Report: Poor Visibility among Factors in TX Firefighter's Death
Source Firehouse.com News
Lack of traffic control and management, poor visibility and other factors contributed to an accident last year that killed a San Antonio firefighter who fell from an apparatus at a fire call and was struck by a delivery van, according to a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Firefighter-paramedic Greg Garza, a 17-year veteran with the San Antonio Fire Department, was part of a response to a possible electrical fire in a hotel lobby shortly after 7 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2019. According to the NIOSH report, the four crew members of Aerial Platform 1 were at the rear of the apparatus to unpack electrical ventilation fans, and they weren't wearing reflective vests over their uniforms at the time.
As the firefighters were entering the hotel, Garza was asked to retrieve a thermal imaging camera from the apparatus. While he was near the engineer's door to possibly get the camera from its usual charging station, he fell backward and was struck by a delivery van going around 30 mph, the report stated.
Garza was dragged more than 25 feet before he was dislodged from the underside of the van. The van's driver eventually hit his brakes, got out of the vehicle and began screaming for help.
Garza's colleagues began performing advanced life support at the scene, but he later died from his injuries. An autopsy determined that Garza “died as a result of blunt force injuries reportedly sustained as a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle," according to the report.
Following an investigation, NIOSH pointed to seven specific factors that contributed to Garza's death:
- Lack of traffic incident management
- Lack of reflective vests worn by firefighters
- Lack of a temporary traffic control plan
- Poor visibility because of the time of day—12 minutes before sunrise—the apparatus' emergency lights, and dim and widely spaced streetlights
- Garza's station boots possibly being unzipped and creating a slip or trip hazard
- Garza possibly not using three points of contact to access to or egress from the apparatus
- Use of a replacement apparatus that might have resulted in Garza being unfamiliar with the TIC charging/storage location.
The report also outlined recommendations for the department, which include:
- Departments should train firefighters—especially those in the jump seats—to exit and enter the apparatus from the side not facing oncoming or approaching traffic
- When not wearing turnout gear, departments should make sure firefighters wear reflective traffic safety vests whenever parking, working on, or crossing a roadway
- Departments should establish a temporary traffic control zone when apparatus are parked or staged on two-lane commercial or residential streets
- After implementing temporary traffic control measures, departments also should consider procedures to turn off the apparatus headlights and reduce the flashing frequency of emergency lights, especially during the dark hours around dusk, dawn and night
- Departments—as well as state and local partners—should consider a public education campaign about state laws regarding speed limits around emergency operations
You can visit the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health website to read the full report.
