This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
Cause of fire that ravaged the Lancaster County H.M. Stauffer & Sons Inc. lumber yard likely to never be determined December 5, 2017
By Travis Kellar
tkellar@pennlive.com
The cause of the fire that ravaged a lumber yard Upper Leacock Township will likely never be determined.
The state police fire marshal told WGAL the damage at H.M. Stauffer and Sons was so extensive that a cause could not be determined.
Crews initially responded to the fire at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. At least 10 fire companies were involved in fighting the fire. Responders struggled with water pressure issues in hydrants, and had to keep filling tankers with water from a nearby stream.
Residents in the township were even asked to conserve water as crews battled the blaze.
The fire destroyed a warehouse, and an employee suffered third-degree burns over most of his body. WGAL reports the employee remains in critical condition.
Damage from the fire is estimated at $1.5 million, according to the report.
The #Hamden
Fire Marshal has determined the probable origin of this afternoon's
apartment fire is an unattended laptop left charging on the couch.
Unknown if the cause is poor ventilation or equipment failure.
HAMDEN, CT — A plugged-in laptop charging on a couch was the cause of a fire Tuesday afternoon in a Whitney Avenue apartment, fire officials said.
The Hamden Fire Department responded to the Lakeshore Apartments on the corner of Whitney Avenue and Davis Street just after 2 p.m.
A neighbor called 911 to report smoke coming from the building and flames seen from the rear of the home, according to a release from the Hamden Fire Department.
Engine 3 arrived on scene and crews forced entry to the locked apartment and the unit directly next door and found that no one was home in either apartment. The fire was located in a rear-facing living room and quickly knocked down, according to the release.
Additional crews checked to make sure the fire hadn’t spread.
The fire was contained to the living room, which was determined to be the room of origin, fire officials said. Smoke and heat damage traveled throughout the affected apartment.
Fire Marshal Brian Dolan determined that a laptop, parts of which could still be seen after firefighters extinguished the blaze, was the cause of the fire. The computer had been plugged in and was charging on the couch, officials said.
The residents of the unit, two adults and an infant, were relocated by the American Red Cross.
“Due to the quick action of the neighbor reporting the emergency and extinguishment of the fire, no other units have displaced residents,” Deputy Fire Chief Gary Merwede said in the release. “Property managers were on scene to assess damage before the final units cleared the scene.”
Fire officials remind residents that accessories that require charging should not be left unattended or placed on surfaces that may inhibit ventilation.
“At this time, it is undetermined if the unit overheated or there was a failure of electrical or battery components,” Merwede said.
The Coast Guard confirmed Tuesday morning that one of the missing sailors is Michael Roberts, 44, of Fairhaven.
The Coast Guard confirmed Tuesday morning that one of the missing sailors is Michael Roberts, 44, of Fairhaven.
BOSTON, Mass. —
The Coast Guard suspended its search Tuesday at 8 p.m. for two missing fishermen near Nantucket, pending the development of new information.
The fishermen originally went missing Monday evening after their boat, Misty Blue, sunk approximately 10 miles southeast of Nantucket. Two other crewmembers were rescued by a nearby good Samaritan.
The Coast Guard, along with state and local agencies and good Samaritans searched for 42 asset hours saturating a 1,605 square nautical mile area.
The search included the following assets:
-An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod -An HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Cape Cod -A 47-foot Motor Lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Brant Point -Coast Guard Cutter Steelhead, an 87-foot patrol boat -Coast Guard Cutter Tybee, a 110-foot patrol boat -Coast Guard Cutter Albacore, an 87-foot patrol boat -Barnstable County Sheriff -Dennis Fire Department -Massachusetts State Police Dive Team -Fishing vessel Enterprise -Fishing vessel Mariette
The cause of the sinking is under investigation.
-USCG-
==================
FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (WPRI) — The U.S. Coast Guard Northeast is continuing its search for two missing crewmen after a fishing vessel sank 10 miles off the coast of Nantucket Monday evening.
A spokesperson for the Coast Guard said they received the distress call from the “Misty Blue,” a 69-foot vessel out of Fairhaven just after 6 p.m. Monday.
According to the Coast Guard, the vessel was based out of Fairhaven, where it docked at Linberg Marina on Middle Street.
The crew was clamming, and the captain and another crew member were able to get into a lifeboat after the incident occurred. They were later picked up by a good Samaritan and brought to shore.
The other two crew members are still unaccounted for.
The Coast Guard confirmed Tuesday morning that one of the missing sailors is Michael Roberts, 44, of Fairhaven.
Roberts’ wife, Tammy, spoke with Eyewitness News Tuesday morning. She met Roberts when they were both 16.
She said that the captain reported seeing Roberts in the galley donning a life jacket just before the sinking. A short time later, the boat flipped over.
Tammy said Roberts does not know how to swim.
“[The Coast Guard] said they’re going to get in touch with me,” she said. “They did tell me that they can’t put in the divers since they haven’t located the boat as of yet. They’ve just located debris.”
According to Tammy, Roberts was aboard the Misty Blue in 2015 when he had to be rescued, though the ship did not sustain any damage at the time.
The Coast Guard diverted two helicopters to the scene, as well as a 47-foot lifeboat towards the vessel. They are investigating the cause of the incident.
The Misty Blue is a commercial fishing vessel, according to New Bedford port’s database of vessels.
Nearly four years after a fire killed four people on Craig Drive in Kettering, the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office has now determined a cause of the fire and closed the case.
The state fire marshal’s office has ruled the cause of the fire as accidental and believe the fire was cooking related, according to Kelly Stincer, spokesperson for the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office. There also were no indicators of any criminal intent with the fire, Stincer added.
Firefighters and police responded to the home in the 1900 block of Craig during the overnight hours on Dec. 12, 2013 and discovered the home and a vehicle in the driveway fully engulfed.
The four people killed in the blaze were identified as Forrest Carroll, 76; Alicia Carroll-Mobley, 36; Shaun N. Mobley Jr., 4; and Jacob S. Mobley, 2 years old.
The fire marshal’s office said the investigation was closed on Aug. 15, 2017.
A
female contract worker Yesenia Espinoza, 31, employed by Echo
Maintenance LLC, died when a pipe fell and struck her on the head at
ExxonMobil Corp’s refinery in Beaumont, Texas
The
worker killed on a construction project at the Exxon Mobil refinery in
Beaumont died after she was hit by a piece of piping, according to a
suit filed by her family Monday.
Yesenia Espinoza, 31, was working for Echo Maintenance on a construction project.
In
the suit, filed in Jefferson County, Houston attorney Mynor "Eddie"
Rodriguez alleges that Exxon Mobil, Bechtel and Echo Maintenance were
negligent and caused Espinoza's wrongful death.
The petition alleges that the piping that hit Espinoza was "improperly rigged and handled" by the companies.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Ashley Alemayehu said today that the incident is still under investigation.
Judge
Donald Floyd signed a temporary order Tuesday, prohibiting the
companies from modifying, altering or disposing of "the facility or any
of its component parts involved in the death of Yesenia Espinoza."
The
order prevents the companies from moving or transporting any parts of
the facility without permission from the Court, and protects tools,
machinery or clothing involved in her death, as well as records or
photographs related to the incident.
The order is in place until
Dec. 13, when Floyd will hold a hearing and decide whether to issue a
temporary injunction extending the order.
================================ Contract worker dies in accident at Exxon's Beaumont refinery
(Reuters)
- A female contract worker was fatally injured on Friday while working
on a construction project at ExxonMobil Corp’s refinery in Beaumont,
Texas, a company spokeswoman said.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman
Charlotte Huffaker said the woman was employed by Echo Maintenance LLC,
which does construction for refineries and chemical plants.
Sources familiar with plant operations said the worker died when a pipe fell and struck her on the head.
Production
was not affected by Friday’s accident, the sources said. The refinery
is already operating at 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) below its 362,300
bpd capacity because the smaller of two crude distillation units (CDUs)
remains shut following a Tuesday fire.
The 110,000 bpd CDU sustained heavy damage in the Tuesday morning blaze that caused no injuries.
A spokeswoman at Echo’s Port Arthur, Texas, headquarters said the company had no immediate comment.
The
woman was working a project to build a SCANfinig unit, which removes
sulfur from gasoline to comply ultra-low sulfur gasoline standards, the
sources said. SCAN stands for Selective Cat Naphtha hydrofining.
The worker was 31 years old, according to the sources. She was struck by a 24-inch (61-cm) pipe.
In May 2016, a contract worker was struck in the head by a pipe on a construction project at the Beaumont refinery and died.
