Firefighter critically injured in river training accident Wednesday, April 18, 2007 HAMILTON, OHIO — One Hamilton firefighter is in critical condition and another is listed in fair condition after being pulled from the Great Miami River during training Tuesday afternoon. The 32-year-old critically injured firefighter, whose name was not released late Tuesday night pending notification of family, was in the water about 30 minutes before being rescued,officials said. The accident happened about 4 p.m. while about 12-14 members of the Hamilton Fire Department’s River Rescue Team were conducting their annual recertification training just below the Low Level Dam, said Hamilton Fire Chief Joe Schutte. Schutte said one of the boats started to drift toward “the boil.” “The boil is very dangerous; we don’t go into the boil. We try to train below that, and they were drifting that way,”Schutte said. During rescue efforts, two of the boats overturned and four firefighters fell into the river, Schutte said. All four were rescued. “We were able to get three of them out quickly and unfortunately, the other was under for some time” while being caught up in the boil, he said. “When I got on the scene there, they (firefighters) were certainly following all the training that they’ve learned and were taught over the years; following all the safety precautions to get him out,” Schutte said. The firefighter in critical condition was initially taken to The Fort Hamilton Hospital. He later taken by medical helicopter to University Hospital, where he was in critical condition late Tuesday night. The second hospitalized firefighter — John Hansbauer, who sustained a head injury — is listed in fair condition at Fort Hamilton, officials said.The other two firefighters who were rescued were Dan Baumann and Dan Bagley. In the meantime, Schutte said Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Teams have been called in for the firefighters at the scene of the accident and for on-duty personnel as well. “These are team members that come in whenever there’s any kind of tragedy to provide counseling for those that were involved,” he said. “I must say that to get four firefighters in the water and get them out, the efforts were nothing short of heroic on the part of all the guys that were there,” Schutte said. “Our firefighters are very close; it’s like a second family to them so as you can imagine it’s a very challenging and troubling time for them and their families.” Schutte said other off-duty firefighters from other departments — including Fairfield and Fairfield Twp. and Middletown — were called in to man trucks as needed. The accident is being investigated by the watercraft division of Ohio Department of Natural Resources.”My understanding is that anytime there’s a watercraft accident they investigate it,” he said. River accident that critically injured firefighter draws internal probe www.western-star.com By Denise Wilson Staff Writer Thursday, April 19, 2007 HAMILTON – The Hamilton Fire Department has started an internal investigation into the training accident in the Great Miami River that critically injured a firefighter Tuesday, state officials said. While the department late Wednesday afternoon identified the firefighter critically injured as Chris Gabbard, few other details about the incident involving the rescue of four firefighters were released. The accident is also being investigated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ division of watercraft. John Wisse, the public information officer for ODNR’s division of watercraft,said the state is working in cooperation with the HFD. “We are doing the accident investigation and they are doing an internal investigation, which is centered around the accident,” Wisse said. “We’re basically providing some assistance to them,” he said. “But because of the nature of the incident we obviously want to investigate it – because that’s our role. So we investigate not only the fatal boating accidents, but the other critical boating-related incidents.” Gabbard, 32, of Hamilton, remained in University Hospital after being transported there by ambulance from The Fort Hamilton Hospital, the fire department said Wednesday evening. A second hospitalized firefighter – John Hansbauer, who sustained a head injury – had been listed in fair condition at Fort Hamilton. But he has been transferred to University Hospital for further evaluation, fire officials said. Doctors “just want to make sure he (Hansbauer) is neurologically functioning properly and they have a lot better equipment and physician center there at University. So we just want to make sure everything is OK,” said Marielou Vierling, director of development and public relations for Fort Hamilton. The other two firefighters who were rescued were Dan Baumann and Dan Bagley. The accident happened about 4 p.m. while about 12 to 14 members of the HFD’s River Rescue Team were conducting their annual recertification training just below the Low Level Dam, Hamilton Fire Chief Joe Schutte Tuesday. Schutte said one of the boats started to drift toward “the boil,” turbulent water near the dam. During rescue efforts, two of the boats overturned and the four firefighters fell into the river. Three of the firefighters were pulled from the water within a minute while Gabbard, who has been a firefighter for about four years, was in the water for20 to 30 minutes, Schutte said Tuesday. Schutte said about four fire crews and a life squad were involved in the training, which involves performing different routines to recertify. “Generally, they’ll start in the morning and do a few hours, break for lunch, and come back in the afternoon,” he said Wednesday. Shortly after the accident, about three Hamilton fire trucks, an ambulance, several police cars and other fire officials were still at the scene. Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2190 or dewilson@coxohio.co