Incident Name:
Date: 4/7/2002, 1647 hours
Personnel: Edna Faye Bishop
Age: 29
Agency/Organization: Bon Secour Fire/Rescue, Bon Secour AL
Position: firefighter
Summary: Firefighter Bishop was a rear-seat passenger in a 4-door commercial pumper responding to a brush fire that was threatening structures.
As the apparatus rounded a curve, the right wheels of the apparatus left the roadway and traveled on the shoulder. The driver steered left in an attempt to regain control of the vehicle. The pumper shot across both lanes of traffic, went off the left side of the roadway, came back on the roadway sliding sideways, and rolled 1-1/4-times. The pumper came to rest on the driver’s side.
The driver was able to make a radio report of the crash. As other fire departments responded to the scene, the driver and front-seat passenger were removed from the vehicle by passersby. Firefighter Bishop was trapped in the cab with her head lodged between the rear seat and the back wall of the cab on the driver’s side. She was removed from the apparatus and transported to the hospital. Firefighter Bishop was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
The police report indicated that all three firefighters were wearing 3-point seatbelts. State Highway Patrol accident reconstruction experts estimated the speed of the engine prior to loss of control at 74 miles per hour in a 45-mile per hour zone.
The cause of death for Firefighter Bishop was listed as mechanical asphyxia due to blunt head trauma.
Maps
Bon Secour Fire & Rescue, 7392 HWY 65, Bon Secour, AL
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Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- NIOSH Report: Volunteer Fire Fighter Dies and Two are Injured in Engine Rollover – AlabamaNIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar incidents, fire departments should
- develop and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the safe and prudent operation of emergency vehicles
- ensure that drivers of fire department vehicles receive driver training at least twice a year
Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports
- Alabama Firefighter Killed Responding4/15/2002 | Lon Slepicks of Firehouse.Com News (online in archives)
A Bon Secour firefighter lost her life Sunday in an apparatus traffic accident on the way to a wildland brush fire.
The Alabama Highway Patrol Division said Edna Faye Bishop, 29, was a passenger in the vehicle traveling four miles west of Foley at 4:30 p.m.
James Hinton, Chief of Foley Fire Rescue, said three volunteers from Bon Secour Fire and Rescue were responding in a 2002 International four-door pumper when the driver lost control in an S curve. The vehicle rolled at least twice and landed on the driver’s side.
Hinton said Foley and the Magnolia Springs Fire Department had a lengthy extrication process in removing Bishop and transporting her to South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley where she was pronounced dead at 5:45 p.m.
A second firefighter was still in the Medical Center Monday after surgery. A third firefighter was treated and released Sunday.
Bishop had just completed her Firefighter 1 course in February. Her husband is a volunteer with the Foley Department, a combination department. They have two young children, a boy and a girl.
Bon Secour is located near the Gulf coast south of Mobile.
Funeral Arrangements
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. at Pine Rest Funeral Home on Highway 98 in Foley, Wednesday, April 10. Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 11 at the First Baptist Churchof Foley on South Alston Street. Full Fire Service Honors.
Departments attending are asked to contact Chief Joby Smith at (251) 965-3633.
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Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- USFA Memorial Database: Edna Faye Bishop
- Alabama Fallen Firefighters list: 1994, Edna Faye Bishop
- Alabama State Fallen Firefighter Memorial located at the Alabama Fire Academy in Tuscaloosa AL
- Find a Grave Index: Edna Bishop
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