A common theme when it come to accident investigation is the concept of "chain of events". This concept is based on the premise that a sequence of events occurs in such a way that anytime a link is broken the accident is prevented. For example, say a "fender bender" happens in a busy intersection. When investigating, it would be common to say that the chain of events includes a cell phone call, speeding, a dirty windshield, heavy traffic, and early morning sun glare. If you consider all of these factors as a chain, breaking or removing any of the links would have prevented the accident.
So with that concept in mind, a totally "preventable" fire call happened late last night. The call came in as a house fire and a total of 18 firefighters and one tired district chief were all rolled out of their bunks at about 1 AM. This exciting yet inconvenient little exercise could have been prevented:
- Life Flight helicopter had not landed on the hospital roof.
- if the wind had been blowing a different direction or a window had been close.
- had the lady on the third floor not been medicated very heavily.
- if the telephone in her room had not allowed outside calls.
- by dispatch realizing the person they had on the line was not sure what direction was "up".
So by putting this chain all together, you get a large of amounts of sirens, lights, and sleepy firefighters tromping all over a house out in the suburbs, disturbing the neighbors, just for grins...
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