Crane truck driver was injured after the truck blew a tire and flipped on Route 1 in Bear, Delaware

Saturday, May 06, 2017 08:27PM

BEAR, Del. (WPVI) --

The 52-year-old driver of a crane truck was injured after the vehicle flipped on Route 1 in Bear, Delaware on Saturday morning.

The crash happened between Route 40 and Route 273 around 7:45 a.m.

Images from the Action Cam showed the truck's cab partially resting on a guard rail.

The truck had a tire blowout on the front left side of the vehicle which caused the truck to swerve into the center median.

The crane truck then struck the center guard rail and overturned onto its left side.

After striking the center median, flying debris struck passing vehicles which sustained minor damage.

Those drivers were not hurt.

Rescuers say the driver of the truck, Francis J. Roberts, was rescued after being trapped for about an hour. Medics say he suffered a possible chest injury and abrasions.

Roberts was in stable condition as he was taken to Christiana Hospital Trauma Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

 

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BEAR, DELAWARE 

May 6, 2017

A crane overturned on Route 1 in Bear this morning, trapping the driver in the wreckage and jamming traffic on the highway in both directions for hours.

Delaware State Police said the crash happened about 7:45 a.m. between Route 273 and Route 40. By 12:30 p.m., the wreckage of the crane had been removed but only one lane was open in each direction on Route 1. Earlier all lanes had been closed.

The truck was southbound when it flipped onto the driver’s side onto a metal guardrail in the median.

Emergency crews from Christiana and several other fire companies extricated the driver, who was trapped in the cab of the three-axle Peterbilt truck with a crane body for about 75 minutes.

The driver was treated for a possible chest injury and scrapes, said Cpl. David J. McKinney Jr. of New Castle County paramedics, before being taken by ambulance to Christiana Hospital in Stanton in stable condition.

 

South Coast Gas Co. employee 63-year-old Kim McGee electrocuted to death in Lockport, LA after touching high voltage lines

LOCKPORT, LA

A gas company worker was electrocuted by a downed power line Thursday afternoon in Lockport and died, authorities said.

According to Lafourche Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Brennan Matherne, deputies responded shortly after 4:45 p.m. to the 700 block of East Main Street after receiving reports that a South Coast Gas Co. employee had been electrocuted while working on a job site.


“Upon arrival to the scene, first responders found him lying unresponsive and lying near the electrical line,” Matherne said. “Based on eyewitness descriptions, it became apparent he had come into contact with an active electrical line.”

The man, identified as 63-year-old Kim McGee of Raceland, was in the process of locating a gas line so Entergy technicians could repair some power lines that had been blown down during a thunderstorm late Tuesday night, South Coast Gas Co. President Michael St. Romain said.

“He was locating our gas lines so that Entergy could replace a broken pole,” St. Romain said. “There were some wires that he came into contact with that were not isolated. When he came into contact with those wires, it killed him.”

The power lines were all too familiar to Sampey Fabrication owner Ross Sampey, who said he’s made numerous attempts to have the utility pole relocated because it posed a danger to his employees.

“The tragedy happened right in front of my facility Thursday afternoon,” Sampey said. “The night prior to the incident, one of our power lines broke because of the bad wind and weather. One of my employees at my machine shop next door came in at 4:30 in the morning and contacted me and Entergy about the power line being down. It was still hot and live. Someone needed to address the problem because it was certainly a hazard.”

Despite calling Entergy four times, no one from the utility company showed up to address the problem, Sampey said.

“Then Entergy called South Coast Gas for them to come out to mark the gas lines because they probably needed to reset the utility pole,” Sampey said. “One of my guys told me there was about 60,000 volts coming off that pole.”


By not disconnecting the power before contacting South Coast Gas, the utility company needlessly exposed McGee to a hazardous situation, Sampey said.


“It took 18 minutes for Entergy to come after the man had died to disconnect the power,” Sampey said. “This whole tragedy could have been avoided months ago because I contacted Entergy about moving those powerlines. They ended up sending me a quote for $53,000 just to move them. Now people want to hear my voice because someone lost his life. It shouldn’t have ever come to this. It’s not a good situation.”

Entergy spokesperson Amber Ferchaud said the company was looking into the incident but declined to comment further until the investigation had been completed.

McGee’s untimely death has left his South Coast Gas coworkers shaken and heartbroken. The company, which has been in operation since 1945, had never experienced such a tragedy in its 72-year history, company officials said.

Headquartered in Raceland, South West Gas serves more than 19,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Lafourche, Terrebonne and Assumption parishes and has 32 employees, according to the company’s website.

McGee, who had worked as a locator and cathodic protection specialist, had worked for the gas company for 45 years and was instrumental to its daily operations, St. Romain said.

“He was a very respected and likeable employee,” St. Romain said. “He had many other responsibilities as well. He protected all of the gas lines from corrosion, which is a very important job. He also provided a lot of knowledge and training to the younger employees.”

McGee’s autopsy was scheduled for this evening, the Lafourche Parish Coroner’s Office said.

The exterior portion of a a building under construction collapsed in Riverside, CA and damaged some equipment including a Pettibone lift

RIVERSIDE: No injuries reported after structural collapse at construction site

By Trevor Montgomery on May 5, 2017


RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – 


A structural collapse of a building under construction brought emergency first responders rushing to the location Wednesday afternoon, May 3. The collapse happened at a construction site in the unincorporated area of Riverside, west of I-215 on Meridian Parkway, according to fire officials.

Riverside County firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and other emergency first responders rushed to the scene of the accident, after emergency dispatchers received several 911 calls from citizens reporting an incident involving a structural collapse.

Twenty firefighters from three engine companies and one truck company responded to the structural collapse just after 2 p.m., according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire spokeswoman Jody Hagemann said in a written incident report. They were assisted by an urban search and rescue team.

“When firefighters arrived they located the exterior portion of a framed building that had (become) compromised and collapsed,” Hagemann explained. “The collapse damaged some equipment including a Pettibone lift.”

Cal Fire officials estimated that approximately 60 construction workers were working on the building when the collapse happened.

“Ten workers (were) working in the immediate area,” where the collapse happened, according to officials. “All escaped injury,” according to officials.

Firefighters immediately began search and rescue operations to determine if any victims were missing and to search for any victims, if necessary. Search and Rescue Team members quickly determined no workers were injured or trapped within the collapsed structure.

Cal/Osha personnel responded to the scene to assist with investigating the cause of the accident.

Their investigation into the collapse is active and ongoing.

NO SUVs FOR OLD MEN: An elderly auto auction employee drove an SUV through a massive crowd that killed three and hospitalized nine at Lynnway Auto Auctions in Billerica

BILLERICA, Mass. - An elderly auto auction employee drove an SUV through a massive crowd and slammed into a cinder block wall this morning, in an apparent "tragic accident" that killed three and hospitalized nine, the Middlesex district attorney said.

One man and two women were killed in the gruesome 10:15 a.m. crash at Lynnway Auto Auctions in Billerica, District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said today. Eight other people were seriously injured, including two with life-threatening injuries, Ryan siad, and one relative of a person who was killed was hospitalized for stress.
 

The driver, who is in his 70s, was not hospitalized, Ryan said. He was driving a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

"As this vehicle began to enter the building, following a pace behind the car in front of it, it suddenly accelerated, traveled through the inside of the building at a high rate of speed, striking numerous people and ultimately was brought to a halt by crashing into a cinder block wall at the far end," Ryan said.

Auction attendee Doc Kagan, who runs an auto service and sales company in Revere, described the impact.

“It sounded like a bomb went off -- people laying out on the floor in front of the car, people from the auction yelling for people to get outside,” said Kagan, who had just walked past one of the seven or eight auction lanes in the building when he heard the collision. The SUV accelerated and ran through a crowd before ramming into a car that had already been sold off before hitting a wall, he said.

“All of the sudden I heard this huge — I thought it was a bomb — it went through the brick wall and it hit another car waiting to leave," Kagan said. "There were people in front of it and people behind."

“The sight wasn’t right. Blood was coming out of someone’s head on the floor,” he added.

Kagan said he ran out of the building as instructed.

“Too bad from a day’s work, people are ending up getting injured, hurt or worse,” said Kagan, who regularly attends the weekly auction.

Four patients were taken to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, including one who died, a doctor said.

The patients were men and women ranging in ages from 30s to 60s, Dr. Casper Reske-Nielsen said. Two are currently in critical condition and the third is stable.

"One of the patients is in the operating room right now," he said. "(They) have a long road ahead of them."

Auction attendee Geraldo Lima, 46 of Somerville, estimated about 2,000 people were inside when the Jeep zipped about three feet from him, mowing down people for about 80 yards before slamming into a concrete wall with such force it cracked it.

"I saw the Jeep Cherokee driving through people," he said. "I was right next to the car -- I jumped away."

"I heard a lot of people screaming, yelling and then running from the accident. There was a lot of blood. ... It was so fast," Lima said.

People screamed and writhed in pain for minutes, Lima said. Once medics arrived, he saw them performing CPR on multiple victims. He said he saw at least one sheet laid over a person.

When asked if his life flashed before his eyes and felt lucky, Lima said, "For sure. Many people are hurt."

Jerome Jjooga, a Billerica car dealer, said he was checking out cars and heard a loud bang like an explosion and saw smoke.

“I’m lucky I’m alive,” he said.

Fredrick Kyazze, another witness, said he had already purchased two cars and was standing feet away when the Jeep drove into the crowd.

“We were just lucky,” he said, recounting how the injured lay strewn on the floor. “These are people you had just seen minutes ago."

Auction attendee Moses Alencar, 47, of Everett, who speaks Portuguese, said through a translator: "I've never seen a runaway car crash, people running fast, people picking up people. Three people died at the time, very bloody, several people injured."

In a press release shortly after the crash, state police said there is no evidence to suggest the incident was caused by an intentional or terrorist act.

"All evidence and information at this time suggests an accidental cause," state police said. "The investigation by Billerica and State Police is ongoing."

Arizona Department of Economic Security employee Jazmin Bridges and her son died in an apartment fire in Mesa, AZ

(Photo: GoFundMe)

 'The light is gone and you can tell that her presence isn't there,' mom says of daughter who died in Mesa fire

BrieAnna J Frank , The Republic | azcentral.com 

Published 3:41 p.m. MT May 4, 2017 | Updated 11 hours ago


Angela Bridges was at a grandson's college commencement in Detroit when she found out about the fire in Mesa that killed her daughter, Jazmin Bridges, and her little son, Keyron Goins.

The celebratory event quickly turned into a "nightmare," she said.

Now, Angela said she must console her 14-year-old granddaughter, who was at school when the fire erupted, coming home to discover her home was burned and her family members were gone.

Jazmin Bridges died in the fire along with her son.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security confirmed that Jazmin was a department employee. Tasya C. Peterson, DES director of communications, released a statement on behalf of the state agency on Friday.

"On behalf of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, we send our sincere condolences to the family of Jazmin Bridges," Peterson said in the statement. "We are truly saddened by her loss. Her kindness, beautiful smile and infectious laugh will be missed tremendously. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this difficult time."

The Mesa Fire and Medical Department was called to the apartment, in the 500 block of South Country Club Drive, about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, on a report of smoke in a residence, police said.


Firefighters found a smoldering fire that had nearly been extinguished inside an apartment's bedroom, police said.

Firefighters also found Bridges and a small boy who were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A GoFundMe page was created on Thursday to help Bridges' family with funeral expenses. As of Friday evening, the page had raised $1,115, with a goal of $5,000.

The page was created by Nikki Martinez, who said Bridges' mother was a close family friend and that all proceeds from the page would go toward helping her with funeral and other expenses.

"There's been a pretty big response," Martinez said. "She's helped a lot of people. She's got a huge heart and has always been there. She's done so much for so many people even when she doesn't really have it to help. So we wanted to be able to do something for her."

Angela said she's "so humbled and so grateful" for the outpouring of support she's gotten in the past few days.

"I feel very humbled and blessed that my daughter lived her life in such a way that people think of her and think of me and my family at this very difficult time," Angela said.

Angela described her grandson, who also died in the fire, as a "sweet little boy."

Jazmin's co-workers came to visit earlier this week, Angela said.

"They said she had the patience of Job in dealing with clients and she never complained," Angela said. "She did her work and did it with a smile.

"It's a somber moment in the office now because she's gone. It's not the same light. The light is gone and you can tell that her presence isn't there."

Angela says she plans to adopt her 14-year-old granddaughter, whom she said is "devastated" over the loss of her mother.

Angela said the family plans to seek counseling to cope with the tragedy, and that her faith and the need to be strong for others have kept her going.

"(It's) having faith and being strong for my granddaughter," Angela said. "She no longer has her mother, and I have to be there for her."

Mesa police said the cause of the fire remained under investigation.



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Mesa police: 2 people found dead in apartment fire
Alejandro Barahona , The Republic | azcentral.com 10:39 p.m. MT May 2, 2017

Two people — one of them a small child — were found dead inside a Mesa apartment that had caught fire Tuesday afternoon, Mesa police said.

The Mesa Fire and Medical Department was called to the apartment, in the 500 block of South Country Club Drive, about 4:30 p.m., on a report of smoke in a residence, police said.

Firefighters found a fire that had nearly been extinguished inside an apartment's bedroom, police said.


Firefighters also found the adult and small child, who were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Their identities were not available Tuesday night.

Police said the cause of the fire still was under investigation late Tuesday.