MEC&F Expert Engineers : 06/14/15

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Female driver killed in a southwest valley rollover crash in Nevada





Woman killed in southwest valley crash ID’d


A 34-year-old woman killed in a southwest valley rollover crash Saturday morning was identified by the Nevada Highway Patrol as Jessica Kenney of Las Vegas.

Kenney was driving south in a 2011 Chevrolet Impala on state Route 159, one mile north of Blue Diamond Road, when she drove off the roadway, NHP trooper Loy Hixson said.

A LinkedIn account under Kenney’s name shows that she was a newspaper delivery contractor for the Review-Journal for the past four years where she worked a 1 a.m.-to-7 a.m. shift. That couldn’t be immediately confirmed.
NHP troopers and Las Vegas police responded to the single-vehicle wreck about 6:20 a.m., Hixson said.

The Impala rolled into a ravine and Kenney was thrown from the car. She was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, Hixson said.

Hixson said road markings didn’t indicate there was any loss of control before the crash. NHP is still investigating.

WRONG-WAY DRIVER KILLED, 2 SERIOUSLY INJURED IN CRASH ON I-8 NEAR STANFIELD, ARIZONA








JUNE 13, 2015

STANFIELD, ARIZONA

A driver is dead after driving the wrong way down Interstate 8 late Friday evening.

A spokesperson with the Arizona Department of Public Safety says the driver was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-8 near the town of Stanfield.  

DPS had received reports of the wrong-way vehicle just after 11pm, and arrived on the scene of a deadly crash just after 11:15pm.  

Officers found the wrong-way eastbound driver had crashed into another passenger vehicle that was heading west on I-8.  The wrong-way driver, who is only identified as an adult male, was pronounced dead on the scene.

DPS says the westbound vehicle that was struck had two people who were injured, including the driver, who had to be rescued from the damaged vehicle. 

 He and an injured boy were both airlifted to the Valley with serious injuries.  A third person in that car was not injured.  

Arizona DPS has released photographs and video of the scene.  They are working to identify the driver who was killed at the scene.  

Investigators say impairment does not appear to be a factor (?).

1 TEEN WORKER KILLED, 1 INJURED WHEN DIRT AND DEBRIS CAVED IN ATOP OF THEM AS THEY WORKED IN A SEWER LINE TRENCH OFF DIXIE HIGHWAY IN KENTUCKY.











JUNE 12, 2015

LOUISVILLE, KY.

Days shy of his 20th birthday, a teen from Tennessee lost his life Thursday when dirt and debris caved in atop him as he worked in a trench off Dixie Highway.

Jonathon Moore, of Cedar Grove, Tenn., was officially pronounced dead shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, though fire department officials said the teen had died in the trench hours before.

Deputy Coroner Larry Carroll said Moore died of traumatic asphyxia and blunt force impact injuries.

A fellow construction worker was also trapped from the waist down in the trench but survived the collapse and was rescued just before 7 p.m. Thursday.

For more than four hours, firefighters worked in the blazing heat to free the man, who was taken by ambulance from the scene.

Emergency responders were called shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday to the 13000 block of Dixie Highway where they discovered the two men trapped in an 8- to 10-foot-deep ditch.

The workers were in the trench digging sewer lines when a heavy heap of shifted dirt and concrete on the trench's edge gave way, said Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District assistant chief Dan Vanover.

It is not clear what safety measures were in place at the construction site, but Vanover said that inside the trench was a trench box, a structural device meant to strengthen unstable soil and protect workers in collapses.

The men worked for LeFevre Construction, based in Jackson, Tenn. Multiple emails to the company have not yet been returned
Source: http://www.wlky.com

Crop Duster Hits the Dust in Foster, Nebraska. Pilot Suffers Injuries.



JUNE 13, 2015



FOSTER, Nebraska

A Bloomfield man is injured after his crop duster was forced to make an emergency landing north of Foster on Friday afternoon.

Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt says at around 12:15 p.m., a plane owned by Bloomfield Ag and Aerial was crop dusting a hay meadow field near Highway 13 and 542 Avenue near Foster when the pilot lost power to his plane.

“The engine lost power and the pilot tried to take it in for a landing and it plowed in and flipped end over end and landed on it’s top.”

Sheriff Eberhardt says the 27-year old pilot, Brandon Rosberg, was transported to Osmond Hospital by Osmond Fire and Rescue after he was alert and talking to emergency personnel. Eberhardt says Rosberg had complained of back and neck pain and was assisted by witnesses before emergency personnel arrived on the scene.

The Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation into the incident, with a crew from Lincoln arriving to take over the scene on Friday.

WAR AND BUFFET'S BNSF RAILWAY TRAIN WITH 31 CARS CARRYING COAL DERAILED NEAR AMAZONIA, MO.






Tractor-trailers hauling railroad ties line State Route K near Amazonia, Mo., where a train with more than 30 cars derailed early Saturday. It could take crews up to two days to repair the damage, Andrew County Sheriff Bryan Atkins said.

JUNE 13, 2015

AMAZONIA, MO.

A train derailed in Andrew County early Saturday, putting a stop to railroad traffic and closing one road.

Andy Williams, with BNSF Railway, said 31 cars carrying coal derailed at about 3 a.m. Saturday. The train, he said, was headed southwest at the time of the accident. No one was injured, and the cause of the derailment is under investigation.

The accident happened just south of the State Route K and County Road 392/375 intersection near Amazonia, Mo.

Andrew County Sheriff Bryan Atkins said Route K was closed from Camp Geiger north to County Road 392/375 while crews clean up the wreck.

“They’ve got quite a mess down there,” he said of the accident. “... (Railroad crews) are working to unload equipment so that they can go down and clean it up and get their track back open so they can get the trains that are all stacked up north of here back to running again.”

Mr. Atkins said he hadn’t been to the scene yet, but BNSF and equipment officials told him it could take up to 48 hours to clear and repair the railroad.
“There will have to be track replacement done,” he said. Crews on Saturday afternoon were unloading multiple tractor-trailers of railroad ties on Route K near the scene.

Since crews will be working in the area, Mr. Atkins asked motorists to try and avoid Route K from Camp Geiger to County Road 392/275 for at least the rest of the weekend.

UNION PACIFIC TRAIN DERAILS IN ODESSA, TEXAS




JUNE 14, 2015

ODESSA, TEXAS

Union Pacific crews are working to clean up from a train derailment that happened on Saturday morning.

The derailment happened around 3:30 a.m. near Loop 338 and Highway 80.
According to a spokesman with Union Pacific, a westbound train derailed 10 cars, six were on their side and four remained upright.

Crews are working to repair about 400 feet of track.

Once that's done, officials will reopen train traffic.

The overturned cars have been moved out of the way but officials say they will not be able to pick them up until everything is repaired, which will be a few days.

There were no injuries due to the derailment.

Images: Refugio oil spill response

Refugio oil spill response
Crews remove boom from Refugio Beach near Santa Barbara, Calif., June 13, 2015. No signs of oil on water from the Plains Pipeline 901 rupture have been reported for several days. (Photo by Eric Laughlin, CFW)


Refugio oil spill response
Crews remove boom from Refugio Beach near Santa Barbara, Calif., June 13, 2015. More than 10,580 feet of boom was deployed to protect sensitive areas and prevent further oil contamination. (Photo by Eric Laughlin, CFW)

4 people rescued after boat capsizes near Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie


Boasting Safety App 

CLEVELAND, OHIO

A Coast Guard boat crew from Station Marblehead, Ohio, rescued four people from Lake Erie Friday afternoon after the people’s boat capsized near Kelley’s Island, sending all four into the lake.

One of the boaters used a cell phone to notify watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Detroit that the vessel was taking on water and passed his location, but communication was eventually lost and could never be re established.

When the Coast Guardsmen arrived on scene, all four people were in the water with their life jackets on. The boat crew brought them aboard and took them to Station Marblehead where they were evaluated and released by awaiting EMTs.

The U.S. Coast Guard smartphone app allows boaters to call the nearest Coast Guard sector command center if they are in need of assistance, but the Coast Guard reminds all boaters cell phones should be a backup means of communication since they often don’t work offshore or when they get wet. 

A VHF-FM marine radio or personal locator beacon should always be the primary means of distress notification. When a boater calls for help on VHF-FM channel 16, other boaters in the area can hear the broadcast and may render assistance before the Coast Guard arrives