Boise Fire: Building collapse could have been ‘more tragic’ if not for ‘immediate’ response
READ MORE
Fatal building collapse in Boise
Three people died on the scene in January when a hangar under construction collapsed near the Boise Airport. Follow all our latest coverage here.
Expand All
The Boise Fire Department got a jumpstart on rescue operations Wednesday at a fatal building collapse that killed three and critically injured five near the Boise Airport thanks to a bit of happenstance.
A team of aircraft rescue firefighters were training at the airport when the collapse occurred at the nearby Jackson Jet Center, allowing rescuers to be on scene “immediately,” Boise Fire Chief Mark Niemeyer said.
“We were able to start a plan to meet our priority mission, and that was to assess and get to the victims of this incident and to get them out of the incident zone, out of the collapse zone, and to treatment and ultimately transport to the hospital,” Niemeyer said at a news conference Friday.
“We were able to establish that plan immediately, so as our incoming crews arrived, including our technical rescue team, we were able to quickly get access to the victims, get them removed from the danger area and into treatment centers in areas to be ultimately transported.”
Rescue crews arrived on scene around 5 p.m., and search and rescue operations were completed around 6 p.m., according to Boise Fire spokesperson Lynsey Amundson.
Niemeyer said the first evaluation was to quickly determine whether firefighters could get into the building safely without further collapse. Then they would access the victims, evacuate them from the “collapse zone” and take them to a place where Ada County paramedics could treat and transport them.
Three men were pronounced dead at the scene, with traumatic blunt force injuries as the cause, according to the Ada County Coroner’s Office. Nine others were injured during the structure collapse, five of whom were in critical condition that night. Boise Fire said it won’t provide updates on the injured people.
The rescue effort required collaboration by multiple agencies, including Boise Fire, Ada County paramedics, Boise police and the Boise Airport. Canyon County sent two ambulances, and a private EMS company provided three additional ambulances, Ada County Paramedics Chief Shawn Rayne said.
“From an EMS standpoint, this incident certainly pushed us to our limits,” Rayne said. “Within 12 minutes of being notified of the collapse, we had six ambulances on scene along with four supervisory personnel.”
Added Niemeyer: “We worked very well together. This was not three individual agencies responding, this was a team of agencies responding. I think that really helped with the ultimate outcome of this that could have been, quite honestly, more tragic.”
Niemeyer and Rayne both said their agencies have peer support teams working with first responders at Wednesday’s collapse to help them “navigate” the emotions that come with such rescues.
“I mentioned already our mission is to save lives, and unfortunately there are times due to circumstances beyond our control that we cannot meet that mission,” Niemeyer said. “This affects our first responders deeply.”
The cause of the building collapse is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and could take up to six months.
This story was originally published February 2, 2024 at 5:52 PM.
