On March 21, 2003, Oscar Armstrong III became the first Cincinnati firefighter to lose his life in the line of duty in 22 years. He died fighting a fire in a structure that every firefighter reading these boards generally sees as "bread and butter" operations.
Initial reports say that his death was the result of something as simple as a line that was too long (350 feet), and kinked so severely that the flow of water was severely impeded, if not altogether prevented. The report states that he and two other firefighters entered the structure after they and a supervisor had called multiple times for water.
Oscar, only 25 years old, was critically burned when the structure essentially flashed over. He had been in the structure for 10 minutes when other firefighters finally found him and took him out of a window. They had thought he was out of the house.
Other issues discovered and resolved:
The gated "Y" issue wasn't a factor in Oscar's death, but officials felt it was necessary to eliminate the extra step of opening another valve to flow water.
There is in article in the Cincinnat Enquirer regarding the story. I used information from that article in this post.
It doesn't take a large warehouse, or high rise building on fire to kill any of us. It can happen in the simplest of structures. Places we see everyday as "no big deal". We should all remember that the unexpected can happen at any time, any place, and to anybody. None of us are immune or exempt. Nothing should be routine.
In his memory...
Initial reports say that his death was the result of something as simple as a line that was too long (350 feet), and kinked so severely that the flow of water was severely impeded, if not altogether prevented. The report states that he and two other firefighters entered the structure after they and a supervisor had called multiple times for water.
Oscar, only 25 years old, was critically burned when the structure essentially flashed over. He had been in the structure for 10 minutes when other firefighters finally found him and took him out of a window. They had thought he was out of the house.
Other issues discovered and resolved:
- Lines must have kinks removed while advancing lines to the fire,
- Companies have been ordered to reduce pre-connected hoses to no more than 250 feet, and remove all "Y" connectors from hose lines.
The gated "Y" issue wasn't a factor in Oscar's death, but officials felt it was necessary to eliminate the extra step of opening another valve to flow water.
There is in article in the Cincinnat Enquirer regarding the story. I used information from that article in this post.
It doesn't take a large warehouse, or high rise building on fire to kill any of us. It can happen in the simplest of structures. Places we see everyday as "no big deal". We should all remember that the unexpected can happen at any time, any place, and to anybody. None of us are immune or exempt. Nothing should be routine.
In his memory...

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