Fanwood Firefighter Injured in Drill

A Fanwood volunteer firefighter was injured during a drill outside the borough's firehouse Tuesday night.

At about 8:30 p.m., a fire hose, charged with water and snaking along the ground, swept Captain Stephen Szanto's legs out from under him, Fanwood police and fire officials said. Szanto did a somersault in the air and struck his head on the pavement when he landed. He lay unconscious for about a minute, officials said.

At the time of the incident, the Fanwood Rescue Squad was taking inventory in its own building about 40 yards away. Nine emergency medical technicians and first responders arrived at the scene in seconds. Two senior squad members soon joined them. They administered oxygen, placed Szanto on a backboard and rushed him to Overlook Hospital.

As of 9:30 p.m., he was "stabilized, conscious and talking," police said. He will be held under observation for at least one night.

The incident occurred after firefighters connected hoses to a "Wye" or "Y" valve, a device that allows two hoses to connect to a single outlet. On the Y valve itself, a connection to one of the hoses was open or opened, causing that hose to become charged with water, police said.

"Maybe it was partially open," a Fanwood officer said, "maybe it was forced open. For all I know, it was a malfunction."

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the incident. Stay tuned to Patch for more details.

Editor's note: I am a member of the Fanwood Rescue Squad, and I was helping the squad take an inventory of its supplies when it was notified about the injured firefighter. I helped another EMT fetch the backboard that was later used to move Szanto, but I  did not witness the accident.