Better late the never! Here is the press release regarding the new Ambulance 710 (2010 Ford E-450/Horton) being placed in service

For Immediate Release

July 28, 2011

Ambulance 710, a 2010 Ford E-450/Horton, has been placed in service

Fire Chief James P. Seavey, Sr. and Department President Lee Hunter, along with the entire membership of the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department are proud to announce that a new Ambulance 710 has been placed in service.  The new unit is a Horton Concept III built on a 2010 Ford E-450 chassis. While this unit is markedly different from the other current county-owned Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) units, it is able to preform to the same standards.

Defining features of the unit include the electrical control system aimed at easy-of-use and low learning curve and energy efficient technologies. Specifically, the new energy efficient features such as 100% LED compartment lighting and emergency lighting mean that the unit does not have to idle at high engine speeds as often to preserve battery charge, resulting in increased fuel savings.

Paid for primarily in donations given to the department, this unit was chosen for it’s low cost to build as a result of pre-designed specification. While most departments are fearful of apparatus not built to specifications for the jurisdiction in which they will operate, Cabin John Park VFD and committees assigned to the procurement of a new ambulance had no problem choosing a Horton built ambulance on a Ford F-450 chassis as this style of unit has gone above and beyond the call of duty in District of Columbia Fire and EMS. Already this unit has proved that it is up to the call of duty in the Cabin John, West Bethesda, and Potomac areas – and while some of the changes require adjustment, most are welcome.

Step inside the patient compartment, and most users immediately notice how much larger the workspace is compared to MCFRS units. Most find it hard to believe that the available patient space is much larger in a unit built on Ford Econoline chassis compared to a medium-duty commercial chassis as the current MCFRS units are. Also, the lower-profile Econoline chassis means that complicated air lowering systems so that patients can be loaded and unloaded are not needed, resulting in lower chance of the unit going out of service. With more of a focus on the patient by design, Ambulance 710 is truly a unit for the citizens that helped pay for it.

The department would like to thank go out to Retired Chief Robert Hook, with his assistance in the purchase of Ambulance 710. Also, much needed thanks go to Captain Corinne Mann and Firefighters Harrison Wilson and Alex Cederbaum, as well as all the volunteers at station 10 for their work for making this unit ready for service.

Contact:

Fire Chief James Seavey, Sr. at 301-252-5315

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Feel free to let us know if you spot the unit, or take pictures/video of the unit on a call, responding to a call, or just around town.

Side Alpha of Archbold Rd Fire. Photo by Fire Chief James Seavey, Sr.

At 1649 hours on July 14, 2011 the box tones were struck for a reported working fire in Station 10′s first due. Chief James Seavey, Sr. was upstairs in his office when the call came in, and when the bells went off he rushed to his buggy and from Station 10 to the scene. When he arrived he took command of a townhouse with fire showing from the front that had originated in an upstairs bedroom. Confronted with large amounts of fire, Chief Seavey requested a second alarm assignment be sent.

All occupants were out of the house at the time Cabin John Park VFD units pulled up, and the fire was knocked in a relatively quick fashion thanks to the combination engine company made up of both CJPVFD volunteers and Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service firefighters. Once the fire was knocked, overhaul began confirming the fire had been extinguished, without loss of life. All units were back in service at Station 10 shortly before 2000 hours.

FF Wilson and Airboat 730 meet with the vent group supervisor upon arrival at Days Inn fire. Photo by Michael Schwartzberg / www.firepix1075.smugmug.com. (see more photos of incident at his SmugMug page)

At approximately 2330 hours on Saturday, July 9th the special service tones dropped at Cabin John Station 30 for an unusual request. In Catonsville, Baltimore County, a seven-story Days Inn had caught fire, bringing 4 alarms worth of units to the scene to help control fire, which reportedly started in an electrical closet and had spread to the top floors. After most of the fire had been knocked, command staff on scene was tasked with finding a way to provide positive pressure ventilation to the building.

For those of you who aren’t well versed in fire science, positive pressure ventilation is a technique in which firefighters force clean air into a building to push out smoke and heat. This is especially useful on large building where it would cause excessive damage to create enough opening to let smoke at heat vent naturally. The only problem with doing positive pressure ventilation on a seven-story building those is putting enough air in. To properly ventilate using positive pressure, more air must be forced into the building than what can be let out by natural and man-made openings. When the vent group supervisor noticed that several small fans, usually suited for a one or two family house wasn’t providing enough air, he turned to the planning division chief to come up with a solution. That solution was Airboat 730.

This is not a first for the airboat. Almost a year ago, the airboat was called to Baltimore to help ventilate a tunnel that had filled with smoke. On this night, FF Jim Gross of the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service and Cabin John Park Volunteer FF Harrison Wilson took the airboat to Catonsville to assist. Airboat 730 was positioned at a large doorway at the bottom of a stairwell while still attached to the trailer and began forcing large amounts of air into the building. Under the direction of the vent group supervisor, Airboat 730 ventilated for about thirty minutes – until it was confirmed that most of the smoke and heat had been forced back into the building. FF Gross and FF Wilson made it back to their bunks around 0230 hours Sunday Morning.

Did you know that between the first due areas of station 10 and 30 Cabin John has several different golf courses, including national recognized ones such as Burning Tree, TPC at Avenel Farm and Congressional? The USGA decided several years back that in 2011 the U.S. Open would be held at Congressional Country Club, whose entrance is just feet from Station 10. To put on such an event requires significant amounts of planning and manpower, both of which members of Cabin John stepped up to the plate to provide.

From Chief officers provided command level support, all the way to our newest of volunteers filling the rolls as assistants, many members put in many hours provided emergency services to the golf tournament, which drew spectator levels in the 50,000 area. While we don’t have official totals on number of calls, or numbers of hours volunteered by our members, we can assure the masses that without the support our volunteers provided, the level of care offered could not have been met without high cost to taxpayers and spectators.

While articles and reports on the scale of what happened behind the scenes at the U.S. Open are still forthcoming, it is safe to say that the 2011 U.S. Open was treated as a large scale incident that would have not run as smoothly had it not been for the FEMA-designed Incident Command System. Using this nationally standardized system to operate not only helped in effective operations, it allowed new members to get amazing training for when major incidents do occur and it allowed command level staff to not only refresh their skills, but boost their confidence at operating large scale incidents.

At this time Cabin John would also like to thank the career staff of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service that also filled vital positions at the event, including providing manpower and apparatus that are beyond what Montgomery County volunteers can provide. Speaking of Montgomery County Volunteers, Cabin John would also like to send its “Thanks” to those of all the other Local Fire & Rescue Departments that helped provide manpower and apparatus that helped make the 2011 U.S. Open function smoothly. The amazing relationship between Montgomery County Career and Volunteers also lead to the saving of a life. We look forward to the next major sporting event held in our first due, are ready to step up to the challenge, and considering the amount of golf courses in our first due, ready to watch another couple rounds of golf!

Tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 26) CJPVFD will be at the Cabin John Mall Baskin Robbins (located at the corner of Seven Locks Rd and Tuckerman Ln, in Potomac, MD) to help scoop ice cream which will cost visits between 5PM and 10PM only 31 cents per scoop!

Baskin Robbins every year helps support the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and to raise awareness about the foundation and help rally support they will be offering ice cream at 31 cents a scoop. If you can’t make it out to see us at the Cabin John Mall Baskin Robbins, don’t worry, because this is a nationwide event happening at ALL Baskin Robbins locations in the United States.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is an organization that will help support families of those involved in a Line-of-Duty Death. When a family member is lost while trying to help others the Foundation steps in to make sure that those lost are properly honored. A memorial has been established in Emmitsburg, MD to honor those lost. The Foundation runs, in large part, off of donations and Baskin Robbins this year is committing $100,000 to the foundation, regardless of sales tomorrow night.

So come on out for cheap ice cream, and meet some us! We will bring some of our trucks and equipment for everyone to look at and will be happy to answer any questions and to help make sure that you pick the right flavor with your 31 cents. May we suggest the flavor of the month, “Firehouse #31“?

To learn more about The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, please visit http://www.firehero.org/

From Sunday afternoon, April 17th, to Monday afternoon MCFRS RRATS (River Rescue and Tactical Support) personnel responded to numerous calls for assistance as personnel found themselves trapped or in trouble as a result of the powerful force that is the Potomac River. Rescues included overturned boats, people stranded, and even a Boy Scout Troop whose campsite was flooded.

The beautiful spring weather that has greeted us has also treated the Potomac River to an increased number of tourists, visitors, and guests. Water levels that increase in the Spring regularly AND recent heavy rain has caused the Potomac River levels to increase in size dramatically, and the strength and force of the river has also seen a dramatic increase.

Every year we like to remind visitors to treat the river with care, and also remind visitors that the Potomac can be quite dangerous, and while it is beautiful to look at, the Potomac River, especially areas around Great Falls ARE NOT for swimming. Click “more” to see a news segment from one year ago about the dangers of the Potomac as well as other videos from the RRATS activity at the beginning of the weak.

To read more about the RRATS, go to http://www.rrats.org

Continue reading →

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

It seems our units and boats in the signature blue on white livery have been popping up everywhere in the news lately! E710 made its way into the back of a shot of a NBC 4 news piece today. Check it out! Remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see if you catch us anywhere else.

Several members of the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department stepped up the plate and put their guts on the line when they were asked to help a study lead by Keshia Pollack of John Hopkins School of Public Health. Every month members meet with staff of Johns Hopkins to be evaluted in their physical health as well as learn about diet, health, and general fitness – all of which is directed for members in the Fire Service.

From Keshia Pollack:

Heart attacks are the leading cause of on-duty deaths for firefighters in the U.S. The Firefighter Food Intervention, Research and Evaluation (FFIRE) study aims to improve the health of firefighters and reduce cardiac risk factors.  The project is being conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in collaboration with the National Volunteer Fire Council and is funded by a FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant.  Cabin John is one of eight volunteer and combination fire stations from around the state of Maryland enrolled in the study, representing numerous regions ranging from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore.

The program was developed using information collected from focus groups with area firefighters over the last year and will focus on nutrition since that was identified as a key area of interest.  It will include educational, behavioral and environmental components, such as monthly education sessions and cooking demonstrations, intra- and interdepartmental competitions, and changes to the food environment at the stations.  Measures will be collected from participants at four time points to evaluate the effectiveness of the study.  We plan to share the results with firefighters, key fire prevention partner agencies, and policymakers.

We greatly appreciate the support and enthusiasm shown by Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department and look forward to working together over the next year!

The members of Cabin John Park VFD are happy to lend their support to this study that will likely help other fire departments across the nation.

Our thoughts are nowhere today if not with our brothers and sisters at Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company and in Baltimore County, Maryland. We wish peace and solace to the family and friends of Firefighter Mark Falkenhan, who gave his life last night in the service of others.

The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels.

Although we may be fourteen days late posting this, the members of Cabin John Park VFD want to wish everyone a safe and happy 2011! 2010 was a fantastic year for the department, and we hope that 2011 will be even better.