 PFD has a Busy Day (Pierre, SD) - June 5, 2002 – The Pierre Fire Department
had a busy day as it prepared to host a statewide fire school in the Capitol
City of South Dakota. Four calls
kept department members on the move as they worked to prepare the city for an
imminent fire school opening. During the early morning work hours an automatic alarm from
the Riggs Senior High School was received at the dispatch center.
Crews responded to check the problem.
Soon after the initial alarm a call was received from the construction
company remodeling the high school, that they had accidentally set off the
alarm. One unit continued on to the scene to confirm the alarm was accidental
while the remainder of the department was told to “stand down”, a term used
to indicate the problem was considered under control.
The continuing unit reported the alarm was, indeed, accidental and all
units returned to their stations. During the afternoon, dispatch received a rescue call from
a party of divers in the Missouri River indicating that one of their party had
not returned from a dive as scheduled. It
was feared that the diver may have become trapped under water or had equipment
problems. The Pierre Fire
Department Rescue Squad was dispatched to the river. They found the diver had separated from his group and stayed
down longer than planned. Later that evening a call was received that a disabled boat
with a man, a woman and a child was unable to get back to shore because they
were out of fuel. In a cell phone
call to the boat it was determined that they had switched fuel tanks and then
were unable to get the engine to run well enough to get them back to shore.
A fire department rescue squad boat and personal watercraft were
dispatched to the scene where the water was low.
The squad members were able to get the boat back to a safe shore area and
helped the occupants return to their ground vehicle. During the disabled boat call another call was received of a boat on fire in a housing development on Mercury Street. Department members that were not involved in the rescue call responded to the fire scene. The owner of the boat was reported to be fueling the boat when it caught fire. The engine was off, cool and no one was smoking in the area when the fire started. Cause remains undetermined at this time. The boat, with a 70 hp engine, was a total loss. Nearby exposures, including a house and automobile, were saved from damage.
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