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VOL 30 NO. 7
YOUR OFFICIAL HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER
Serving Bethpage, Island Trees, Plainedge, Seaford, Old Bethpage & Plainview
FEBRUARY 16-22, 1996 40 CENTS
TEAMWORK LEADS TO SUCCESSFUL WATER TOWER RESCUE
150' Water Tower Where Welder Fell Inside PHOTO BY HARRY LOUD
About every 15 years the
Farmingdale water tower needs to be
repainted. On February 12, 1996 the
750,000 gallon tank, which sits upon a
150 foot tall tower, was being prepared
for this operation. Welder Daniel Allen,
age 25, from Monroe, Michigan fell
about 40 feet to the inside floor of the
tank. His fellow workers called for help
and the Farmingdale Fire Department
responded. F.F.D. medics climbed up a
115 foot exterior ladder and entered the
stood by at Bethpage fire headquarters
throughout the long rescue.
Upon arrival, the tactical rescue
team and support personnel organized
entry teams. Bethpage Assistant Fire
Chief Peter Bianco would be the of-ficer-
in-charge inside the tank and Team
Coordinator Greg Patsos was the Operations
officer on the ground.
Farmingdale Chief O'Brien coordinated
the overall operation. The Team climbed
the 115 foot exterior ladder with their rescue
gear. This ladder was completely
vertical; over 11 stories straight up!
Once on the 16 inch wide catwalk, the
rescuers found a side hatch door and
entered the tank. Oxygen gas readings
were taken and then the crew worked
its way down about 20 feet to the tank's
floor. The rescuers on the tower included
10 from Bethpage, 3 from Syosset and
4 from NCPD's Emergency Service Unit
in addition to the original Farmingdale
medics. Anchor points for ropes and a
metal ladder had to be welded in place
inside the tank. Three separate rope
hauling systems were set up.
To remove the patient, several separate
operations had to be completed.
The patient was placed on a backboard,
his injured limbs were splinted and he
was put into a Stokes basket. The patient
had to be moved from the tank's
floor up 20 feet to the hatchway. A second
rope system was employed to maneuver
the Stokes basket through the
hatchway then 75 feet along the 16 inch
wide catwalk which ran around the tank's
tank's side hatch door and treated the
patient. He was conscious but suffering
from a broken right arm, left femur, neck
and back pain. Ten minutes later the
Farmingdale Fire Chief called the
Bethpage Fire Department for its specially
trained Tactical Rescue Team.
Bethpage then called Syosset's team for
back-up.The East Farmingdale Fire Department
and the Nassau County Police
also were called to the scene.
Levittown and Plainview firefighters
circumference. The Stokes basket was
secured with rope lines at the head and
feet, plus a third line which ran to the
very top center of the tank. (The top of
the tank is 150 feet above ground level.)
It was decided to use the workmen's
scaffold to lower the patient to the
ground. This meant that the Stokes basket
had to be lifted over the catwalk's
guardrail and down another five feet to
the waiting scaffold. The scaffold, which
measured about 3* by 20' long, was now
supporting two workmen (as operators),
the patient and a Bethpage Firefighter/
AEMT Tim Mooney. The descent took
about 10 minutes. The patient was
placed in a Farmingdale Fire Department
ambulance, driven to the Northside
School and transferred into a Nassau
County police helicopter. The patient was
airlifted to Nassau County Medical Center
in East Meadow where he remains
in critical, but stable, condition.
In spite of the dangers involved and
the 20 degree, windy weather, there were
no rescuers injured. The rescue took 2
1/2 hours. Another 45 minutes was
needed to retrieve rescue ropes and
equipment. Bethpage Assistant Chief
Bianco praised the teamwork and skill
of all the rescuers and different agencies
which lead to a successful mission.
The Bethpage Fire Department had 52
members answering this alarm; 28 actually
operated at the Tower scene. Vehicles
sent from Bethpage included Ladder
903, Rescue 9033, Tactical Rescue
9011 and Car 2.
Firefighters Lift Victim Over Guardrail And Place Him On Scaffold
PHOTO BY HARRY LOUD
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Bethpage-Tribune_1996-02-16 |
| Subject | Newspaper |
| Description | This is a Newspaper distributed locally within Bethpage, Old Bethpage, Island Trees, Plainedge and Seaford. |
| Creator | Florence Cullem |
| Publisher | Florence Cullem |
| Contributors | Scanned and Prepared by Hudson Microimaging, Port Ewen, New York 12466. |
| Date | 2010 |
| Type | Periodical |
| Format | PDF; TIFF |
| Source | Bethpage Public Library |
| Language | English |
| Coverage | United States |
| Rights | The Newspaper is in the public Domain and Digital Rights Held by Bethpage Public Library. |
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