By C.J. Lin, West Bank bureau
The Times-Picayune
GRETNA, La. — A federal investigation into last year’s death of an on-duty Gretna firefighter has resulted in a recommendation that some of the volunteer department’s equipment be retired.
Fire departments should stop using equipment more than 25 years old since significant safety improvements have been made in the past 15 years, according to a report released last month by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, an agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ralph Arabie, a 30-year veteran of the David Crockett Steam Fire Company No. 1, was killed last September at the Lafayette Street station while showing an insurance adjuster damage to the station’s roof from Hurricane Gustav. He was operating a 1965 aerial platform when the boom struck him from behind and pinned his head to the back of one of the station’s trucks. He was pronounced dead at the scene of blunt force trauma to the head.
“The day he died, he wasn’t even supposed to work on that truck,” said his stepdaughter, Casey Christiana-Guidry. “His partner with only five years experience was supposed to operate the truck. But my stepdad told him he didn’t trust the truck since it was so old and not properly maintained, (and) that he would do it.”
Christiana-Guidry said a NIOSH representative told the family that if safety devices had been installed, Arabie would be alive today.
“It’s too late now,” Christiana-Guidry said. “But I just don’t want it to happen to someone else.”
Financial constraints make replacing equipment every 25 years nearly impossible, said Bobby Black, the fire department’s former chief.
Black oversaw much of the department’s ongoing 10-year plan that began in 1998 to replace outdated equipment.
“I challenge any department in America to meet that criteria,” said Black, who added that the department’s equipment undergoes annual inspections and still meets specifications. “It’s very hard to replace vehicles every 25 years.”
A fire truck that cost about $240,000 when it was bought at the beginning of the 10-year plan now costs about $400,000. An aerial truck now exceeds $1 million.
Black estimates that costs under the plan total $3 million to $4 million. The department is projected to bring in $1.7 million in revenues this fiscal year while operating expenses total $1.5 million. The station also is working with the city to secure grants for equipment and firehouse construction.
The NIOSH report suggests that the station’s 1968 fire truck, 1980 command vehicle and the aerial platform involved in Arabie’s death be retired. The department’s fleet is composed of 13 vehicles, including two aerial trucks and a boat. The newest additions are two 2008 fire trucks.
The station has two apparatus left to replace as part of the plan: the 1968 fire truck and 1965 aerial platform. One truck can take about eight months to be custom built, which means that it can take more than a year to get to the station since financing has to be secured first, Chief George Burnetz Jr. said.
Replacement of the 1968 truck was scheduled for the beginning of this year but was pushed back to 2012 after Hurricane Katrina, Black said. The communications vehicle is only used during storms and not on the front-lines during fires.
The aerial device and the 1996 truck it is attached to are still in the station, but they’re not used to respond to calls even though the device was recertified at least twice last year, Burnetz said.
Although the aerial device had been refurbished in 1996 and is inspected annually, it lacks modern design and safety features, according to the report. One such design flaw was that the controls were located directly under the cradled boom, which put the operator in danger of being hit by the boom or platform.
Investigators said that the device could have had an age-related mechanical or hydraulic failure causing the boom to descend more quickly than usual, but they could not confirm this because it had been impounded by the city after Arabie’s death. Another theory was that the boom was not in the correct position when lowered.
The report also suggests that extra safety measures be taken to compensate for older equipment, such as using someone as a spotter or adding modifications such as kill switches.
Copyright 2009 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company