This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
First responders battle chemical fire on Goose Creek Lane in Southold
by Lisa Finn
September 10, 2015
SOUTHOLD, NEW YORK
Southold firefighters battled a chemical blaze in a home on Goose Creek Lane this afternoon.
The call came in at approximately 5:45 p.m. for the home; Cutchogue Fire Department was also called for mutual aid and sent a rapid intervention team to battle the working fire.
No one was home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported. Damage was contained inside the garage.
According to firefighters at the scene, the fire broke out in the garage, where a pool heater likely sparked, possibly due to the intermittent power surges due to today’s storm. The fire ignited chemicals, including chlorine, which were located nearby.
Chemical fires are hazardous to first responders, said Assistant Chief Craig Goldsmith. “The chemicals are dangerous if inhaled,” he said.
From Stripes.com Personnel at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, conduct laboratory work. Through its West Desert Test Center, the facility offers two primary services: testing and training. In May, the Pentagon reported that live anthrax samples had been sent out from Dugway. On Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that military facilities have shipped out plague samples. (U.S. Army) CDC investigation shows Pentagon shipped plague samples
by: Tara Copp | . Stars and Stripes | . published: September 11, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC
Pentagon labs under fire for mistakenly shipping live anthrax samples to all 50 states and nine foreign countries also mishandled potentially live plague samples, the department conceded Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns after it discovered a sample of the plague in a facility freezer “outside the containment area” at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Maryland, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
While the sample was labeled by the facility as inactive, the CDC “is conducting additional testing” to determine whether it was an infectious threat.
The CDC also raised concerns about a strain of equine encephalitis found at the facility.
Cook could not confirm whether the mishandled plague strain is the same one that caused the bubonic plague blamed for the deaths of millions in the 14th century. (The disease is now treated with antibiotics.)
The plague bacteria was discovered as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s investigations of the Pentagon’s facilities that handle and store dangerous biological material: Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center and Naval Medical Research Center, all in Maryland.
The CDC investigation was launched after the Pentagon reported in May that it had sent anthrax samples to a handful of labs and states and one foreign country. That number rapidly grew worldwide as it became evident that more than half the master strains used to cull samples at its lab at Dugway were live when the lab thought they were inactive.
The Pentagon reported that live samples from Dugway were sent to 194 labs in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, Norway and Switzerland.
Last week Army Secretary John McHugh ordered a suspension on shipments of biological agents of any kind from any DOD facility and a 10-day “immediate safety review.” No illnesses have been reported as a result of the mistakes, and no one has been held accountable for the releases. The Pentagon said it is waiting for the final report on the shipments, due in October. - See more at: http://okinawa.stripes.com/news/cdc-investigation-shows-pentagon-shipped-plague-samples#sthash.Z1qqy9ke.dpuf
A general view from inside the Grand Mosque showing a part of a large crane that collapsed on the mosque on 11 September 2015. The civil defense authority of Saudi Arabia has confirmed at least 52 casualties with some 30 people injured in the accident. (EPA/STRINGER)
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) —
Saudi Arabia's civil defense authority has raised the death toll from the collapse of a construction crane at Mecca's Grand Mosque, saying at least 87 people have been killed.
The authority announced the latest casualties' figure from Friday's accident on its official Twitter account.
The accident happened as pilgrims are streaming into Islam's holiest city for the annual hajj pilgrimage later this month.
Videos and photos posted by social media users showed a grisly scene, with police and onlookers attending to bloodied bodies on the polished mosque floors.
God is great.This happened on 9/11 of all days? Justice? Revenge? Anyway, thousands are killed every year during these Muslim pilgrimages. This is just a drop in the bucket.
The crane could be one of 20 Wolff 355B cranes installed
around the mosque in 2011, part of an order received by Wolffkran and
its local partner the Roots Group.
North Carolina under statewide quarantine for tree beetle
Markings left from emerald ash borer larvae on a tree (Mike Groll, File)
RALEIGH --
North Carolina has enacted a statewide quarantine because of a tree-killing beetle.
The
state agriculture department said in a statement that Agriculture
Commissioner Steve Troxler signed an emergency order Thursday expanding
the quarantine for the emerald ash borer to include the entire state.
The quarantine means that ash trees cannot be moved into non-quarantined areas.
Troxler
said he expanded the state's quarantine after the beetle was found
across the state, including near the state lines with South Carolina,
Tennessee and Virginia.
The department says firewood that has
been treated, certified and labeled according to federal regulations can
be moved outside the quarantine area.
The beetle was first found
in Michigan in 2002. It's been blamed for the death or decline of tens
of millions of ash trees across the nation.
A 3-year-old was killed in Newark in an apparent car wreck.
Cordell
Tullis said his 3-year-old son, Rahmere, was killed Friday while
walking to school with his mother. She said the incident started with a
police chase.
"My son was the sweetest child in this world, man,"
he said. He blamed police chasing a suspect for the incident. "They
should've never been chasing him like that. (It) would have never
happened and my son would still be here."
The Essex County Prosecutor's Office said police were in pursuit of a suspect's vehicle around 7:30 a.m.
"I
can confirm Newark police were in the area and in pursuit of an
individual what other details in this investigation will come out
later," said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray.
Representatives
from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office were on the scene in Newark
at 15th Avenue and South Seventh Street where the child was struck
during a police chase. Police report that a suspect is in custody.
The incident is still under investigation.
A silver/tan Chevy SUV and a sedan were apparently involved.
On
Friday, several neighborhood people complained that there should not
have been a police pursuit while children were going to school.
Professional standards will be reviewing the situation.
Newark is a dump for sure, it has been for many years despite some improvements. Crime and violence is rampant.
