO-TEAM". GO- TEAM members were involved in autoextrication discussion and demonstrations to enhance thier understanding of an extrication process, and rescue principles.

Squad 523 responded with units from Stations 12, 20, 48, 15 and MDE to a reported 10-50PI Rescue.  It was reported that a tractor trailer leaving the Stonewall Cafe had collided with a vehicle traveling East bound on Rt 40 at Stevens Road.  Squad 523 arrived to pull tools and assist units with extraction of a driver trapped in a Chevy Tracker.  Crews from Kingsville, Middle River Fire and Middle River Rescue worked hard to remove the driver door and extricate the patient who was then flown to Shock Trauma.  Job well done by all.

~ Photo by Lt. Chris Johnson