Excerpts from ABC7Chicago.com:
A tractor was towing two, two-ton containers of anhydrous ammonia near 29th Street and Green Bay Road in Beach Park when one of the containers leaked and created a chemical cloud.
Police and fire units responded to a report of a possible vehicle fire in the area at about 4:30 a.m., and as a Lake County Sheriff’s sergeant and deputy got out out of their squad cars, they were overcome with the airborne chemical and forced to retreat.
Several victims at the scene were rescued as a total of 140 first
respondersfirefighters, paramedics, and police officers came to the scene. Authorities said 37 people, including the Lake County deputy and sergeant and a Zion police officer, were transported to hospitals. Eight of the injured were hospitalized in critical condition.People within a one-mile radius were ordered to stay inside with their windows closed and to turn off HVAC units. The shelter-in-place order was lifted shortly after 10 a.m.
Investigators are looking into what the tractor was doing on the road and if proper agricultural laws were followed. Anhydrous ammonia is a chemical used as an agricultural fertilizer. The substance can expand rapidly forming a large cloud that can cause difficulty breathing even death.
#1 by Austin on April 26, 2019 - 6:41 PM
A problem I see using the term “first responders,” it is said for everything. If it was only the police at the scene (like a robbery), a medical issue where only EMS came, or a small brush fire where only the Fire Department was there, why say first responded? I have seen this a lot more recently and its annoying, and comes across as lazy reporting. Why can’t you say Chicago Fire Department responded to a garage fire as an example? Why say first responders? That has always been my gripe with that term.
#2 by Keith Grzadziel on April 26, 2019 - 10:38 AM
Thank you Larry for finally speaking up on that generic catch-all phrase that the news media has labeled us. I agree with your explanation totally!!! In this world of political correctness, the news media should be referring to us as what we actually are and quit disrespecting us. First Responders have always been the civilians who step-up and offer help before the arrival of the professionally trained men and women of the Fire Service, law enforcement and EMS. There are no second or third responders that arrive on the scene after us.
#3 by Lake and McHenry County Scanner on April 25, 2019 - 10:21 PM
In the article excerpt, you crossed out responders and put firefighters. This is incorrect, it was 140 first responders, which included firefighters, paramedics, and police officers.
#4 by Admin on April 26, 2019 - 9:09 AM
what you wrote is accurate, it correctly describes who was at the scene – the term first responder is a generic description of someone with basic knowledge of first aid … firefighters, police officers, and paramedics have hundreds of hours of training and deserve the respect of being referred to by the title which they’ve trained and studied for …