" Why were Edgar County rescue team involved and why was the Charleston Fire Chief involved in an incident 10 miles north of Mattoon and at least 25 miles from Charleston and close to 50 miles from Paris. Cannot the Coles County Dive team and Mattoon Fire Cheif assist. "

" medic57 has a great point: why was Chief Phipps in charge at this situation? "

" I think you need to understand what your talking about before you make comments. Coles County Dive team was Mattoon and Charleston Combined and Edgar Co was chosen as a back up dive team if the primary team were to get in trouble. If you Understood MABAS and how we all work together for 1 common goal then u wouldnt make rediculous comments on a post. I have worked with Chief Phipps before and i think him and Pat did a great job handling this event. Not to mention Mattoon Fire was there also and played a big factor on the event but im sure if you were there you would know this. All im saying is if you were at the Incident you would see how things run, instead u would rather question why things were done and who was in charge. The Task we set out to accomplish was done successfully. "

" FireA_5 wrote -- The Task we set out to accomplish was done successfully. "


You pulled a dead man out of the water. After an eyewitness saw the car go in, it still took 58 people from 14 agencies 4 hours to locate the car in 8 to 10 feet of water about 100 feet from where it went in.

Actually, MABAS is designed for stricken communities with overtaxed EMS services during a crises period for a community. "

" Medic, why must everything be a conspiracy with you? I have some advice. Why don't you work on your own issues and stop worrying about minute details such as who responded to an emergency? "

" This is a terrible tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Idleman's family. "

" I know there are many who help during these things in case some of the volunteers run into emergencies when trying to do a rescue. The current is swift at high water, and makes it very dangerous for divers, even boats, to maneuver. AND the man probably was disoriented to where the road was after driving through the water. This is why I don't drive thru water or go over any bridges where was one, and all see is water, as the bridge could be gone.
I don't like driving down a waterfilled Mattoon street for fear maybe a road isn't there we think should be there. "

" you people crack me up. you pick the silliest things to quibble over. i for one am just glad that we live in an area willing to help their neighbors and work together for a common goal. maybe the best man for the job was in charge, maybe chief phipps has the most experience and/or training. i don't know. and the point is, neither do you. "

" Who cares why Chief Phipps was there or why he was in charge. The fact of the matter is that Charleston should be proud that we have a chief who is capable of orgaininzing and delegating at a moments notice. Not to mention making life and death and decisions for the volunteers of this team. Needless to say have you never heard of "mutual aid". A person's life was lost I don't think this when we should be questioning who or why a public servent was there performing a civic duty. We should think Kris Phipps for allowing our fireman to be a part of this team!!! "

" Had it beem "Medic57's" family he wouldn't be shooting off his mouth. What an unloving person. I hope this "medic" doesn't work in my county-he probably would let me die if I didn't live in just the right area that he "serves". "

" Medic57, you are pathetic! "

" medic57....................YOU TRUELY ARE PATHETIC... "

" Medic, I think you might have passed me up for the honor of being the most reviled poster on this site. I usually just get it from the right side, and those that support the unethical use of the firetrucks in Mattoon, but you seem to be pi$$ing people from both sides. LOL! Thanks for taking some of the heat off of me, for a little while at least. "

" No problem. "

" medic57 wrote on Jun 5, 2008 11:02 PM:

" FireA_5 wrote -- The Task we set out to accomplish was done successfully. "


You pulled a dead man out of the water. After an eyewitness saw the car go in, it still took 58 people from 14 agencies 4 hours to locate the car in 8 to 10 feet of water about 100 feet from where it went in.

Actually, MABAS is designed for stricken communities with overtaxed EMS services during a crises period for a community. "
----------------

Well put and to the point! Great post Medic!!! Time for a Change!!! "

" When you have an emergency you need to have the people who know what they are doing run the show. Experts always say not to drive into running or standing water. This time the tragedy happend close to home.

I am sure nothing was as simple as it seems. Thanks should be given to everyone who assisted in these efforts. If not for the professional leadership of Charleston Chief Phipps others could have been injured or lost. It is comforting to know when something like this happens Coles County knows who to go to to get things done.

My condolences to the Idleman family. "

" I saw a picture in the paper this morning. To me, the waves and surface of the water indicated that it was deep and moving quite fast. If the water was deep enough and fast enough to sweep an auto off the road, then it is strong enough to carry the vehicle down stream until it got hung up on some obstacle, even if the obstacle was underwater.
It is not viable for every community to have Dive Teams (or Hazardous Waste Teams). The cost is prohibitive to actual use. That is why communities, counties, or regions work together to provide this service. I believe this was a situation that was beyond/overtasked the Humboldt EMS team, therefore, it makes sense for MABAS and other appropriate agencies to become involved.
Medic57 and 85CHSGrad, it appears that you picked empty Oxygen bottles when you dived into this topic. "

" My condolences to the Idleman family.

It seems that cities, counties, and the state need to install iron baracades at these sites that can be lowered or swung into place when road flooding is imminent.

It seems that no matter how many times that warnings are made on the TV/Radio news, weather band radios and etc., some people are inflicted with the 'Jesus Syndrome', and think they and their vehicle can cross, unharmed, on top of the water. Some tragically end in drownings.

These baracades could cut the expense of using the rescue teams and reduce the need to put the rescuers in harms way. The baracades are worth strong consideration. "

" Congrats 85CHSGrad your now just a pathetic as Medic. You two should be swept away, see who would come and get you! Hope you can hold your breath for a long time! "

" Medic 57-How can you be so cold and callous. It is very unfortunate that a gentleman lost his life. However, everyone knows that emergency rescue 101 is that if you are no longer in a rescue you mode and you are in a recovery mode that you do not risk the lives of others. So I believe what you are trying to state that no matter what we risk the lives of others also. I obviously you do not have any family members who are in the emergency business. "

" I notice that as of the 12:07 post, all of the usual complainers have used screen names. // My congratulations to all the responders. You did all you could have done in a hopeless, and very dangerous, situation. // My condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Idleman. "

" cd has the best idea, barricades or gates is an excellent idea. "

" Pretty low when you're rated up there with 85CHSGrad, on this one, medic57.

Thank You Kris Phipps, any & all agencies, & to anyone involved with this rescue & recovery!

My thoughts & prayers go out to the Idleman family. "

" My condolences to the family also, it was a terrible tradgedy, however, it was a tradgedy that didn't need to happen if people pay attention, remember the man from Charleston who ran into a train on the old state road just south of Mattoon, people blamed the railroad, why, because there wern't any gates, anyone who lives in this area knows there are trains on that track. They also know, or should know, that you don't drive through high running water.

My point here was, why were 58 people from 14 agencies needed, and why was the Chearleston Fire Chief in charge of a situation that was 25 miles northwest of charleston.

The Flame wrote -- If not for the professional leadership of Charleston Chief Phipps others could have been injured or lost.--

So, Mr. Phipps was the only chief within 50 miles that knew what he was doing?

The Flame also wrote -- It is comforting to know when something like this happens Coles County knows who to go to to get things done.

Like the time there was a boy on a bicycle hit at 10th and Madison and there were no firemen at the firehouse, the trucks were all there, just no firemen.

ak927 wrote --- Obviously you do not have any family members who are in the emergency business. "

Just myself, hence the name medic57. "

" mr andres, are your comments somehow more worthwhile since you use your real name? should others respect your opinion more because it's there? the only thing that is different about your posts, by having your names there is that someone can go to whitepages.com and prank call you later if they want to. does that make you feel like you're "standing up" for what you believe in? there are many people on here whose opinions mean more to me than you and i don't know their names. "

" So you are in the emergency business are you medic57?
Then you should be very aware that not all responders are as well trained in every aspect of emergency operations as some are. Some may be an expert in one field while quite unskilled in others. When it comes to directing operations at major emergencies I would say Kris Phipps is far more qualified than any other Fire Chief in a 25 to 30 mile radius. I have not met the Chiefs from Champaign, Urbana, or Decatur so I'm limiting my opinion to a 30-miles radius.
Kris has attended dozens of schools and many advanced technicial classes. He was a paramedic. These qualifications alone place him far ahead of other area Chiefs. As someone who is in the "emergency business" I am very surprised you did not know this.
Would you have felt better if only two agencies had responded? Maybe you would feel better if one or two rescuers had been injured? Are you trying to say the Humboldt Fire Chief should have handled this emergency alone? Maybe you feel the 58 responders from 14 different agencies were a waste of resources? I cannot guess just what you are thinking.
A major effort was put forth to try to rescue then recover a victim of a very tragic accident. Maybe you feel the money and effort should have been used elsewhere.

I wish to offer our deepest sympathies to the family and our most greatful thanks to all of the emergency personnel. Well done Kris. "

" medic57, In my opinion Chief Phipps is the only local Fire Chief that knew what needed to be done in this instance.

85CHSGrad, A change in what? Most of your post sounds like Monday morning quarterbacking. Until they pin-pointed the exact location of the car no one, not even you, knew the car was in 8 to 10 feet of water and 100 feet downstream. Hindsight is always 20/20. "

" Ouch! the old insurance peddler, Tom, gets spanked again. Tom, you need to consider a different approach. Your constant whining about ghost names is not getting you anywhere, and in fact is starting to make you look rather silly. You do know what the say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results..... "

" I don't think it's right for anyone to assign blame, to anyone in particular, for this terrible tragedy. Yes, it was probably avoidable. What can be done now? I think the only thing would be for us to all learn from the situation & Mr. Idleman's death could possibly save someone else from being in such a position in the future. As far as condemning those who responded ... that's just ridiculous! All who responded should be praised for their efforts. IF there was anything done wrong, or could be improved upon, by the rescue crews ... hopefully they will learn from this also.

My condolences to the Idleman family & friends. My thoughts & prayers go out to you & yours during this horrific ordeal. "

" Tom thinks his messages are more worth while than anyone Else's, whether or not they are signed with a real name or a pseudonym, pj1983. His condescending, smug and arrogant posts speak quite clearly to that. That's the reason so many of us enjoy poking fun at him for his bloated, obnoxious and overbearing ideas and opinion of himself.

When he gets too much heat, he backs off for a few days, but always comes back with the same old nonsense. "

" I think the only thing would be for us to all learn from the situation & Mr. Idleman's death could possibly save someone else from being in such a position in the future.

Yeah, right, if I had a nickle for every time someone said that, no one will learn, they never do, people still go around railroad gates.

People, if the gate is down, chances are good that there is a train nearby. "

" GRAD, your viewpoint on this matter doesn't surprise me in the least. We should be eternally grateful for all who were willing to utilize the skills necessary in completing this very risky maneuver. It's time for a change alright. Time for you to take your head out of your arse. "

" Chief Phipps headed up another water rescue this morning. And this time the results were different. 2 lives were saved. I don't have a head count on how many were there, I don't know how many agencies. Who cares. I'm sure the 2 men that were rescued could care less who did what. Just what was done. The Coles County dive team was there. I assume when they say COLES COUNTY that mean any agency in the county. Last I knew Kris Phipps department was in Coles County. Did medic57 get some toes stepped on? Ouch. "

" Good Job Ashmore Fire Department, Charleston Fire Department, Coles County Dive team, Paris, Coles County Sheriffs, and any other agencies involved in the rescue of the two Ameren workers this morning. (Saturday) Coles County has one of the best Emergency response teams around. And that means any emergency, from storm spotters, to fire departments, to dive teams and any other not mentioned. Rural and city. Thank you to all of the Emergency Responders that work so hard to help Coles County in a crisis. I, personally appreciate all of your effort. "

" With my husband being one of the responders who attempted to rescue Mr. Idleman, some of you should be ashamed. You all are making a VERY big deal over who was in charge, when you should be looking at those who risked their lives to rescue a man who needed assistance. I am very proud to be a firefighter's wife. I am very proud of the many firefighters across our counties. They risk their lives day in and day out to save those who are in need. Let's get back to the real story. A man lost his life attempting to cross a road that was covered in water. Many local departments made an attempt at finding and saving the man's life. It did end in tragedy. For this I know intimately, that they are very sorry. They tried to save this poor gentleman. Think of how this affects each and every one of them. Don't squabble over why certain people were in charge. Say a prayer for Mr. Idleman's family. They are the ones that are in need. "

" I normally dont make it a practise of responding to people who obviously dont have a clue as to how things run. For the benefit of the knowledge of the general public, I will attempt to answer or atleast respond to some of the questions posed here in regards to concerns regarding our Dive Team. First of all, the Team is composed of emergency responders (fire, police, ems, ema) and trained "civilians" from Charleston, Mattoon, Eastern Illinois University, volunteer firefighters and other agencies. It is a team effort and an all volunteer effort. None of the members get paid for responding to a dive incident unless they are lucky enough to belong to an agency like Charleston or Mattoon Fire that supports our efforts by allowing their on duty personnel or call back personnel to respond. The "jurisdiction" of the Dive Team is the entire County of Coles. It is a Dive Team policy that no matter where we respond in the County, the Dive Team is in charge of the dive operations because of the danger involved. No offense intended to any of Coles Counties emergency response agencies, but would you want someone with no dive experience or training directing your operations? We are fortunate to have a small but efficient and professional Dive Team here in Coles County, as does Edgar County. Safety First is our first priority. Whenever the Team responds a mutual aid request is put out to Edgar County Dive Team to back us up, similar to the RIT responses between Mattoon and Charleston. It provides us with additional trained professionals and additional equipment. It helps us to send our volunteers home safely to their families at the end of the day.
Kris Phipps is a sworn volunteer member of our Dive Team. He is a State certified Incident Management Team member (one of few in the State of Illinois), as such he is highly qualified to command an emergency response. We operate under the state and federally mandated National Incident Mamnagement System (NIMS). I consider myself very lucky to have the support of Kris and Pat Goodwin, our Chief Diver, as members of our Team. Kris was acting under my authority as County EMA Coordinator as Incident Commander, as the Dive Team is part of Coles County EMA. He is more than qualified to act in that capacity. So to answer your question, Kris was acting as Incident Commander under the authority of the Dive Team not as Charleston Fire Chief. We are very fortunate over the past few years to have developed a spirit of cooperation here in Coles County. For the most part our emergency responders come together as a Team to get the job done. We do it as efficiently, professionally and SAFELY as possible. If we recklessly took chances that were doomed to failure who would be left to respond to your emergency? Sometimes, even though it goes against all our natural instincts, we have to say its too dangerous and back off and take a safer route. My thanks to all the agencies that responded to support us. The reason we need so many of you is because safe operations take time and man power, workers have to have time to rehab after giving their all-out effort. Do we make mistakes.....I would be fibbing to you if I said we didn't, show me a respond group that doesnt make mistakes, but we learn from our mistakes which makes us a stronger and more efficient Team. With out the support of the Charleston Fire and Police, Mattoon Fire and Police, EIU Police and Safety Department and others, our Team would be non-existant. You should be thanking these people for offering their time and effort and in some cases money out of their own pockets to provide a thankless service to the citizens of Coles County. "

" Well said Mr. Watson
Medic57: Where are you a medic at? Obviously not Coles County or you would know how things operate in this County. Why do people always want to criticize our professionals? They are very capable of doing an excellent job. They train constantly, and I personally hope that if I am ever in a crisis it happens here in Coles County where there are some of the best responders around. Those of you who are constantly making negative remarks really need to understand how the Emergency Services in Coles County operate. Maybe if you could compare Coles County's Emergency agencies against another you could appreciate what you have here. I hope Mr. Watson cleared things up for some of you, I am sure people just don't realize what great responders and agencies we have. And that what they do, the equipment they have, the time they put in and for some it is unpaid time, they do for you. Show some appreciation instead of complaining all of the time. Especially about who is in charge for goodness sake. How petty. And just plain stupid. Unless you know exactly what goes on in these agencies, you really shouldn't comment. It just shows everyone that you don't have a clue of what goes on, you just want to complain about something, anything from tax dollars being wasted to who should be in charge. And medic57...... I sure hope you arent' the one that would be responding to an emergency I might have.... scary. I want a professional.

And while I am giving kudos... Mr. Watson is head of Emergency Managment Services in Coles County. He does an excellent job too. He works hard to keep Coles County safe and he works with alot of different agencies. He deserves this communities thanks also. "

" It is nice to be able to connect with the world again. The storm that crashed through the area quickly sent me back to the dark ages. Several large trees came crashing down taking my electrical and telephone service with them. It took several crews from the power company and a very nice telephone technician to restore my power, telepohone service and my DSL. I had the chance to watch the local emergency responders in action throughout my neighborhood. I have nothing but praise for their actions. I also listened to responders saving lives and property over the next day or two. It is a real benifit to have them available.

All of the back-slapping aside I still do not feel they should be given free rein to do as they please.

slap, The Coles County emergency responders do a great job and everyone of them should be proud to be a part of such a great team. They deserve our respect. I do have another opinion when it comes to criticizing certain behavior. Firemen, paramedics, and law enforcement personnel should lead the way. During emergencies they respond and take care of events beyond the scope of the average citizen. When an emergency occurs the most qualified person should be in command. Once the emergency is over the responders deserve our thanks. They do not deserve nor should they expect to be without responsibilities.

I pay my taxes to the City therefore I am entitled to complain if I do not think my tax dollars are spent wisely. In America there is no ruling class that is above the law. If the government is broke then every public employee is responsible to help. As an American I can have and publicly state an opinion different from other people. "

" The Flame wrote on Jun 6, 2008 3:55 PM:

" medic57, In my opinion Chief Phipps is the only local Fire Chief that knew what needed to be done in this instance.


Why, out of 58 people was chief Phipps the only one with this knowledge? "

" medic57, Your question has a simple answer. Chief Phipps was not the only one who had the knowledge and training to head up this incident. His assistant chief Pat Goodwin could also have run the operation. Do any of the other local chiefs have the same training and certifications? That would be a good question to ask the other chiefs. I do not think you would find any others within Coles County that would even be close. "