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Aviation Accident Report - News and Information About Airplane and Helicopter Accidents

San Francisco Fire Department Bans Helmet Videos

头盔凸轮静态照片
SF firefighter helmet cam video shows covering the body of Ye Meng Yuan   (SFFD)

中国语文 Chinese Version  In an unfortunate apparent reaction to the tragic accidental killing of Asiana flight 214 16-year-old passenger Ye Meng Yuan, San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White has banned helmet video cameras from emergency scenes. It was footage from Fire Battalion Chief Mark Johnson’s helmet camera that confirmed that fire trucks had run over the injured passenger during the July 6 emergency response at San Francisco International Airport. Hayes-White said that she was concerned that filming the scene may have violated both firefighters’ and victims’ privacy. She added that Johnson had been interviewed regarding the filming possibly violating fire department policy.

 

“There comes a time that privacy of the individual is paramount, of greater importance than having a video.”

 

Anthony Tarricone, attorney for the victim’s family, was surprised by the Fire Chief’s actions. Tarricone told San Francisco Chronicle journalist Jaxon Van Derbeken that video recordings increasingly are “critically important” in reconstructing first responders’ actions at disaster scenes.

 

“The same way that airplanes have cockpit voice recorders and data recorders. The idea that the Fire Department wants to prevent these cameras from being used, it’s really disturbing.”

 

It’s disappointing that the Fire Chief didn’t first announce new policies or training procedures that would lessen the risk of such a tragic accident from occurring again before taking action to simply “kill the messenger.” Arin Pace, lieutenant with the Jacksonville Florida Fire and Rescue Department told Van Derbeken,

 

“The camera doesn’t lie – it just shows what happened. In some cases, it shows something that isn’t very flattering. In those cases, what are you going to do?”

 

Pace is also the founder of FDCam, LLC a company that markets helmet cams to fire departments.