The emergency number 118 is printed on either side of the boat.

Each unit is equipped with a two-tone siren, flashing blue lights, radio and GPS. A video of a unit responding to a call can be seen above.

BLS units are also available for non-emergency transport which can be staffed by volunteers (like Croce Verde Mestre) or contracted out to private companies (like Blue Cross/Croce Azzurra). These units do not have the yellow body but instead sport a red paint coat.

Photo by TimothylHendrix. Used with permission.

Photo by Kevin1Bravo. Used with permission.

Photo by Chronovial. Used with permission.

33 Chilean miners were able to communicate to rescue crews that they were alive and well 17 days after the collapse of a copper and gold mine 530 miles north of Santiago. Citing a “miracle”, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera showed a message reading, “We are fine in the refuge, the 33 of us,” from the miners. A camera lowered into the hole some 2257ft below ground showed them to be in relatively good spirits. However, the effort to create a hole large enough to rescue each of the men may take upwards of 4 months, making the earliest rescue possible somewhere near the 21st of December.

The miners told authorities Monday afternoon that they had eaten canned tuna, milk and biscuits stored in the refuge after the disaster. They used a backhoe to dig for trapped water.

The miners were reached after the 7th attempt.

Conditions below ground resemble confined spaces astronauts face in space shuttles, and apparently NASA has been asked for advice on how best to maintain their mental and physical states. Rescue equipment from other countries is being expedited for the rescue effort. The miners are as yet unaware that their ordeal may not be over for some time.

On Monday, July 5, 2010 at 4am, units of the San Jose Fire Department responded to a major fire at Trace Elementary School located at 651 Dana Avenue in the city’s Rose Garden neighborhood. Photo by Craig Rose (smokeshowing), part of the Firefighter-EMT.com Flickr Group contributor pool.

More than two years later, a BBC documentary details the story of how Sabina Eriksson and her sister Ursula, ended up in there. Sabina would later be charged with the stabbing murder of a local man, though her prison sentence for it stands at a mere 5 years. A short portion of the full documentary is shown below. It is a very eye-openeing case study about how medical emergency personnel always have to be vigilant about the potential dangers of a patient who is mentally unstable or on drugs.

Warning: this video, while it does not contain outright blood, is relatively graphic in nature.

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A firefighter works to extinguish forest fires on the outskirts of the Russian city of Voronezh, July 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin) As of Tuesday, the Russian government said 529 major blazes were raging across central Russia, including what the official meteorological service described as a “fiery ring” of 90 suburban peat bog fires encircling Moscow, which has left the capital city choking in a thick – and hazardous – haze of smoke.

A catastrophic gas explosion blew the roof off a South Los Angeles (location on Google Maps) welding shop early Friday, hurtling one victim to his death and electrocuting a second man on the street, fire officials said. They found another victim in critical condition under the axle of a vehicle after a downed power line energized the vehicle he was trying to move.

The probable cause
The gas line appears to have been “tampered” with, according to the Associated Press. Southern California Gas Company spokeswoman Denise King said the meter was shut off and someone hooked up an illegal line that sent natural gas into the building at dangerously high pressure.

The scene:
The explosion at about 6:15 a.m. turned the front of the wooden building into a mass of downed, shattered wooden beams. The building caught fire and 100 firefighters doused the blaze in about 25 minutes, fire spokesman Erik Scott said. Urban search and rescue was also brought in to find the victims, and there are claims that another person may be trapped.

Read the full article

This incident is a good case study because it examines the rare causes of natural gas incidents which often cause large amounts of damage and injuries in short amounts of time. Firefighters and emergency responders often arrive at the scene well after the explosion has detonated, but it does not preclude the possibility of further explosions.

Things to consider:

1. What did the explosion involve?
   Is it a liquid or a gas? Could there be the possibility of a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE)? Is the gas or liquid hazardous to touch or inhalation?
2. What damages did it cause?
   Are there potential hazards in the immediate area that make entry/rescue/recovery difficult or dangerous?
3. Is the explosion contained?
   Is the gas or liquid line cut off? Did the gas company respond first, because of neighbors calling? Is there a mixture of class A/B/C/D fires that makes it difficult to tackle?
4. Is additional support needed?
   Do people need to be evacuated in the immediate vicinity (check your HazMat Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG)? book for details, always) In this case USAR was employed to find the victims in the collapsed building. Is the police involved or should they be?

On July 16, two pipelines in the port city of Dalian, China, exploded, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air and burning for over 15 hours. The damaged pipes released thousands of gallons of oil, which flowed into the nearby harbor and the Yellow Sea. Photo by the Associated Press. You can see more photos at Boston.com’s The Big Picture site.

The Bradford City Fire Disaster occurred on Saturday, May 11, 1985 when a flash fire consumed one side of the Valley Parade football stadium in Bradford, England.

The fire broke out during a football match between Bradford City (the home team) and Lincoln City, on the day that Bradford City were supposed to have celebrated their winning the Football League Third Division trophy. A total of 56 people died and more than 265 others were injured. The suggested cause of fire was a smoke bomb lit by rowdy fans to throw at the rival team. It took just 4 minutes to spread.

This is raw footage from the Bradford football disaster.

Warning: this video is raw and graphic at times.