AFD on scene top of The Notch
A young woman hiking with family about two-thirds of the way to the top of Bare Mountain (the trail that leads from West Street up to the first summit) fell and injured her ankle.
The first responder to reach her realized motorized gator units could not make it to the remote location, so the Amherst Fire Department mobilized its "technical rescue team" which includes Northampton Fire Department personnel.
AFD packing up after successful rescue. Chief Tim Nelson 2nd from right
With Chief Nelson directing from a makeshift command off the parking lot to the Notch visitors center, the entire rescue was successfully completed in just over two hours.
Chief Nelson at improvised command
With this weekend at high risk for brush fires and the college town of Amherst party season at peak bloom, safe bet AFD will not be able to relax for the rest of the weekend.
Lots of rescue hardware on scene Notch Visitors Center
do you have a secret fantasy that never came true...you wanted to be a policeman or fireman but never were good enough ...so you waste their time by chasing them....arsonists do that...
ReplyDeleteAt least arsonists are smart enough to know when to capitalize.
ReplyDeleteUhh, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this Anon 4:57. There are MANY blogs devoted solely to the crime/fire events happening in a particular town/city. It's important to have an idea of what YOUR police and fire departments do on a daily basis, as you are helping to pay for them with your tax dollars. It's not "weird" to blog about things like this that happen in town. I think Mr. Kelley is doing a great job with this blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.
Larry has a fantasy that young people would be capable of carrying on a respectful dialog without using grade school name calling a slurs.
ReplyDeleteSomeone had a sprained ankle? Wow! That's big news.
ReplyDeleteIf it was your daughter, yes.
ReplyDeleteI gotta agree with Anon 8:06. Once the situation was assessed as a simple sprained ankle, the response was a outright overkill. Were any of the responders on-duty or were they all getting their four hour minimum?
ReplyDeleteI could have crawled down on my ass from any point on Bare Mountain in less than an hour and saved the embarrassment.
Yeah, because we all know how tough and determined CANs are. (Sarcasm alert)
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, they've gotta use up 100% of their budget for this fiscal year, so... bring out the rescue team!
ReplyDeleteThere was a brush fire in Pelham yesterday. You should have SEEN the personnel. In May, all gov't agencies are liquidating their assets right quick!
I know the Rolling Green fire back in January, you know the one where somebody died, pretty much burned through their overtime budget.
ReplyDeleteMost of the response to this recent incident was from on-duty personnel anyway.
And the overweight patient was unable to bear weight on their leg. What's the crew supposed to do once they realized that, turn around and leave them in the woods?
Student force who showed up get paid ZERO. And call force gets paid with no minimum hours.
so in other words fatsos shouldn't go hiking on difficult terrain. stay on the treadmill, fatty!
ReplyDeleteAt least she got out from behind the keyboard on a gorgeous day and showed some effort, CAN!
ReplyDeletei AM fat, so i don't go hiking and make things inconvenient for others. i take my own advice, and i know where i belong. at home, on the couch, sneering at the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteCapitalize much?
ReplyDeletei did. note the AM in "i AM fat." your punctuation is of an older, less sophisticated methodology. in the 21st century, capitalization is unnecessary. our young brains don't need to read I did this, and You did that to grok the meaning. this is newspeak, Larry; get with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat's next, spelling?
ReplyDeleteu mean spelling? you are SO behind the times, for a "journalist." please note period inside quotes.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI would like to address a couple of the previous comments. First a little background. My name is Jeff Parr, and I am a firefighter/Paramedic with the Amherst. I have been a full-time firefighter for 13 years. I have been an Emergency Medical Technician since 1987. 21 of those years in EMS have been at the paramedic level. In addition to this, I have extensive technical rescue training.
My partner and I were the first AFD members to arrive at the scene on Bare Mt. After proceeding up the trail, we found the patient in the care of a DCR wildland firefighter who had overheard the call and responded from the DCR FIRE station on Military Rd. After assessing the patient it was determined that they would be unable to walk down the trail, even with assistance. Next, my partner and I worked with the 2 DCR firefighters (a second had arrived on scene) to determine if there was a trail close enough to make it feasible to attempt to bring in an off road vehicle to remove the patient. Finding none, I requested additional resources as it was necessary to carry the patient out. Having just hiked up the trail, and having performed a similar operation over the same terrain in the recent past, I requested the technical rescue team as belay lines would be needed to ensure patient and rescuer safety. These carry out operations are extremely labor intensive due to the fact that a single group of rescuers can only carry the patient for so long before needing to be relieved. This combined with rugged terrain which makes for very slow going requires a large number of responders.
I post this for several reasons. First, if you’re going to accuse someone of improperly or unnecessarily performing an operation, or inflating the response, you should really know who you are accusing, in this case that someone is me. Then maybe you should use your name when you leave the comment. I can assure you that using up department funds before the end of the year was not on my mind, nor was generating overtime for off duty members. These things do not ever play a part in the decision making process at an emergency scene. I find the comment to be insulting and the commenter to be completely ill informed. Would it have been ideal if the patient had been able to limp down the mountain? Sure! Was this the case? No. So we have to play with cards we are dealt. Such is the nature of the rescue business, you deal with the situation you are given. If you'd like to discuss the appropriate use of public safety resources, or why certain decisions are made please feel free to come by and find me.
Jeff Parr
Firefighter/Paramedic
If you'd like to discuss the appropriate use of public safety resources, or why certain decisions are made please feel free to come by and find me.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that sounds like a veiled threat. Basically, for the reason that talking to Jeff at the Fire Station would not be the most appropriate or most effective means of making your opinions known regarding the use of the public safety resources we pay through the nose for. It sounds more like he's trying to be tough guy, like, "You know where you can find me--anytime."
And Larry, I know you don't like to post comments in response to Firefighters comments, especially Jeff, but, what the hell? I feel strongly about this.
Is it really appropriate for one of our firefighters to be "inviting" an anon to the fire station to discuss the use of our resources? Will Jeff be available to talk anytime the anon happens to stop by? 'Cause I might have a problem with that too.
No, it just sounds to me like Jeff believes if you are going to criticize something you should have the backbone to do so minus the cowardly cover of anonymity.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if you "feel strongly about this."
You sir, put the C in CAN.
If you pay me for my literary contributions to your blog I will use my name in my posts. But you don't get the numbers of comments and page views I help you get for free. And you'd likely see a spike in page views for a while if I used my name. So let me know.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me be clear. Nothing in my post was intended to be a threat. Just a genuine offer to praticipate in a conversation. No, I am not always available. I am often busy with emergency calls, and sometimes even have a day off. The firehouse is a public building and may be visited by members of the community. Any firefighter would be able to tell you when I would be expected back in the station. No tough guy here, just a professional firefighter who is a little sensitive to the accusations made about his actions.
ReplyDeleteJeff Parr
OK, Jeff, but I'm saying to you it does not help you or the station when you do that. The anon who made the comments could be from Delaware for all you know. There are 30,000 people in this town who are NOT questioning the job you guys do, don't let one anon from who-knows-where throw you off your game. Be less sensitive to those kinds of posts!
ReplyDeleteSo, my literary agent is waiting by the phone...
ReplyDeleteI always kind of hate it when a public official or person of power uses the "do you know who I am?" routine on us peons.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're using it as an Anon. Yikes!
Actually by now most public officials and heavy hitters in town have give up the pretense of not reading me.
So your name, whatever the Hell it is, would not impress my readers in the least.
I didn't say it would impress them. They'll have never heard of me. It's simply that, let's say, if Roach Patrol were to start using her name, people would tune in for a while, just to watch.
ReplyDeleteI have no power you would recognize and I like it like that.
All I'm saying is that if you want me to stop being a "coward" and use my name, and become one of the town's clowns, on my own accord without someone outing me, you'll need to compensate me beyond--I would guess since you are a volunteer news organization--what you are possibly capable of paying.
So don't hold your breath. Hey, at least I won't embarrass myself the way Cinda did. So not-cowardly.
Embarrassment is in the eye of the beholder. And you don't count.
ReplyDeleteThe frequent and sometimes incensed responses I get from you, Cinda, Ed, Wally, Jeff, Roach Patrol, Bach, Tom, and multiple anons suggest to me that I do count.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the perfect definition of a Troll.
ReplyDeleteSomeone clearly has some issues if they took a firefighters invitation to come by the station to chat as a threat. Any one of them would take the time, if they aren't busy with duties, to explain what they do to anyone who asks. If you've ever seen them showing the apparatus to kids you would see what an approachable, kind and caring group they are. Sheesh....
ReplyDeleteYeah, turns out -- even worse than a CAN -- he's a Troll.
ReplyDeleteWish I could figure out how to ban his IP address, but he's such a determined bugger he would probably just use anther computer (but not the ones at the Schools as they do not allow visits to this site).