Today so far has been above normal for the Forest Grove Firefighters on ‘A’ Shift, not only have they ran 11 calls so for their shift (average is 7 for the entire shift) but of those 11, two have been out of the ordinary. The first of those two was dispatched shortly after 2pm; it was reported that up to five people were feeling light headed and dizzy at Knight Hall on the campus of Pacific University. Those employees working in the building were thinking it was possibly carbon monoxide poisoning. With that possibility, one crew was sent into the building to check the air for poisonous gases and a second crew was sent to triage and evaluate the possible patients that had complaints of being light headed and dizzy. The crew that went into the structure found no dangerous gases present and crews evaluating the patients found no symptoms serious enough to require transport to the hospital. Without finding any evidence of carbon monoxide, it is unsure whether or not that caused the symptoms, or if something else in the building caused the symptoms. Regardless, this is great reminder that if you have anything that burns wood, natural gas or fuel oil in your residence that you should install a carbon monoxide detector. If you have multiple floors to your house, it is recommended that a detector be placed on each floor. They generally cost around $10 to $50 and are found at your local hardware or variety store.
The second call that was uncommon came in around 3:30pm and was initially dispatched as an Industrial Accident in the community of Dilley. At first it wasn’t clear exactly where the incident location was or exactly what the injuries were due to a language barrier between the caller and dispatchers. It was determined that there had been a vehicle accident involving a work vehicle at the Montinore Estates Vineyard located at 3663 SW Dilley Road. At first it was reported that someone was trapped under a vehicle that had rolled over, due to this information, firefighters activated Lifeflight to respond to the scene. When crews arrived on scene they found only one patient and they were no longer trapped under the vehicle. Like the dispatchers, firefighters found a language barrier on scene and had a hard time finding out exactly what occurred and what the extent of the injuries were to the patient. Firefighters stabilized the patient and transported them by Lifeflight helicopter to the trauma center at Emanuel Hospital in Portland.
An inside look at your fire department. Sharing our operations with you and your feedback with us all in an effort to work better in service to our community. Career and Volunteer Firefighters from Forest Grove and Cornelius provide fire, rescue, and emergency medical response, as well as fire prevention and life safety education services to the residents of the Cities of Forest Grove and Cornelius, and the surrounding rural communities in beautiful western Washington County.
What kind of vehicle is that?
ReplyDeleteHeather, it's an older Ford van that was modified. You can see the cab was shortened and rear we left to act sort of like a pickup.
ReplyDeleteJust to clear up something, I, a native English speaker, spoke directly to dispatch and explained that the woman had been pulled free of the vehicle well before help arrived. The fire department and EMTs did a great job at the scene. We thank them very much for their great work. Evidently, our coworker is doing well and being released from the Emmanuel today.
ReplyDeleteBen Thomas, winemaker
Montinore Estate