By Cody Muzio
The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. — When 28-year-old Oden Ridge volunteer firefighter Jantzen Frazier died on the way to an emergency call Oct. 17, departments across the county were shocked and hurt, Falkville Fire Chief Chris Free said.
To keep such a tragedy from happening again, Free, also the president of the Morgan County Volunteer Firefighters Association, said countywide changes may be needed.
“At our next meeting,” he said, “we’re going to throw out some ideas to (the fire chiefs) and see what we can do to possibly mitigate any further accidents of that nature.”
The meeting is scheduled for Nov. 12, but several volunteer fire departments already have taken steps toward better safety protocols.
Mike Hill, fire chief at Bethel-Gum Pond Volunteer Fire Department, said he has updated his department’s guidelines on driver qualifications and will present them at the meeting as a proposed guideline for each county department.
“This is something I had been working on before the accident, but it just kind of helped push it along,” he said.
He said the policy requires all drivers to be certified in emergency vehicle operations courses and pass a class with the Alabama Fire College, in addition to maintaining a clean driving record.
Somerville Area Volunteer Emergency Services Fire Chief John Stinson said he is making his driver training regimen more difficult.
“When we’re training a driver, an officer will ride with them on three check rides,” he said. He defined a “check ride” as “like a driver’s test” that culminates in having to reach a given address by the quickest possible route.
“I’m in the thought process now of, on their last check ride, having them drive to the top of Gum Spring Mountain, turn around and come back,” he said. “That’s the toughest road in our coverage area. It’s steep and very curvy.
“Driving on a flat, straight road is easy, but you get going on a curvy road where you can drop off a shoulder or something ...
“That would really help their training.”
It was on a curvy road that Frazier’s truck ran off the road and overturned. The state trooper investigation cited shifting water as the reason he lost control. Oak Ridge Fire Chief Jeff Duffey said that truck’s water tank had baffles that should have prevented such an occurrence.
Rock Creek Fire Chief Tony Taylor said after the accident, he called a department meeting, replayed an EVOC video about safety procedures and reiterated department policy. He heard Frazier had taken the firetruck out by himself.
“We have a system in place where if someone comes down there and takes a truck, we will come back with disciplinary action,” Taylor said.
Free said he also held a meeting with his department and reviewed protocol.
“Any time we have anything happen of that sort,” he said, “we look at those things and say, ‘OK, if this were us, what could we do differently?’
“We just reiterated that No. 1, be sure you put your seat belt on. No. 2, let’s make sure we’re getting to the call safely. Even if that means we have to get to the call a little more slowly, that’s what we need to do.”
Stinson and Taylor said safe speeds are important.
“I’m trying to remind people that these are big trucks,” Stinson said. “They don’t drive like your personal vehicle, so you have to be careful. If you don’t get to the scene with a truck, that becomes a problem and you can’t help us.”
Taylor said care is particularly crucial when driving water-bearing trucks.
“When you’re driving a tanker truck, it’s unlike anything else you’ll ever drive,” he said. “You’ve got that water going in it, and it’ll take you wherever it wants to, so you’ve got to drive it slowly.”
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(c)2013 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)
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