Mayday Monday: Packaging the Down Firefighter

Tony Carroll looks at the circumstances behind the death of Frederick County Battalion Chief Josh Laird and offers a related drill.

This month we go back to Maryland, only 33 miles from last month’s incident. Frederick County Battalion Chief Josh Laird was killed while fighting a fire very similar to the fire that took Lieutenant Nate Flynn of Howard County. On August 11, 2021, an afternoon summer storm rolled through the area. A lightning strike at 1600 hours ignited a fire in the basement of a large, single-family dwelling. The fire was started when a hole developed in corrugated stainless steel tubing that was carrying propane throughout the house. At 1646 hours, a neighbor across the street called 911 to report smoke coming from the house.

As Josh’s engine, E251, was arriving five minutes later, fire was observed venting from the first-floor family room windows in the Bravo quadrant. As other units were coming in, Josh and his crew were knocking down the fire from the exterior. A staff chief was on scene and assisting with the fire from the exterior when he saw Josh inside the kitchen area on the first floor. Within seconds, Josh disappeared into the basement.

He transmitted a calm and clear Mayday message. Command directed units to respond to the Mayday as Josh tried to move away from the fire. In the basement, Josh would give direction on how to rescue him, to no avail. He would not survive. Please take time to read this report from the Frederick County After Action Report and Improvement Plan. Watch the podcast to hear from members of Frederick County Fire & Rescue.

As mentioned in the beginning of this post, this fire is very similar to the July 2023 Mayday Monday. Like the fire that killed Nate Flynn, this one was started by a lightning strike and the failure of the corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) carrying LPG. In these two incidents, the fire burned unchecked in the basement for several minutes before being detected. This burn time contributed to the weakened floor conditions resulting in Josh and Nate falling into the fire rooms.

Fortunately for Maryland firefighters, Sara Laird and Celeste Flynn (the wives of Josh and Nate) have taken the issue of CSST to the Maryland legislature. The Flynn/Laird Act HB1052 was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan on April 21, 2022, and prohibits the use of this tubing in new and renovated construction in the State of Maryland. To find out more about the CSST hazard, please visit this website. Watch this presentation by the ATF examining Flynn’s fire and the CSST hazard.

During the rescue of Josh, Lieutenant Aaron Waltz was not able to complete the waist strap conversion on Josh’s self-contained breathing apparatus. After removal, Waltz noticed the harness was coming off. Fortunately, it did not have an impact on the rescue this time. The lieutenant believes the difficulty in completing the conversion was due to the debris and other impediments around Laird. He suggests we continue to practice this maneuver and add some obstacles and stress to make it difficult. Here is a quick video on the conversion technique.

Skill/drill. This month’s skill/drill is to practice packaging the down firefighter with emphasis on the B-C-D. Start your training on the bay floor but make sure to change it up and add some stress to the exercise.

Please take this month and honor the memory of Battalion Chief Josh Laird by digging deep into the fire, learning about CSST, and training to be ready.

Tony Carroll is deputy chief of operations with the Louisa County (VA) Fire & EMS Department.