Firemen Almost Die Because of Unreported Oxygen Tanks
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ TV
Updated: October 18, 2012
PEORIA- The Peoria Fire Department said some of their men could have died Thursday because oxygen tanks were not reported.
The fire happened in the thirteen-hundred block of Bourland just after 8:00 Thursday morning.
An elderly woman escaped the burning home. She was taken to Methodist Medical Center with burns.
Firefighters say an oxygen tank exploded when they were inside battling the fire, in total three out of the four tanks in the house exploded. Peoria Battalion Chief Kent Seiler said his men could have been killed because of something the medical supplier did not do.
Under the Premise Alert Program, Medical companies are legally supposed to notify the fire department every time they deliver supplies like oxygen tanks to homes.
"Without us knowing in advance that they're on premise you can see how dangerous it can be and this could have very easily have killed someone. One of us or a resident," Seiler said.
Seiler said his crews change the way they fight a fire if they know these tanks are inside. In this case the explosions blew out a wall and knocked the house off it's foundation.
Seiler said the delivery of these kinds of medical supplies is severely under reported to the fire department. He said people should call their medical suppliers to ask if they are following the law.
The fire happened in the thirteen-hundred block of Bourland just after 8:00 Thursday morning.
An elderly woman escaped the burning home. She was taken to Methodist Medical Center with burns.
Firefighters say an oxygen tank exploded when they were inside battling the fire, in total three out of the four tanks in the house exploded. Peoria Battalion Chief Kent Seiler said his men could have been killed because of something the medical supplier did not do.
Under the Premise Alert Program, Medical companies are legally supposed to notify the fire department every time they deliver supplies like oxygen tanks to homes.
"Without us knowing in advance that they're on premise you can see how dangerous it can be and this could have very easily have killed someone. One of us or a resident," Seiler said.
Seiler said his crews change the way they fight a fire if they know these tanks are inside. In this case the explosions blew out a wall and knocked the house off it's foundation.
Seiler said the delivery of these kinds of medical supplies is severely under reported to the fire department. He said people should call their medical suppliers to ask if they are following the law.
