This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
Santa Rosa, CA gas station worker burned during propane fire
RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | August 8, 2016, 10:47AM
Santa Rosa, CA
A worker at a west Santa Rosa gas station suffered a serious burn when an RV caught fire while the man filled its propane tank, Santa Rosa fire said Monday.
The 5:40 p.m. fire Sunday sent black smoke high above the Jolly Washer Express and 76 gas station at Piner Road and Coffey Lane as flames quickly engulfed the older‑model recreational vehicle and dangerously heated the station’s propane distribution tank, Santa Rosa Battalion Chief Matt Dahl said.
Santa Rosa firefighters arrived in just under three minutes, coming from the Coffey Lane station around the corner. They found flames and smoke pouring from the vehicle, 10 feet from the station’s propane tank. The tank’s emergency shut off button had melted as had a plastic casing hold a fire extinguisher at the tank.
“This was quite a sight. It was a pretty significant situation,” Dahl said.
Firefighters cooled the tank and extinguished the flames.
An ambulance took the 48-year-old victim to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Bill Gregoire, 48, later told his boss that just after he noticed smoke coming from the vehicle as he pumped propane there was a flash of flames, which burned one shin and part of one arm.
“He’s doing better. He was in good spirits but it’s very painful,” said Antonio Bunting, who manages the market, car wash and gas station. Gregoire was released from the hospital Sunday night to go home, Bunting said, but the man might need further treatment to stave off infection.
During the fire employees Hector Cervantes and Alex Raygoza hit an emergency gas and propane cut‑off switch and called 911. “They stepped up, they stayed calm the whole time,” said Bunting.
Police officers closed Piner Road due to keep traffic at bay and to allow more room for the huge emergency vehicles.
An investigation determined the station’s equipment operated properly and staff followed required safety steps, said Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Ian Hardage. The problem appeared to be a leak in the RV’s propane line, apparently at its refrigerator, leading to the fire. But the extensive damage precluded a definitive conclusion, Hardage said.
“It’s a gas station. There are inherent hazards. But all the precautionary devices that are installed operated flawlessly. It could have been a very much different story had the equipment on site been maintained in similar fashion as the RV,” Hardage said.
Worker overcome by heat exhaustion rescued from lighting structure at stadium.
Tuesday, August 09, 2016 05:39PM HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Firefighters were called to Aldine ISD's WW Thorne Stadium in north Harris County for a high angle rescue.
The call came in shortly before noon. A worker suffered heat exhaustion while working on lights at the stadium at 1865 Aldine Bender Road and called for help to get down.
The lighting tower he was working on at the time was more than 80 feet tall.
The Aldine Fire Department rescued the man.
"When you make a climb like this, the physical exertion that you're putting out on a day like today, I'm sure heat exhaustion played a big part of this," Chief Jackie Metcalfe said.
The contractor works for Lindsey Electric repairing stadium lights. As paramedics loaded him into an ambulance, he told Eyewitness News, "I'm okay. It's hot."
Dr. Coco Williard with Memorial Hermann Medical Group said heat exhaustion can happen to anyone.
"Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, those are actually signs that you're getting into a danger zone," Williard said, "and you need to seek some other medical care probably."
Lindsey Electric declined an interview with Eyewitness News but did say they are very glad this contractor is okay.
Many questions remain about why a car was stopped in a lane of traffic before a fiery crash on the Gulf Freeway
Updated 32 mins ago
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two people are dead after a truck crashed into a Mustang that was stopped in the middle of a road in southeast Houston.
Houston police say that accident happened around 10:15pm on the northbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway at Dixie Farm Road.
Several vehicles attempted to move out of the way of the vehicle, but a pickup truck couldn't swerve fast enough and slammed into the Mustang.
The car caught fire and two of the three people inside died.
Lanes were reopened just before 4am. Investigators reconstructed the scene for more than six hours overnight.
HPD says the driver will survive, and is expected to face intoxication manslaughter charges.
The driver of the truck will also survive.
As for the two victims who died in this crash, police did not have much information.
"It appears at this time to be two males but the vehicle caught on fire, so we're still unable to make that determination at this time," said Sgt. James Roque with HPD.
Investigators still have no idea why the Mustang was stopped in a moving lane.
One person died after being caught in a machine Tuesday morning at KBP Coil Coaters Inc. at 3600 E. 44th Ave., according to Melissa Taylor, spokeswoman for the Denver Fire Department
The worker was trapped in a machine called an aluminum splitter, Taylor said, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The company has no history of safety violations with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration office, according to Bob Klostermann, of the agency’s Denver office.
An aluminum splitter is “some type of rolling machine with some knives in it,” Klostermann said.
According to the company’s website, KBP is “one of North America’s largest independent buyers of aluminum and steel coil.”
Worker dies in crane accident at Laguna Woods Village
Aug. 8, 2016
Updated 9:32 p.m.
A cherry picker tipped over, killing a man in his 30s on Monday in Laguna Woods Village, authorities said. JENNIFER KARMARKAR, STAFF By LAUREN WILLIAMS / STAFF WRITER
LAGUNA WOODS, CA – A maintenance worker in a cherry picker was killed after the crane tipped over Monday morning in Laguna Woods Village, authorities said.
Rodolfo Velazco, 32, of Lake Elsinore, was killed at about 11:10 a.m. while working at Gate 8 of Laguna Woods Village on Santa Maria Avenue, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz and Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mark Stichter.
When paramedics arrived, CPR was already being administered, Kurtz said. Velazco was transported to a Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the coroner’s office.
Sheriff’s deputies took a death report, but the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety will be the lead agency investigating, Stichter said.
It is unclear the nature of the work Velazco was performing when he died.
The complex’s Chief Executive Brad Hudson called the incident “a tragic accident” in an email sent to Laguna Woods Village residents.
“I ask for your thoughts and prayers for our (Village Management Services) employee and his family,” Hudson wrote.
