MEC&F Expert Engineers : 01/12/15

Monday, January 12, 2015

SPACE HEATER BURNS DOWN MORRISTOWN HOME. THE ILL-PLACED SPACE HEATER USED TO KEEP WATER PIPES FROM FREEZING



SPACE HEATER BURNS DOWN MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY HOME.  THE ILL-PLACED SPACE HEATER USED TO KEEP WATER PIPES FROM FREEZING

January 12, 2015 at 1:15pm

A space heater sparked the fire at a Rosemilt Place residence on Jan. 10, leaving the home uninhabitable.

A Morristown home on Saturday caught fire due to an ill-placed space heater used to keep water pipes from freezing, reported The Morristown Green.

Emergency services responded to a 11:44 p.m. call on Saturday that reported a rapidly-growing fire at 30 Rosemilt Place, according to The Green.

The blaze began in the garage, but quickly engulfed the entire structure, Morristown Fire Chief Robert Flanagan told the publication, adding that with the frigid temperature, it took firefighters an hour to extinguish the flames, according to The Green.

The homeowner evacuated without injury, but damage to his home -- and the Thunderbird parked in the driveway -- is beyond repair, states the Green.

Neighbors witnessing the scene recounted to the local news source how the flames spread throughout the entire two-story home in mere minutes.

Officials determined the fire was likely the result of the space heater placed too close to combustible materials, like paper, clothing and curtains, Chief Flanagan later explained to NJ.com.

Using space heaters near combustible items accounts for more than half of all home heating fire deaths, according to the National Fire Protection Association. To avoid a home fire while using a space heater, the organization recommends keeping a 36-inch radius from any items that may catch flame.

BODY OF WORKER FOUND AFTER BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, PA CEMENT SILO COLLAPSE. CAUSE OF DEADLY SILO COLLAPSE MAY NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL SUMMER



BODY OF WORKER FOUND AFTER BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, PA CEMENT SILO COLLAPSE.  CAUSE OF DEADLY SILO COLLAPSE MAY NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL SUMMER












Posted: Sunday, January 11, 2015 10:00 pm | Updated: 8:20 pm, Mon Jan 12, 2015.



By Anthony DiMattia Staff Writer 




After a four-day search, the body of a missing 49-year-old worker was discovered Sunday after a giant silo collapsed and engulfed him last week in Bristol Township, according to Bristol Township acting police Chief Ralph Johnson.




The body of Anthony Gabriele was found around 2 p.m. Sunday by firefighters who used their hands to dig through tons of concrete powder after the 100-foot silo Gabriele was working in gave way in the early morning hours of Jan. 8 at Riverside Cement, a materials warehouse at 7900 Radcliffe St. Edgely Fire Co. Chief Carl Pierce said.







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CAUSE OF DEADLY SILO COLLAPSE MAY NOT BE KNOWN UNTIL SUMMER







Firefighter Chris Straka / Fairless Hills Fire Department



Firefighters work to recovery the body of a man killed when a concrete silo collapsed in Bristol Twp., Pa, Thursday, January 9, 2015. Photo by Firefighter Chris Straka / Fairless Hills Fire Department.




Posted: Monday, January 12, 2015 9:15 pm | Updated: 10:30 pm, Mon Jan 12, 2015.



By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer



What caused the collapse of a 125-foot silo containing concrete mix powder at a Bristol Township materials warehouse may not be known until early summer, according the federal agency leading the probe.




By law, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has up to six months to conduct its investigation and release the findings, said Leni Uddyback-Fortson, regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor office of public affairs. The office does not comment on open investigations, she added.




OSHA workers have been at Riverside Industrial Complex in the 7900 block of North Radcliffe Street since the Thursday silo collapse that killed Anthony “Tony” Gabriele, 49, of Bristol Township, a company supervisor. His body was found Sunday after a four-day search involving hundreds of fire responders.



Gabriele was found near an outside office trailer next to the collapsed silo. An autopsy Monday found that he died of multiple injuries as a result of being buried under structural debris, Bucks County coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said.



Roughly 100 man-hours were spent between Edgely and 15 other local fire companies from lower and upper Bucks County, technical rescue teams, local police departments, contractors and other community members to find Gabriele.




Firefighters working in shifts sifted through several thousand tons of cement and used heavy equipment to remove steel beams of the collapsed tangled steel silo building.



As of Monday, it was unclear what role — if any — Bristol Township’s building and planning department would play in the investigation into the cause of the collapse of the structure, which was built in the 1980s, Bristol Township manager William McCauley said. He believed that OSHA and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor would lead the investigation.



“I will be discussing the matter with the director of building and planning and the township solicitor to review,” McCauley added, “but think the state and federal government agencies are better equipped to investigate this matter.”



A Bristol Township police officer on routine patrol discovered the collapse around 1 a.m. Thursday, Godzieba said. Gabriele was among the employees who worked until 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He was the only one unaccounted for after the collapse.




The silo that collapsed was the middle of three on the property, which are part of the Silvi Group Companies that have concrete and cement businesses in Bucks and Chester counties as well as New Jersey. Silvi also owns the Riverside Industrial Complex, where the Riverside Cement warehouse is located.




Last week an OSHA spokeswoman in Philadelphia confirmed there were three prior inspections at Riverside Cement; two inspections were initiated in 2004 and the result was in-compliance inspections.



The agency also conducted an inspection of the property in 2012 as a result of a complaint alleging fall hazards and limited means of egress from a vessel, spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Forson said. As a result, the company was cited for misusing an aerial lift as a crane to offload materials from the shipping docks, but the fall hazard complaints were unfounded.




The death was the third in two years involving a worker at a Bucks County company.



Last January, a 51-year-old Mount Laurel, New Jersey, man was killed when a rock salt mountain collapsed on the backhoe he was operating at the seaport near the GROWS landfill. Gustav Propper was an independent contractor working for International Salt, which rents dock space at the port.




In February 2013, a 50-year-old northern New Jersey man was buried alive in sugar at a Fairless Hills processing plant, an accident that a subsequent investigation suggested could have been prevented.




The joint Univision and ProPublic investigation found that a manager ordered a safety device removed because it was believed to slow production, and it was common practice for employees at the CSC Sugar plant to climb on top of the sugar inside hoppers since the Roebling Road warehouse opened in 2012; The report cited hundreds of OSHA documents in the Feb. 25, 2013, death of Janio Salinas-Valerda, who died of asphyxiation.



OSHA fined CSC, which refines and distributes sugar to food manufacturers, $25,855 after the accident. But after the plant installed a safety guard and started using a new procedure to break up sugar clumps the agency reduced the fine to $18,098, according to the investigation.






FORD RANGER TRUCK CRASHES INTO UTILITY POLE. DRIVER WAS CITED FOR FAILURE TO CONTROL.



FORD RANGER TRUCK CRASHES INTO UTILITY POLE.  DRIVER WAS CITED FOR FAILURE TO CONTROL.






JACKSON— Two people were involved in a single vehicle crash on Thursday afternoon on State Route 788.


At approximately 2:31 p.m. on Thursday, January 8, emergency responders were dispatched to a one-vehicle crash on State Route 788, near the mile marker three.


According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol report, a 1990 Ford Ranger pickup truck being driven by 35-year-old Donald Britz, of Jackson ended up crashing into a utility pole following a series of events.


Britz told the Ohio State Highway Patrol that as he was coming around the curve on State Route 788, near the mile marker three, when another vehicle was left of center causing him to go off the right side of the roadway. He then traveled back into the roadway, and then went back off the right side of the roadway and struck a utility pole.


According to the Patrol, a 36-year-old Beth Vest, of Jackson was a passenger in the vehicle. Vest was taken into the Jackson County EMS, but she refused treatment by the Jackson County EMS emergency personnel.


Responding to the scene were units from Ohio State Highway Patrol, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Jackson County EMS and Jackson Fire Department.

Britz was cited for failure to control.

2 PERSONS DIE; DEADLY CRASH CLOSES INTERSTATE 25 SOUTH OF COLORADO SPRINGS. A 2001 FORD MUSTANG LOST CONTROL ON THE ICY ROADWAYS, CROSSED THE MEDIAN AND COLLIDED WITH A SOUTHBOUND SEMI TRUCK CARRYING 8,000 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL. THEY WERE NOT WEARING SEAT BELTS.



2 PERSONS DIE; DEADLY CRASH CLOSES INTERSTATE 25 SOUTH OF COLORADO SPRINGS.  A 2001 FORD MUSTANG  LOST CONTROL ON THE ICY ROADWAYS, CROSSED THE MEDIAN AND COLLIDED WITH A SOUTHBOUND SEMI TRUCK CARRYING 8,000 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL.  THEY WERE NOT WEARING SEAT BELTS.





By Debbie Kelley Published: January 12, 2015 


A man and woman died Monday in a two-vehicle wreck on Interstate 25 south of Colorado Springs on Monday morning, according to the Colorado State Patrol. 


State troopers said a 2001 Ford Mustang was northbound on the interstate, near mile marker 125, when it lost control on the icy roadways, crossed the median and collided with a southbound 2013 Kenworth semi truck carrying 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel.


Crash investigators said the Mustang struck the left side of the semi, traveled under the trailer, and collided with the trailer's rear axles before being pushed backwards, spinning out and coming to rest near the center of the median.


The Mustang's driver, identified as 27-year-old Joshua Martinez of Pueblo, was not wearing his seatbelt. He was thrown from the car and died on scene. His passenger, 22-year-old Amber Pacino of Colorado Springs, was also not wearing her seatbelt and thrown from the car, troopers said. 


The driver of the semi, identified as 55-year-old Paul Hamelin of Pueblo West, was not injured. Troopers said he was wearing his seatbelt. 


Investigators believe the Mustang was driving too fast for the road conditions; however the cause of the crash is still under investigation. 


The crash shut down Southbound I-25 was shut down for several hours.

According to Twitter reports, southbound traffic was backed up 4 miles at mile marker 128 at about noon Monday because of the wreck and detour.


The fuel on the semi was off-loaded at the site, near the Ray Nixon Power Plant south of Fountain, according to the State Patrol.