Train Fire

 

 

10:01 The Yarkon Region's Dispatch center receives the emergency call informing that a fire broke out on a passenger train about 400 meters from the central Israeli town of Shfayim (just between Herzelia and Netanya).

The event was immediately declared a Mass Casualty Event.

10:06 MDA medical teams are already at the site, treating the casualties.

The Yarkon and the Sharon Regional directors controlled the incident with the backup of emergency medical vehicles and medical teams from the Yarkon, Sharon, Dan and Ayalon Regions.

MDA's activities were supervised by MDA Director General.

Dispatched lifesaving vehicles 34 standard  ambulances, 7 MICUs and a Mass Casualty Response Vehicle (MCRV)

The medical teams treated 116 casualties, 5 of them moderately hurt in the fire. The other 100 lightly injured. Injuries were mostly burns, smoke inhalation and cuts and bruises resulting from broken glass.

MDA emergency vehicles evacuated the injured to Laniado hospital in Netanya, Meir in Kefar Saba, Beilinson in Petach Tiqva, Sharon in Petach Tiqva, Ichilov in Tel Aviv and Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan. .

12:30 Last casualty evacuated, event concluded

Israel Thanks Volunteers Rescue Workers from Around the World

Medics from Israel’s Emergency Medical Services meet the families of a few of the patients whose lives they saved at the Carmel Fire

An emotional meeting was held yesterday in the emergency ward at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa between the families of two survivors of the Carmel forest fire and the MDA medics who saved their relatives. The medical condition of the two injured – Danny Chayat and Jalal Bissan – is still defined as severe and they are both still unconscious.

Senior Medic Shlomi Dahan spoke to Danny's parents, Moti and Bat-Sheva, and to his sister Tali and wife Hofit, who is in the final stages of pregnancy. "We received reports of a ball of fire, and we expected to receive injured" the medic told the family.

"When a van drove up, two firemen came out of it and said there was an injured fireman. Danny came out and told us 'Help me – I'm burning'. We had containers of water and a poured them all over his body. I immediately put an oxygen mask on him and we evacuated him to Rambam Medical Center. During the ride he kept on saying 'My wife is pregnant, my wife has to give birth' and he asked to call his father and speak with him.

The medic related that Danny told the father he was slightly injured and was on his way to the hospital. "He didn't stop speaking about his wife during the entire ride. He kept on saying how much he loves here and that she has to give birth. I really identified with him as a human and as a father of children".

Dahan told Chayat's wife: "You have the privilege of a loving husband, you are so important to him. I want to shake his hand when he will be on his feet and healthy."
No eye was left dry among those present. Danny's family held Hofit, who was thankful to the rescue services, and hoped that Danny would overcome his injury toward the birth of their daughter.
In the adjacent waiting room the family of Jalal Bissan was waiting. They have been in the hospital 24 hours a day since his injury last Thursday.

Israel Emergency Medical Services Helps the Homeless

In a special operation which began at the weekend, sleeping bags and hot meals were distributed to the homeless and elderly who cannot leave their homes.  A special telephone contact center for assistance opened today at MDA. 

The stormy weather that began at the end of the week has not left MDA crews indifferent: In a special operation jointly organized by MDA and the Ministry of the Interior, MDA workers and volunteers have begun distributing sleeping bags to the homeless and elderly in order to help them get through the days of intense cold.

In addition, a special telephone contact center opened today. The elderly and sick who are in need of assistance and a hot meal can call the center at 1-700-500-430 so that MDA volunteers can reach them and offer help. The center will be open today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday) from 8:00 to 22:00.

MDA General Director, Eli Bin, and Minister of the Interior, Eli Yishai, decided upon this operation in order to reduce the number of victims of the cold weather as much as possible.

“We will help as much as possible anyone who is in distress due to the storm. We are talking about humanitarian activity of the highest level, and I have no doubt that, with our combined forces, we will make things considerably easier for many people”, said Minister Yishai.

MDA General Director, Eli Bin, explained: “Past experience has taught us that on days of stormy weather, many elderly and homeless people find themselves unable to protect themselves from the cold and are unable to take care of providing themselves with hot food. Magen David Adom workers and volunteers who are deployed throughout the country are gladly joining up to assist these very people.

In an attempt to prevent frostbite among the homeless and lonely elderly, sleeping bags and hot water bottles have been purchased and will be distributed by means of off-duty ambulances. In addition, MDA crews who arrive at the home of an ill person who doesn’t have enough blankets will provide the sick person with blankets to protect him or her from the cold. MDA volunteers will also distribute hot food to the sick and elderly who cannot leave their homes.

For the purpose of providing effective care in response to requests for aid, MDA has opened the special contact center which will be in operation throughout the duration of the storm. MDA is asking the public to inform Welfare Services of homeless people who are forced to cope with the cold by themselves.

MDA takes this opportunity to remind the public that 13 people died from the cold weather last year.  Seven of the victims were homeless who were forced to cope with the harsh weather, lacking conditions enabling basic existence.

A Day in the Life of MDA Director General

http://www.mdais.com/sites/mada/_media/mediabank/7337_mb_file_c05bb.wmv

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IsraelEMS pays tribute to Hatzalah New York - RL Division

Bus Survivor 'Stared Death in the Face'

Sigal Duek, survivor of Carmel fire, tells harrowing tale of escape from prison service cadets' bus.

Senior Warden Sigal Duek saw 36 Prison Service course cadets and staff members burn in front of her eyes, and is struggling to shake off the trauma.

Her brother, Tomer Gamdani, told reporters on Wednesday that his sister had recounted the disaster before him. "I saw the cadets burn in front of my very eyes. I stared death in the face," she said. To her husband she had confessed, "I love you all", certain she would not survive the fire.

Duek started her career in the Prison Service as a warden at the Neve Tirtza Prison, and excelled in her studies at the Prison Service officers' course. At 36 she was promoted to senior warden. "She loved the Prison Service and the work," her brother said.

Sigal was not meant to board the cadet bus which headed towards the Damon Prison last Thursday, as she is a married mother of two children aged five and two. However, another female officer asked her to go in her place and Duek agreed.

Sigal related the story of what had happened on the bus to her family: "We drove down the Beit Oren road and while driving noticed private vehicles which were making u-turns because of the flames and the heavy smoke. One of the officers stepped down to direct the bus while it made a u-turn and then the fire hit the bus. It started burning."

Sigal said the fire spread quickly. "The fire reached the front of the bus and it started going up in flames. I yelled to the cadets to get off immediately. The back door was jammed and the cadets broke it open. When we got off we ran away from the bus."

Sigal's brother's Tomer said that photographer Roni Sofer saved Sigal and two other cadets who were with her. The three got in his car and drove off as the flames surrounded the area.

"It was all a matter of seconds," the brother noted. "The cadets who were with her helped her run and then she jumped on the car's windshield and yelled 'save us, save us.' She told us she felt the heavy heat on her body as the fire quickly spread. Some of the cadets managed to escape the bus but the fire got hold of them and burned them alive. Had the photographer not been there she and the other cadets would not have made it and would have burned alive like their friends."

First Responders - Vital Task in Multi Casualty Incidents

During the past month, MDA has been forced to deal with and give treatment in two different incidents of buses overturning with a large number of injured passengers.

MDA First Responders took part in these incidents and proved the importance of the First Responder system to reinforce the teams and to turn a multi casualty incident into an incident in which the number of people giving first aid matches the number of injured within a very short period of time.

In the road traffic accident which at the Gilon junction in the direction of Karmiel, 13 First Responders took part.

2 First Responders arrived with motor-bicycles (1068 and 1080) on the scene.  11 First Responders arrived on the scene in their own private cars.

In addition, many First Responders came to the MDA stations and manned ambulances for routine work

At the incident of the overturned bus at the Beit Ha'arava junction, the first person to arrive on the scene arrived within only 4 minutes from the moment that the call of a multi casualty incident went out.  The First Responder reported, using his Mirs machine, that about 30 injured people were lying on the ground and he began life saving treatment.  In fact, the report of the First Responder was the first professional report received by the MDA Dispatching centre and enabled them to understand what type of incident it was, the exact location and extent of the injuries.  3 MP3 motor-bicycles arrived at the scene (1108, 1107 and 1072) and a white motor-bicycle (1030).

50 First Responders took part in the incident carrying out a variety of tasks as listed below:

Task                                                 Number

Medic                                                      5

Arrival at the scene of the incident           25

Ambulance driver                                   11

Multi casualty ambulance driver               1

Hospital representatives                          4

Reinforcement teams                              4

Total                                                      50

Burning down the house

A friend of IsraelEMS, Dave, asked us to re-post a letter he wrote on May 24, 2010

You don’t see a lot of firemen in Israel. With all of our various crack rescue and security teams available at a moment’s notice, it seems like the fire department is the forgotten arm of the country’s safety wing.
Growing up the US, you see fire stations all over the place, and visits to the firehouse are part of the elementary school curriculum. Here, most people would be hard pressed to tell you where the nearest fire station is.
Since most homes are built of stone, it drastically decreases the chances of fire – leaving the hot, dry summer and the advent of forest fires as the firemen’s busy time of the year.
But there’s one other day, when the obscurity of the Israeli fireman is unveiled to reveal him and her in all their splendor – Lag Ba’omer.
The celebratory evening of bonfires is the firemen’s Super Bowl – the day when they are rightfully seen as the heroes they are.
“This is our night,” Haifa firefighter Shimon Lahav told Ha’aretz on the eve of the holiday which began on Saturday night. “Suddenly everything we’ve dreaded the whole year happens – in an organized way. Bonfires everywhere, with the danger that they’ll spread.”
Aside from making sure over enthusiastic children or drunk revelrers don’t injure themselves in the huge fires tht are lit throughout the country, the firefighters’ greatest fear on this holiday is bonfires that are not put out properly.
“Such bonfires, with the wind the next morning after the people have left, can spread and cause fire and disaster,” Lahav says.
“On a visit in San Francisco I sat with a fellow firefighter and talked about work. I told him we had 35 firefighters in Haifa in charge of some 6,000 outbreaks a year. He turned white and couldn’t understand how we do it. In the United States, 12 firemen are dispatched to the smallest incident in which people are trapped,” Lahav says.
“With us it’s five at best, two or three at worst. So slowly people are beginning to understand that we’re the only sector that isn’t fighting for money, but we ask for more people because ultimately it affects our ability to save lives.”
Firefighters’ greatest fear on this holiday is bonfires that are not put out properly.
“Such bonfires, with the wind the next morning after the people have left, can spread and cause fire and disaster,” Lahav said.
Walking out this morning along the access paths and open spaces behind home in my neighborhood, it looks like the aftermath of a war scene: smoldering fires, scorched earth, the smell of burnt material of every kind.
The country’s least environmentally friendly holiday is over for another year, and the firefighters can return to their obscurity for another year – at least until the first summer forest fire ignites.

Product Review of ALS Bags for the Israeli Medic

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Iron Duck Ultra Backpack 32440

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Great Movie Clip of the Carmel Fire

The flames are out, and now comes the Recovery

Carmel inferno finally defeated after four days; state comptroller finalizes "grave" report on years of Fire and Rescue Service neglect.

Millions of Israelis breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sunday after firefighters from here and abroad succeeded in overcoming the worst fire disaster the country has known, which killed 41 people, destroyed at least 50,000 dunams of Carmel forestland, damaged 250 homes, and caused over NIS 200 million in damage, according to initial estimates.

A number of small fires remained active in the Mount Carmel region, and the fleet of international fire planes that proved decisive in putting an end to the fires on Sunday, including a Boeing 747 supertanker leased by the government from a US company, remained on standby as night fell.

Carmel Fire Fully Extinguished

Firefighting services on Sunday night announced the end of the biggest fire in Israel’s history after putting out all blazes on Mount Carmel. The forces were to remain at the scene overnight to prevent the fire from re-erupting.

The 82-hour fire claimed the lives of 41 people, burnt dozens of homes, destroyed thousands of acres of land.

Update of the Fire Consuming Israels' North

Evergreen Supertanker, which has capacity of 80,000 liters of water to join efforts to put out wildfire in northern Israel on Sunday morning.

The inferno that has been raging in northern Israel since Thursday, the worst in the country’s history, will hopefully be brought under control if not completely doused by the end of Sunday, the Israel Police and IDF predicted on Saturday night.

The expectation is that the blaze, which has ravaged 50,000 dunams (12,500 acres) in and around the Carmel Mountain Range and killed 41 Israelis, and which was still erupting in new flash-points throughout Saturday and into Saturday night, will be largely defeated with the arrival of the last of 33 aircraft dispatched to the emergency effort by countries from around the world.
Crucially, on Sunday morning, a privately owned US Boeing 747 – the Evergreen Supertanker, the largest fire-fighting aircraft in the world – will land in Ben-Gurion International Airport and make its first flight over the fire at around 6 a.m., a senior IAF officer said. The plane can carry 80 tons of water and fire retardant.

“Our assessment is that we will be able to put out the worst of the fire by Sunday afternoon with 33 planes that will be here from around the world,” the officer said, although emergency personnel have cautioned that new fires may continue to emerge over the coming few days.

By Saturday night, more than 17,000 people had been evacuated from 15 communities, and five million trees had been destroyed, police said.

A fleet of international assistance aircraft from Russia, Greece, France, Bulgaria, Britain, Italy and Turkey flew sortie after sortie over the flames, dropping large quantities of water and fire retardants, before returning for more runs. On the ground, besieged firefighters managed to beat the fires back from Nir Etzion, Ein Hod, Haifa’s Denya neighborhood, and the Tirat Hacarmel-Atlit area.

Israel battles biggest wildfire in its history

Israeli FD Dispatch Of Bus Fire

Israel's Deadliest Fire Leaves 40 Dead

Deadliest fire known in Israel: Firefighters battled a large blaze Thursday in the Carmel Forest near Haifa, which left dozens dead and brought life to a halt for many communities. The 40 people killed on the bus, making their way to Damon Prison, were cadets in the Prison Service officers' course.

Prison guards who came to the rescue of the prisoners paid with their lives: 40 Prison Service cadets were making their way to Damon Prison were burned alive. MDA set up a first aid mobile unit but began its evacuation since no injured were left on scene.

Magen David Adom said a bus carrying some 50 jailers which left the Damon Prison caught fire. It was further reported that 40 prison guards were killed. MDA reported that three others were severely wounded, another lightly injured and two more people's condition is unknown. MDA confirmed the death of 22 out of the 40 people.

Israeli Paramedic Vists Hart

A paramedic from the Israeli Ambulance Service went along to the Trust's Hazardous Area Response Team base in Birmingham recently to find out what life's like on the other side of the world. 

Sarah Cascella qualified as a paramedic for Magen David Adom Ambulance Service in October 2009 and is based in Kiryat Gat. During a normal day, Sarah responds to 15 rocket attacks and consequently regularly deals with patients with serious trauma injuries. 

The Trust's Hazardous Area Response Team paramedics are specially trained to respond to major incidents involving hazardous materials such as chemical leaks, large fires and explosions. They are also equipped to safely locate, stabilise, treat and rescue casualties from dangerous environments such as collapsed buildings or crashed vehicles.

HART Paramedics Brendan O'Sullivan and James Dinneen spent the morning with Sarah on Thursday 26th August at the HART base. 

Sarah got to see the range of HART vehicles and the different types of equipment the paramedics use when dealing with incidents.  The trio also spent time swapping stories about incidents they've attended and talking about the similarities of their job.

Sarah said: "It was wonderful to share experiences with Brendan and James.  It was interesting to see the equipment they carry, especially the kit to deal with multiple patients.  It's great to see that though we're from two very different countries, we work in the same way."

Brendan said: "It was great to meet Sarah and even though we work so far away from each other, our job is the same.

"When she told us that she goes out to so many rocket attacks a day, I was astounded. It made me appreciate what we do day to day as paramedics here in the West Midlands, how different it is for her and how much more difficult and dangerous of an environment Sarah works in everyday compared to us."

Special Rescue Operation: Israeli Medical Services bring home wounded Israeli from Thailand

About a week ago, a young Israeli man was severely injured in a road traffic accident in Thailand whilst riding a motobike*  MDA heard about the incident, and with the help of the Organisation of Friends of MDA in Australia, El Al and the Foreign Office, a team went out to bring the wounded young man home*  This morning he arrived in Tel Hashomer hospital.

A young 28 year old Israeli, who went on a trip to Thailand, was wounded about a week ago whilst riding on a motorbike.  He was taken in a critical condition to the local hospital, and after the operation that he had on his head, his condition continued to be critical.

Information about the accident and the condition of the young man reached the MDA Director General, Eli Bin, from an article published on the Ynet site whilst he was attending a conference of Friends of MDA which was held last week.

Immediately upon receiving this information the MDA Director General got to work in every possible way in order to help the young man, who set out for Thailand with no medical insurance, and to give him the best possible care and to bring him home for treatment in Israel.

Whilst doing so, the Director General turned for help to the head of the Australian Friends of MDA Organisation  with a request that they make an effort and give financial aid in order to bring the young wounded man home for treatment in Israel.  The head of the Organisation of Friends immediately agreed and promised to cover all the costs of flying the young man home to Israel and to pay for additional treatment he may need whilst still in Thailand.
At the same time, people in the Foreign Office also agreed to help, and they worked all the time to bring the young man home to Israel  as quickly as possible, and the Director General of El Al also agreed to help with the complicated medical flight needed to bring the young man home for treatment in Israel.

Last Monday (18.10) an MDA team set off, with a doctor and paramedic, on a special flight to the hospital in Thailand, where they met with the medical team who had been treating the injured young man, and they began preparations to enable them to fly the young man home.  Before the team left the hospital in Thailand, the people in the hospital gave the MDA team a letter and teddy bear to give to the wounded Israeli when he opened his eyes and recovered from his wounds.

MDA Director General said: "As soon as we learnt of the incident, MDA got to work to give medical aid to the young man.  An MDA medical team was immediately ready to go to Thailand, and with a complicated procedure, which entails use of advanced and expensive medical equipment, they brought the young man home for continued treatment in Israel.  There is no doubt that the tremendous aid given by all those involved in this task greatly helped the success of the operation."

Israel Emergency Medical Services Respond to High Rise Fire

On receiving the report that a fire had broken out yesterday on the 30th floor of the building, four MICU’s, six ambulances, command vehicles and a special rescue jeep of MDA were rushed to the scene, ready to deal with any eventuality.

MDA’s Director General immediately ordered that the level of alert in the Dan Region be raised to Level C (the highest possible) and, in the entire central region, that it be raised to Level B.

MDA teams who arrived on the scene joined Fire Brigade personnel in searching the building, with MDA commanders taking control of the incident from close-up. MDA’s Director-General was also present to ensure that all necessary procedures were carried out correctly.

The four people, who were treated at the scene by MDA for smoke inhalation, did not need to be taken to hospital.

MDA Director General, Eli Bin said that, “the fire was an event from which we can learn a lot from every point of view in terms of rescue and treatment of victims. MDA personnel were forced to work under very difficult conditions in a burning building in which the systems had broken down, including the water system. I am pleased at the way MDA personnel worked swiftly, efficiently and responsibly".

Magen David Adom trains IDF Doctors in new ACLS protocols

This week a series of courses for doctors in the IDF started in Magen David Adom.  Within the framework of the course doctors will take refreshment courses in the field of CPR and will learn the new protocols of the American Heart Association for carrying out CPR.  This group of doctors join other groups of doctors who come from the hospitals and health funds and take a similar training in Magen David Adom.

The series of courses came about as a result of the fruitful cooperation between the Magen David Adom Director General, Eli Bin, and the Chief Medical Officer of the IDF.  According to the plan, about 100 doctors are expected to undergo the training in four MDA stations all over the country.

The training includes frontal lectures and exercises in life saving situations and was made possible thanks to a donation from the French Friends of Magen David Adom in memory of the late Mr. Elias Yifrach.

Dr. Lazar Kaplan, President of the French  Friends of Magen David Adom points out that the connection between the front line and the home front has been getting closer in the last few years and that the cooperation between Magen David Adom and the Israel Defence Forces is very important.  And thanks to the late Mr. Elias Yifrach the series of refresher courses for doctors in the IDF in Magen David Adom is now under way.

David, a regiment doctor tells that within the framework of the intensive activities in which he finds himself, a course like this is very important as it gives him time to practice and go over the material as well as learning all the latest updates in the professional material.