Firefighters, bystander roll car off trapped boy

By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG Staff Reporter
Tue. Jun 22 - 4:53 AM

 

Police officers work at the scene of a car-pedestrian accident at the intersection of Robie Street and Lady Hammond Road in Halifax on Monday. A teenager trapped under the vehicle was rescued by onlookers and sent to hospital. (Peter Parsons / Staff)

 

 
AGROUP OF OFF-DUTY firefighters and a bystander rushed to save a teenager trapped under a car on a Halifax street Monday.

And they used only their brute strength to do it.

"We were just clearing up an executive meeting and we heard the rubber tires screech," said Derrick Harty, one of seven firefighters at the Lady Hammond Road station Monday for a union meeting.

"We realized what had taken place, and within seconds we were out the door."

A boy, 14, was crossing the street at the intersection of Lady Hammond Road and Robie Street at 12:27 p.m. when a car struck him.

Once outside, the off-duty firefighters saw the boy trapped underneath the car.

Harty called for heavy-duty airbags to lift the Volkswagen off the boy, but the Lady Hammond station didn’t have any and he said it would have taken too long to bring some in from the West Street station. That’s when "someone came up with the idea that we should . . . roll the vehicle."

The seven off-duty firefighters from the union meeting, plus another one who lives nearby and a bystander, a young man working at the old KFC building on Lady Hammond Road, lifted the car up and quickly rolled it onto its side.

Harty said it all happened so quickly that he doesn’t remember just how heavy the car was.

"Once adrenalin kicks in, you do what you have to do and I’m thinking that a bit of adrenalin was flowing at that point."

They soon saw that the teenager underneath was seriously injured and "not responding," Harty said.

He said a fire crew rolled in on a truck from the Lady Hammond station and the boy "did come to and did a bit of jumping around and stuff."

The crew settled him down, gave him oxygen and stabilized him until paramedics arrived to take him to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Harty said.

He didn’t know what condition the boy was in. He didn’t want "to blow anybody’s horn" but said that "if there was a good outcome, it’s partly because of the quick action of the people on scene."

Const. Brian Palmeter, a Halifax Regional Police spokesman, said the teen’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, but no other details were available.

"The early investigation indicates that the boy was crossing the street against the light when he was struck," Palmeter said.

The accident forced police to close Lady Hammond Road for several hours.

The off-duty rescuers went back to wrap up the union meeting, the bystander went back to work and the firefighter who lives nearby went home.

Harty praised the bystander and his fellow rescuers.

"As an off-duty firefighter, a lot of us do this because we love the job and we’re ready to kick in" at any time, he said.

 

Four new city fire halls on tap

Green facilities would replace old ones

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Ground might be broken on four new environmentally friendly fire halls by early next year if Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service officials get their way.

The news came Monday after the city posted a request for qualifications for potential designers and builders of four new stations in St. James, Charleswood, River Heights and South St. Boniface.

WFPS Deputy Chief Reid Douglas called the proposed construction "huge." Each building will have to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification, a type of green building ranking.

But the approximately $4.9-million project still needs city council's go-ahead later this year.

If city council approves the plan, Douglas said one new WFPS station will replace an antiquated building at 5000 Roblin Blvd.

"It's in deplorable condition right now," Douglas said. The hall has a sinking floor and shifting foundation, he said.

Two other existing WFPS stations, No. 12 Station at 1710 Grosvenor Ave. and No. 11 Station at 200 Berry St., would be closed and new stations built nearby. A fourth station will hopefully open near Bishop Grandin Boulevard and Lagimodiere Boulevard to serve a growing population in the city's southeast region, Douglas said.

The WFPS wants to keep response times under four-and-a-half minutes there.

"It's something we really need to really have a look at now before we get into a situation where we have 10,000 or 20,000 homes in the area with longer response times," said Douglas.

He said that new building is the top priority of the four being proposed.

The request for qualifications is looking for a deal known as a public-private partnership.

Douglas said that means private bidders will pitch plans to the WFPS about designing and building the facilities.

Those pitches could also include ongoing maintenance and financing of the new stations.

The request for qualifications also invites proposals about land suitable for the new stations.

"I guess we're looking at a blank canvas right now and we're looking at a new way of building stations. We're looking at the expertise from the private sector to see how we can build these as efficiently and cost-effectively for the taxpayer as we can," Douglas said.

The deal could mean the city leases the facilities on a long-term basis, Douglas said.

"It's big for the city," he said. "Not a lot of cities build four fire stations at a time."

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest said southeast Winnipeg needs more firefighter staffing.

He said a recent increase in the number of firefighters at Station No. 23 at 880 Dalhousie Dr. helped with major blazes like one at the University of Manitoba's Duff Roblin Building last month.

There will some significant changes in the new stations, said Douglas.

"All of this is still subject to council's approval," said Douglas.

Each station will also have a health and wellness space like a gym for firefighters and paramedics to use.

He said ideally, construction will start on the Bishop Grandin station by this fall.

Three months later, if council approves, construction will start on the other three stations.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Numbers on our service

New Winnipeg fire paramedic stations by the numbers:

$4.9 million: What the four new stations will cost

7,000 to 9,000 square feet: Size of each new station

40,000 people: Approximate number of Winnipeggers each station serves

What's proposed, pending city council support:

No. 18 Station at 5000 Roblin Blvd.: Will be demolished and rebuilt at same location

No. 12 Station at 1710 Grosvenor Ave.: Will be closed, new station opened Waverley St./Kenaston Blvd. and Grant Ave.

No. 11 Station at 200 Berry St.: To be closed, new one to open near Portage Ave. and Berry St.

New station: Bishop Grandin Blvd. and Lagimodiere Blvd. area