Enrique Ruiz was very sick when he went to the emergency room at New York City’s Lincoln Hospital in April. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and bronchitis. Less than a week later, he was being treated for second degree burns on his neck and chest.

Sunday’s New York Post reported on the ordeal by fire that Enrique Ruiz suffered at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. As doctors were trying to insert a breathing tube, Ruiz caught fire. The pain was severe enough that he woke up from sedation. An electronic scalpel being used to cut an opening in his neck combined with the oxygen he was being given causing a flash fire around the surgical site.
(more…)

Senior Medic, Master Sgt. James Stranahan, of Shelburn, Ind., 53rd Civil Support Team, was in the third row stands when the stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair, Aug. 13, in Indianapolis. He witnessed the stage fall and jumped over the guardrail to give aid to the injured. Photo by Sgt. John Crosby

An Indiana Air Guardsman and medical expert found himself at the wrong place at the right time late Saturday night, Aug. 13, when the concert stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair here, killing five and injuring at least 40 more.

Senior Medic, Master Sgt. James Stranahan, of Shelburn, Ind., 53rd Civil Support Team, was in the third row stands when the stage collapsed. He witnessed the stage fall onto roughly 50 people who were still in the sand pit. He jumped over the guard rail and took action.

Stranahan triaged, treated and helped evacuate more than a dozen injured in the tragedy. Having responded to mass casualty situations before on deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he said this hit very close to home.

“In the military, there’s always that potential,” said Stranahan. “But, an accident of this magnitude, it’s tough. I’m an older guy, I feel like I can handle it. I feel bad for those kids that have to live with this memory for the rest of their lives.”

Stranahan has more than 29 years experience in the military including more than 20 years in the Indiana Army and Air National Guard. His military expertise, as well as his mission with the 53rd CST, is responding to civil emergencies from natural disasters to attacks from weapons of mass destruction.

Stranahan attended the fair with this girlfriend after he received a phone call earlier that evening from a coworker offering him tickets to Saturday’s concert. He and his girlfriend watched the opening act in the sand pit, just in front of the stage. Stranahan and his girlfriend returned to their ticketed seats after the opening act. Roughly 30 minutes later, tragedy struck. Stranahan described the strong and sudden 60-mph gust of wind that ripped through the fair collapsing the stage.

“Within just a few minutes, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped,” Stranahan said. “I could see just a wall of dust and debris tear through the Ferris wheel.”

Stranahan said the wind then hit the stage that caused it to fall within seconds. He also thought there would be a lot of injured fans.

“With all my military training, and the medical side, I knew I needed to spring into action to help these injured people,” he said.

“After the collapse of the stage, we started using whatever we could to help evacuate the casualties out from underneath the stage. We used the chairs that were knocked down, we folded them up and used them as litters. Guys were cutting pieces tarp, taking pieces of the collapsed stage, whatever they could find to help these injured people.”

Stranahan and others worked for more than an hour through the storm to try to save as many lives as they could. He treated head wounds, lacerations, broken bones, and other injuries. He dressed their wounds and carried them out. He said he witnessed firefighters, police, emergency medical technicians react but what amazed him was the multitude of bystanders who stepped forward. Doctors, nurses, and military service members there just to watch the show, stepped into action to come to the aid of their community.

“It was very gratifying to me, being military and me being a Hoosier, to see so many people come together, so quickly, from all different walks of life to help save those injured folks,” Stranahan said.

Stranahan’s enlisted supervisor praised his wealth of experience and his actions Saturday.

“His many experiences range from deploying for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield, Operation Iraqi Freedom, to responding to Hurricane Katrina,” said 1st Sgt. Tyson Johnson, 53rd CST. “All of this contributes to his immediate responsible reaction to the incident at the fairgrounds. According to his account of the events and the many news reports, he and the others were but a small percentage of the attendees that chose to run into harm’s way when all others were running for safety. Without hesitation he did exactly what he has been trained to do, and then some; assuredly, if the need should arise again he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. John Crosby

A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd Airlift Wing in Colorado Springs,Colo., equipped with a Modular Airborne Firefighting System, drops a line of fire retardant in West Texas, April 27, 2011. MAFFS-equipped planes are capable of dispensing 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in under five seconds. MAFFs aircraft have been sent to New Mexico to support the ongoing firefighting efforts in the southwestern U.S. U.S. Air Force photo - Staff Sgt. Eric Harris

Under the direction of the Joint Forces Air Component commander for Air Forces Northern here, two C-130 Hercules aircraft from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, both equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems, or MAFFS, deployed to Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., June 15 to conduct fire containment missions in support of wildfire suppression efforts in the southwestern U.S.

The aircraft are being deployed at the request of National Interagency Fire Center officials in Boise, Idaho. Members of the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group will provide command and control of the aircraft from Boise. This year, the 302nd AEG, which is composed largely of personnel from the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, Colo., has supported firefighting efforts in Texas and Mexico.

Fire containment missions, which are assigned by NIFC officials or the respective wildland fire manager, are scheduled to begin June 16.

The MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system that can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 60 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, a MAFFS can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

The MAFFSs are owned by the USDA Forest Service, one of several federal and state government agencies and organizations with roles and responsibilities in wildland fire suppression that comprise the NIFC in Boise, Idaho. Department of Defense aircrews are flying at the request of NIFC officials.

The Department of Defense, through the commander of U.S. Northern Command, provides support to the NIFC in conducting wildland firefighting operations within the continental U.S., Alaska, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as approved by the secretary of Defense.

AFNORTH is the air component for U.S. Northern Command and when tasked, provides support to local, state, tribal, regional and federal emergency service agencies.

Air Force
by Tom Saunders
Air Forces Northern Public Affairs

Photo taken by Ron Sander. Credit: US Forest Service, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

Sunrise in Western Arizona finds the Wallow wildfire still growing and only 5% contained. The morning situation report from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) show that the fire grew by over 50,000 acres in the last 24 hours, to a total burned area of 386,453 acres. 67 structures have been lost including 22 homes in the community of Greer.

The fire is being fought by 3,137 people, using 221 fire engines and 14 helicopters. Costs for this fire to date have reached $19 million. According to the website for the Wallow fire, bulldozers are being used to construct fire lines along the north and northeastern edges of the fire. Controlled burns are planned for tonight.

Two other large wildfires are also burning in Arizona.

The Horseshoe Two fire is 40% contained. It has burned at least 128,000 acres in and around the Coronado National Forest. It is burning south of the Wallow fire also along the New Mexico border.

The Murphy Complex fires are burning to the northwest of Nogales, Mexico. The fire is burning on both sides of the international border. It is 75% contained and has burned 68,000 acres. This fire is also burning in portions of the Coronado National Forest.

NIFC has recorded 31,115 wildfires in the United States in 2011 through June 10. This is less than the ten year average of 33,387 fires. Total acreage burned, however, is two and a half times greater with 3,959,427 acres burned this year compared to the ten year average of 1,523,983 acres. The combination of the current wildfires and those earlier this year in Texas (1.6 million acres) accounts for much of the increased burned acreage.

Exceptional and extreme drought conditions reach from the region of the Arizona fires east to the Atlantic coast in Georgia.

• Arizona: 18.4%, the southeastern counties
• New Mexico: 67.9%, the southern 2/3 of the state
• Texas: 85.4%, all but the northeastern corner of the state
• Louisiana: 70%, all but the northeastern corner of the state. Mitigated in part by Mississippi River flooding
• Mississippi: 7.9%, the southeastern panhandle
• Alabama: the panhandle and the southeastern counties
• Florida: 32.5%, the panhandle, eastern Everglades and Atlantic coast from Vero Beach to Homestead
• Georgia: 54.9%, almost the entire southern half of the state

15.7% of the contiguous U.S. is in either exceptional or extreme drought conditions. Last year it was 0.5%. In 2009, that figure was 1.9% and in 2008 2.4%. The last time the U.S. experienced drought conditions this severe was the winter of 2003-2004.

Japanese firefighters in Fukushima examine the control systems on a fire truck March 15, 2011, delivered to them from Yokota Air Base, Japan. The truck will be used to assist with recovery efforts in northern Japan following the earthquake and tsunami March 11. U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Andrea Salazar

A team of five Airmen and two Japanese nationals drove through the night March 15, to deliver a fire truck to firefighters in the city of Fukushima. The convoy, consisting of three Yokota vehicles and a police escort, departed the base at 1 a.m. enroute to a training site, 50 kilometers from the power plant.

After more than seven hours of traveling, the team delivered the P-22 fire truck to six Japanese firefighters, standing by. After delivering the fire truck, Nobuhito Takeda, 374th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, instructed those receiving the truck on how to operate it properly. Once training was complete, the Japanese firefighters thanked the team from Yokota for their help in delivering the truck and they began their journey home.

The request for assistance came from Japanese authorities and it was to aide in the recovery efforts following the earthquake and tsunami March 11.

by 2nd Lt. Christopher Love
374 Airlift Wing/ Public Affairs
Yokota Air Base