Yuma, Arizona - The Yuma Fire Department responded to approximately 17,600 emergency calls for service in 2021 (up over 1,000 from last year). Those responses ran the spectrum from unusual, to tragic. The last response of 2021 was for an assault and the first response of 2022 was for a dumpster fire…hopefully nothing prophetic in that…In another year with a significant virus focus, it was suggested that this week’s Fire House Facts again include a selection of some (not all) of the more unusual responses of 2021.
So, in addition to those above, here they are:
A person who drank hydrogen peroxide, a person who drank a gallon of alcohol, a teenager who drank “several” bottles of wine, a TV on fire, a person with hiccups all day, 2 for people who fell from roofs, 3 for children who fell from shopping carts,
4 for people injured jumping or falling from a moving vehicle, a 2 year old who swallowed a wedding ring, 3 for people who drank bleach, a groin pierced by a piece of rebar, a 2 year old hanging out of a 2nd floor window, 3 for rings stuck on fingers,
2 for cats in trees, 2 for a finger closed in a door, a person who inhaled citric acid, 2 juveniles injured when their electric scooters crashed together, 2 for injured hands from punching a wall, and 2 for people who drank dish soap.
A finger stuck in a spring, a fishhook in a foot, 2 for people who drank hand sanitizer, a cut mouth from biting a light bulb, an amputated finger, carbon monoxide poisoning from using gas powered tools indoors, someone injured by falling produce, a person hit in the head with a golf ball, a palm tree spike in a foot, a baby who drank lighter fluid, an infected gunshot wound, 4 for fires from smoking while on home oxygen, pain from old gunshot wounds, 3 for front lawns on fire, 1 for a leg pinned under a fallen fireplace chimney, 4 for construction site fires, a bitten ear, hot sauce in an eye, and 3 for people injured jumping into the river from the Ocean to Ocean bridge.
A bee swarm in a house, 4 for injuries from falling off electric scooters, injury from falling from a plane (parked), a toy stuck on a finger, a person stuck in a canal, a snake in a vehicle, a snake in a house, a snake in school, a snake in a bedroom, a finger stuck in a door, someone “huffing” canned air, a person who fell in a canal after a car crash, a dog with their foot stuck in a bathtub drain, a person stuck in handcuffs, a teenager who couldn’t feel their tongue after consuming marijuana edibles, chicken wire embedded in foot, a picnic table on fire, a person stuck in a bathroom, a bug in an ear, 7 for injuries from punching windows, and a near drowning of a mother and child who stepped in deep water at the river.
Cutting a fence where an animal was stuck, glass swallowed while sucking on a cellphone, uncontrolled bleeding from a popped pimple, injury from kicking a mirror, 2 for injuries from falling into mirrors, 1 for a teenager with a bottle cap stuck in throat, a finger stuck in a vehicle fueling port, 3 for smoking washing machines, a smoking ice machine, a refrigerator on fire, a 1 year old who fell off a bar stool, a person injured jumping from a train, someone who drank cleaning fluid, a person stuck inside a locked vehicle, someone shot in the chest by a flare gun, a fishhook in hand, a foot impaled on trampoline spring, hit on head from falling toaster, tree sap in eye, inhaled glass cleaner, swallowed dice, earring embedded in earlobe, hand caught in machinery, child hit by football, swallowed bottle cap, and super glue in eye.
A swallowed piece of seashell, a bucket of rocks that fell on toe, a 12 year old stuck in a park swing, a 13 year old stuck in a park swing, a person hit by a drone, 2 for children swallowing coins, a child who drank air freshener fluid, a Q-tip stuck in ear, inhaled bug spray, inhaled bleach fumes, child hit in head with a boot, child stuck in a dresser, a toe stuck in a lawn ornament, a medical alarm set off by a cat, a turkey on fire, a police motorcycle on fire, essential oil in eye, a hand injured by fireworks, a swallowed chicken bone, a jaw that got stuck while yawning, and at least 815 for people with psychiatric problems (at least 495 threatening or attempting suicide).
Let’s do our best to have a Safe, Healthy and Great 2022!
For more information about fire and injury prevention classes we offer, contact the Yuma Fire Department Public Information Office at 928-373-4855.