Alameda residents are enraged about a horrific that unfolded before onlookers as emergency services and firefighters did nothing while a suicidal, drowning man died Memorial Day 2011--in shallow waters of San Francisco Bay. On the job just one week prior, Interim Fire Chief Mike D'Orozio claims budget cuts are to blame.
Outrage and accusations have been flying since. The Alameda Fire Department and police literally stood by for an hour, watching a suicidal man in San Francisco waters, in what could have been an entirely preventable death. The fire department has blamed the death on budget cuts while at least one City Council Member insinuates the fire department forgot to follow up in re-certification procedures.
An Alameda, California, City Council Member is demanding some answers in what the fire department claims was a lack of action due to budget cuts.
On May 30, a San Francisco team of firefighters, police and about 75 alarmed people were present as a man literally drowned in shallow waters while emergency crews did nothing -- the victim reachable by virtually any human. Firefighters were reportedly told, by police on scene, that the Alameda team members were barred from attempting assistance in trying to save the drowning man. Police apparently deemed the the risk too dangerous, the water temperatures supposedly frigid.
Strangely and sadly, actions of a single woman -- who arrived on scene -- provide a shattering contradiction to the claims by emergency crews. One woman entered the San Francisco Bay to pull the man to land. By the time she got to him, he'd died -- while emergency crews had simply been looking on. Unconfirmed reports as to identity say the brave woman is thought to be an off-duty nurse.
Age 51 or 52, Raymond Zack literally walked into 54-degree water up to his neck right before noon on Memorial Day -- and remained there until he lost consciousness and eventually drowned. It was not a fast death where emergency crews had no time to respond: It took up to an hour for Zack to pass away, after inching his way slowly out in the water. The only emergency crews who made an attempt to respond were U.S. Coast Guard members -- forced to turn back the boat after shallow waters thwarted all rescue attempts by the on-board crew.
Since the drowning, bizarre pieces of information have surfaced -- including a radio interview with Interim Fire Chief D'Orazi who claims Alameda police said a rescue attempt by firefighters was not safe because the man in the water "could have been armed, could have had a weapon. That was what was discussed."
The only thing that could have saved the man's life would've been a physical human being, and there were a lot of them present. But police blocked any witnesses and emergency crews from entering the water. And firefighters on scene literally stood by.
According to the Alameda Fire Department, its claim is that budget cuts made in 2009 -- two years ago, supposedly caused by the recession -- are to blame for the department's refusal to assist a drowning man. But a City Councilwoman is battling that idea head-on.
In an excruciating scene, Zack's stepmother had reportedly asked someone to phone 911, specifically because she said her son had threatened suicide. While crews from the police department and fire crew did arrive in plenty of time to save the man's life, they did absolutely nothing while the suicidal man “gradually inched out farther and farther,” while gazing back at the shore, according to a witness. The scene went on for almost an hour.
Alameda Police Department Lt. Sean Lynch claims his California police officers lacked cold water gear and that the police department could not risk the chance of anyone on the force being dragged under. Lynch says: “Certainly this [death] was tragic, but police officers are tasked with ensuring public safety, including the safety of personnel who are sent to try to resolve these kinds of situations.”
But the police department which did nothing in the Memorial Day fatality reportedly also blocked fire crews from action. Alameda Fire claims water rescue and water rescue training were dropped two years ago -- the supposed reason for complete lack of action by firefighters.
Interim Fire Chief Mike D’Orazi says “The [May 30] incident...was deeply regrettable. But I can also see it from our [Alameda] firefighters’ perspective. They’re standing there wanting to do something, but they are handcuffed by policy at that point.”
The Alameda City Council insinuates that the "policy" which supposedly "handcuffed" the firemen on scene was actually a screw-up: The belief is that the Alameda Fire Department in California dropped the ball, failing to follow up on paperwork and courses that may have been intended for a more immediate reinstatement -- not permanently cut by what is being blamed on 2009 budget cuts.
Alameda City Councilwoman Beverly Johnson says: "People are assuming that those protocols were city-adopted. They were not," says City Councilwoman Beverly Johnson. "They are internal [Alameda] fire department protocols that I am not sure anyone in the city even knew existed."
Johnson wants to know whether discontinuing the fire department's water rescue program in 2009 was actually meant to be only temporary -- meant to be in place while the department underwent water rescue recertification.
"I understand that it [the water rescue program] may have supposed to have been stopped for just 30 to 45 days," says the Councilwoman. "And that someone may have dropped the ball, that the [water rescue] recertification did not take place and there wasn't a follow-up. That's something we need to find out."
Alameda residents are so upset over the loss of life -- that was preventable -- that the San Francisco-area city's been receiving a flood of complaints that have caused the city to suddenly discover funds: In just days, the city of San Francisco responding by appropriating $20,000 to $40,000 to train 16 firefighters in land-based water rescue training.
Email Interim Fire Chief Mike D'Orazi at the Alameda Fire Department here.