Firefighter killed in the line of duty.

[44 Bulldog]

I don't know enough about firefighting to pass blame, but I wonder that myself.

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I'm not blaming anyone, my brother retired FF in Arlington County Va. so I know some things about fire fighting, I also was wondering if the Navy Fire Dept. has the ability to hear a distress call from the local VFD. Just my thinking but tragic situation all the way around.

 

[traveller]

probably not on a house that old, but I do question the fire commander decision why he had firefighters in that house when everyone was accounted for.

That's a culture issue around here. 'The house isn't clear until we say it's clear'. It's an approach that makes sense in a tenement in southeast DC where you may have people who are not on the books or vagrants living in a basement storage bin. It doesn't make sense in the context of a small single family home in southern maryland. If a reliable head of household tells you 'it was me and my kids in the house and we are all out', the house is clear. With a single family home, if you get to the point of 'fire showing' when you roll up, that house is a teardown or full gut no matter how how hard of a 'push' you make. This is not some city brick building with thick rafters where you can confine a 'room and contents' fire and save the rest of the building. You are not saving anything.

One of the local reports mentioned the possibility of a lightning strike. A number of recent fatalities and close calls have been after lightning strikes. In a number of those, the strike caused a basement fire, either from electrical equipment lighting off or from holes burned in that yellow jacketed corrugated stainless steel flexible gas piping (CSST).

Now, if this house was older, neither lightweight cardboard joists nor CSST should be a factor, but the fact remains that 'making entry above a unrecognized basement fire' is the most dangerous thing we can do in the fire service.

 

[44 Bulldog]

If a reliable head of household tells you 'it was me and my kids in the house and we are all out', the house is clear.

The news interviewed the homeowner and he said his daughter woke him up and they were all out. On a perfect day the dispatch will tell the first arriving unit if anyone is trapped or all occupants are out. Not sure if the fire command knew this at that time but seems that house was on fire for a while before the occupants realized it. Like I said before does anyone know if when the local VFD calls a "MAYDAY" is the Navy FD's radios linked to the VFD's radios. Either way very sad. He passed doing what he loved.

 

[traveller]

The news interviewed the homeowner and he said his daughter woke him up and they were all out. On a perfect day the dispatch will tell the first arriving unit if anyone is trapped or all occupants are out. Not sure if the fire command knew this at that time but seems that house was on fire for a while before the occupants realized it. Like I said before does anyone know if when the local VFD calls a "MAYDAY" is the Navy FD's radios linked to the VFD's radios. Either way very sad. He passed doing what he loved.

St Mary's has a L3 Harris P25 system. I don't know how the NDW units interface with that. I believe they are right on the talk group (rather than a patch), but I don't know that for a fact.

From my understanding this was a structural collapse and other FFs were able to self rescue from the basement with him trapped under debris. If I had to speculate, I don't expect radio comms being a major issue. They knew the thing collapsed.

Any box in that area has NDW units on it and as in his case, it's often the same people a who may show up on a NDW engine wearing a NDW helmet one day and a Bay District unit on a different day. They basically respond as 'St Mary's Co FD' no matter the color of the coat.

 

[Johnconlee]

My understanding is he was responding as a paid firefighter from pax river.

 

[traveller]

My understanding is he was responding as a paid firefighter from pax river.

Yes. Naval District Washington Fire Dept*. But he also happened to be a volunteer with the company in whose first due area the fire happened and a former member with the 2nd due company.
My point was that when NDW responds into the community, they are not some isolated thing, they do this every day and there is no difference whether someone wears a paid hat that day or not. Its an integrated part of the system.


*With stations in DC, Bethesda, Annapolis and Indian Head.

 

[135sohc]

That's a culture issue around here. 'The house isn't clear until we say it's clear'. It's an approach that makes sense in a tenement in southeast DC where you may have people who are not on the books or vagrants living in a basement storage bin. It doesn't make sense in the context of a small single family home in southern maryland. If a reliable head of household tells you 'it was me and my kids in the house and we are all out', the house is clear. With a single family home, if you get to the point of 'fire showing' when you roll up, that house is a teardown or full gut no matter how how hard of a 'push' you make. This is not some city brick building with thick rafters where you can confine a 'room and contents' fire and save the rest of the building. You are not saving anything.

One of the local reports mentioned the possibility of a lightning strike. A number of recent fatalities and close calls have been after lightning strikes. In a number of those, the strike caused a basement fire, either from electrical equipment lighting off or from holes burned in that yellow jacketed corrugated stainless steel flexible gas piping (CSST).

Now, if this house was older, neither lightweight cardboard joists nor CSST should be a factor, but the fact remains that 'making entry above a unrecognized basement fire' is the most dangerous thing we can do in the fire service.

A former coworker of mine, pretty active member with Ridge VFD & Rescue squad, we had a discussion awhile ago about this. The 'be a hero' mentality as he called it gets people killed for nothing.

 

[traveller]

A former coworker of mine, pretty active member with Ridge VFD & Rescue squad, we had a discussion awhile ago about this. The 'be a hero' mentality as he called it gets people killed for nothing.

There is another culture issue at work. If you are the officer on the first due engine and decide to do an external attack ('hitting it hard from the yard'), the second or third due engine may show up, pull a line into the front door and 'steal your fire'. The prospect of that potential 'humiliation' is at times higher than the fear of death.
In theory, that shouldn't happen as that second or third due engine will dutyfully adhere to commands instruction to support the first due engines external operation (or to go to the rear of the building). But let's say some fire companies are known to have frequent problems with their radios when they arrive second or third due....

 

[Tomcat]

Very sad. That’s a common last name here in St Mary’s, I’m guessing that his passing affects a lot of people.


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Yes, just found out this morning he worked for our daughter’s company before he started at the Pax fire station

 

[Tomcat]

There was a loooooonnnnnngggggg funeral procession on the inner loop of the East side (Southbound) of the DC beltway on Wednesday afternoon. Could this have been his?

Yes, Fox channel 5 had a short piece showing PG County units on the overpass as it passed by. Saw a video on FB of the procession just after it entered StMary’s. I counted 45 units, State Police, Sheriff’s Dept and all the fire and rescue units.

 

[Slackdaddy]

I don't know enough about firefighting to pass blame, but I wonder that myself.

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They are not paid enough,, a job where you have to be 100% right, 100% of the time,, or someone could get killed.

 

[Tomcat]

Funeral and Services scheduled for Fallen Firefighter Brice Trossbach are planned and it is estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 will be in attendance. Please have patience and respect for those coming in to pay respect for a fallen hero.

-Run your errands this weekend
- Don’t be upset if all of the restaurants are full of out of town folks next week, many will be brother fireman
- Expect traffic delays, plan ahead

 

[antco]

The schedule of events for Brice Trossbach’s memorial services is as follows:

• Viewing: Date: Wednesday, July 5, 2023 Time: 13:00-19:00 Location: Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department Address: 24801 MD-235, Hollywood, MD 20636
• Funeral Service: Date: Thursday, July 6, 2023 Time: 10:00 Location: Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department Address: 24801 MD-235, Hollywood, MD 20636
• Fire Department Procession & Interment: Date: Thursday, July 6, 2023 Time: Immediately Following Funeral Service Location: Charles Memorial Gardens Address: 26325 Point Lookout Rd, Leonardtown, MD 20650

I saw in an article a few days back that internment would be private, but can no longer find that statement.

 

[motorcoachdoug]

For those of you who do scanning they used MD 1st System Statewide Interops Tac 6 NCR and from what I hear they will be using one of the Tac channels again for Wed and Thurs.

 

[somd_mustangs]

Funeral and Services scheduled for Fallen Firefighter Brice Trossbach are planned and it is estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 will be in attendance. Please have patience and respect for those coming in to pay respect for a fallen hero.

-Run your errands this weekend
- Don’t be upset if all of the restaurants are full of out of town folks next week, many will be brother fireman
- Expect traffic delays, plan ahead

From BayNet:
The procession will leave Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department at approximately 12 p.m. and go down Rt. 235 to Gate 1 [north gate, Pegg Rd] of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, enter the base and exit the base at Gate 2 ["front" gate, Great Mills Rd] and proceed to pass Bay District Volunteer Fire Department, Station 3. They will then move to Rt. 5 and process through the Town of Leonardtown and Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department, Station 1 and finally to Charles Memorial Gardens.

So that explains the road-sign on Great Mills about "Large Funeral, expect delays" for Thursday.
Godspeed...

 

[gwchem]

They said all gates are closed, on and off base, from 1230 til 2. That's going to be a traffic nightmare.

 

[somd_mustangs]

...at least they announced it ahead of time this time... although probably only Facebook. Never seem to get this type of info in a timely fashion through official channels... haven't seen any email traffic yet.

 

[Tomcat]

Channel 7 news has a helicopter above the Hollywood Firehouse providing coverage.

 

[motorcoachdoug]

They used Tac 5 and Tac 6 on the MD 1st statewide system

 

[Engine4]

Two brothers were lost last night in jersey on a ship fire.