MikeMooreMedia

Eden Water Rescue, Fireworks Safety, Hurricane Beryl 07.03.24

Rodney Cates, Director, Rockingham County Emeergency Services. www.NCReady.gov

Duration:: 13m
Broadcast on:: 03 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Mike Moore media. I'm talking to Rodney Cates, Director of Rockingham County Emergency Services, our monthly podcast and I'm going to get an update on several things today. Hey Rodney, Happy July 4th. Hey Mike, Happy, Happy Fourth to you too. It's here and you have some important information about firework safety. Yeah, you know Mike, this will kick off the firework season. You know, some people travel to other states to buy fireworks to come back and set them off there in their fourth to July celebrations and they can be beautiful and a lot of fun for children and families to do that. But they're also very, very dangerous. You know, some of these things burn at very, very high degrees and a lot of times don't realize how hot they burn and how many people actually end up in the emergency room every year nationwide due to firework injuries. And if anybody's ever seen a picture of a firework that's gone off in somebody's hand and the amount of destruction that it can do to a human being, it is remarkable. So we just try to point out things to be safe while they're utilizing fireworks for the weekend. The number one thing, we have such dry conditions. I know we've had a few little showers here and there, but overall we're still extremely dry. So the fire hazard is extremely large right now for anything, but especially these fireworks that could be going off. So the number one thing that they talk about from the National Safety Council is to keep a bucket of water nearby to fully extinguish fireworks that don't go off or they could cause a fire. Have that water ready to put that fire out at any time. Never hold fireworks in your hand. Certainly don't let them indoors. And another thing, I think this is where so many injuries come in, fireworks that may malfunction that don't go off, that their people think they're going to do. It didn't work. They run over and pick them up, and for some reason they had some type of delay. Maybe the fuse was malfunctioning, but it's still burning internally. And they pick them up to see what happened to them, and all of a sudden they go off. That's where a lot of injuries come from. Another key thing that the National Safety Council talks about are sparklers. I know children enjoy sparklers, and I like to hold them and whirl them around, and I know when my children were young they did the same thing. Sparklers can burn at about 2,000 degrees. Oh my gosh. 2,000 degrees is hot enough to melt some metals. So a lot of times these particles from the burning sparklers drop on a children's feet. It's warm outside, they may be bare-footed, and a lot of children get burned feet during this time from things like that. So just some thing is that we just want people to exercise safety. We want them to enjoy the fort, enjoy their fireworks, but we certainly don't want to see them in the back of an EMS unit, and we don't want to see them at an ER. We want them to be safe and enjoy this time. Oh, thank you for that important information. I had no idea those fun sparklers at that temperature, or 2,000 degrees. Wow. That's good. It's certainly very hot. Yeah, and I have seen some of those pictures. You know, it's kind of like someone who says those fireworks and other things that we do irresponsibly. Hey, watch this. And the next thing, you know, that's not a good situation at all. So yeah, enjoy the fireworks. And what's the law about fireworks anyway? You know, I know we'll hear a lot. We have an Eden that's a good fireworks display, and reedsville, farmhouses having one tomorrow night, Bethlehem Church Road. So there are three that I know of. But what, for us, as me, going somewhere and buying fireworks at, you know, some big box store or something, what actually are the rules, the laws on that? Well, you could utilize them. If there's something that you can buy within the state of North Carolina that you, as an individual, a citizen can buy, then you can set those off yourself. They are regulated not to be of such an explosion or something that would require some type of permitting. The fireworks that are set off by pyrotechnic groups, the large events that go off it after ball games and after races or the large events, like you've mentioned, at some of these venues throughout our county or other counties, they have to be permitted. North Carolina law, the North Carolina General Statute, regulates that they have to be permitted. And that is not what the business is zoned as. Still, the North Carolina law mandates that a pyrotechnic group has to have a proper permit. That permit has to be approved by the county commissioners or their designee. So any time these large events go off where you can technically see from a quarter or half mile away up in the sky, they are regulated by North Carolina General Statute and they are required to be permitted prior to setting those off. Okay, but the ones that we can buy out and about, that we have in our backyard or down on the farm or whatever, they're okay, but just please be careful. They do, and you know, there's still some liability. If we were to injure someone or we launch one and it lands on somebody else's property and sets their property on fire, there's still some civil liabilities that go along with those that we certainly should consider while doing that. Oh yeah, okay. Why are we talking about some dangers that could occur? Let's talk about grilling season. This is the weekend. A lot of people are going to be doing that. Give us some tips there. And again, keeping those grills away from houses off of decks and a lot of people grill on their decks. But if that thing drips charcoal or if the grill is not suitable for grilling and then a lot of times they're not, they may drop charcoal or some type of heart particles out of the grill onto a decking board or something and set that on fire, just keeping them away from any flammable sources. Again, keeping some water close by is nothing wrong with having a hose close to a grill, in case it was to set the grass on fire. Again, we're very, very dry right now. So the fire hazard and the fire danger is very high right now. So certainly just utilizing all precautions and having that water source close by to extinguish anything that may ignite while using these different grills. Yeah, I'm seeing those pictures too. Some of the fires that have occurred in Rockingham County where that vinyl siding just melts away on the side of the house, doesn't it? It does and you know, that is wood and then we'll get the vinyl hot enough to melt and it sets that wood on fire and gets an oxygen source and then we have a certainly a large problem going on. Yeah, okay. We had a situation here in Eden with a little boy who almost drowned in the Dan River and starting with 911 and your team and Eden PD and so many people involved in that fire rescue. That was turned out to be, and everything was okay, but some very special people involved in making that water rescue. They were honored at Eden City Council recently and another special honor as well. Well, tell us about that, please, Rodney. Yeah, all the people that were involved in that water rescue and their families actually were invited on June 26th to the North Carolina Legislature. Representative Purdle and Senator Burger invited us down. So we were able to go and again, people took family members and we went into both the House and the Senate. There was a reading on the House and the Senate floor that talked about the events of that day and each member that had a role in that life saving event that they were recognized in each time in the House and the Senate, the entire House, the entire Senate and all of the people in the gallery gave a standing ovation to all of the people that were involved in that. So it was very remarkable, it was very emotional. Just a wonderful thing to see these team efforts come together and then the people being recognized for their true life saving efforts. Yeah, that had to be emotional and one of those chill bump situations for sure, I guess. Yes, it certainly was. So thanks to everyone involved in that and we appreciate that team effort, as you said. Let's talk about barrel setting a record here for that hurricane. Yeah, I think barrel set the record for the strongest hurricane this early in the hurricane season and this hurricane season is predicted to be a very active season and I don't remember the actual number of named storms and the number of severe storms that are forecasted to be out there, but certainly we think we're far enough inland that that doesn't impact us, but certainly hurricanes can impact Rockingham County in a very, very significant way. Those hurricanes that come in around the Charleston, South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, Georgia, even that track through our western areas certainly pose a high threat to Rockingham County and we've seen that over years. I happen those that were on that track. So heavy rains, we can still get high winds, tornadic activity. So it's always important to monitor these. Luckily barrel for us stayed well, well south and went across the Gulf or is headed across the Gulf at this time, but those that take that track in our direction, we certainly didn't need to be mindful of those and always be ready to react and understand that even though we're way inland, some of our war storms were prompted by hurricanes that came way inland and tracked through our western counties that placed us on the side of the hurricane that gave us a lot of damage, a lot of rain, a lot of wind. Sure, yeah, yeah, some of us remember some of those Windward Islands, St. Vincent, Caracou, some of the, I think that's where landfall was, some of those other damage had just been just terrible. Right, and you know Mike, another interesting thing, granted its forecast to be a very, very busy year this year, but it's all about what makes landfall. When I was stationed down near the coast, we went to a lot of hurricane seminars and it's all about what makes landfall. The year that Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida, that was the only hurricane, the only Atlantic Basin hurricane that made landfall. Out of all the name storms that year, Andrew is the only one that made landfall and it devastated Florida, so they can predict 100 storms or 100 name storms. And if they stay out to sea, then we're all good. But it's all about those that make landfall and what are they going to do when they make landfall. So we need to pay particular attention to that, you know, all the way through the end of September and sometimes late storm could be actually all we can do early October. So we have several months to watch the tropics and be mindful of what's going on out there. That's right, and that can affect vacations and mention Myrtle Beach and people that have planned to be along our coast and all up and down the eastern coast and cruises and all of that. So we really have to kind of keep an eye on the weather. That's for sure. That's true. Yeah, or anything else we should mention. I think we're good. I'm hoping everybody has a safe fourth and a very good and memorable fourth and certainly be careful out there and we'll look forward to chatting again next month. You bet. Thank you, Rodney. Always great to talk to you. Thanks to you and your 9-1-1 team and EMS and everybody. Appreciate it. All right, Mark. Take care. Talk to you later. Bye. All right. That's Rodney Cates. He is director of Rockingham County Emergency Medical Services. And one thing that we mentioned on these podcasts, we didn't mention it today and that is a really good website and that is ReadyNC.gov. Please check that out. ReadyNC.gov. Lots of good information there to help you prepare for weather emergencies, things like that. And make sure that you, if you are new to the area, that you find out and get signed up for Code Red. So you'll be receiving those important messages about all kinds of things around the county when you need them. And thank you for listening. I'll echo what Rodney said. Have a fun and safe July 4th holiday. [BLANK_AUDIO]