Tag: entrapment

On July 28 two dozer/plows became stuck  while fighting a fire in Florida and were overrun. Two operators took refuge in one of the enclosed cabs, but thankfully, neither was injured.

FL DOF Entrapment Preliminary Report 2010-16-0429

Thanks Dick

King5 has a video interview with one of the three firefighters that escaped from a structural engine as it became entrapped by flames on the Cowiche Mill fire west of Yakima, Washington on July 18. Michael Rhine, a second-year volunteer firefighter, suffered some second-degree burns on his ear — the other two firefighters’ injuries were also minor.

From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — When Larry Garfinkel turned toward a wildfire that bore down on him near Carbondale 16 months ago, he was convinced he was about to burn to death, he said Monday.

“I was facing the fire and it was right there,” Garfinkel, a retired Los Angeles police detective, testified in the trial of Carbondale rancher Larry Gerbaz.

Gerbaz is being prosecuted on felony and misdemeanor arson charges in connection with the April 15, 2008, wildfire, in which Garfinkel suffered hand and head burns and several homes were damaged. Prosecutors say embers in a debris pile that Gerbaz had burned three days earlier flared up and caused the fire. Gerbaz’s attorneys dispute that contention.

Garfinkel, 62, gave a harrowing account of living through a blowup of a wildfire.

The California resident had been on a fishing outing with two other men near Carbondale when they saw a faraway plume of white smoke transform into a dark ball, causing them to head back to their car. They walked at first and then ran as the smoke thickened and they began to see flames.

Garfinkel said the wind-driven fire “just blew up,” spreading almost a half-mile in 20 or 30 seconds, and all three headed for a creek.

Hobbled by a bad knee, Garfinkel turned toward the fire at the creek to grab a willow bush and let himself down into the water.

“The bush exploded. It didn’t catch fire or ignite, it just exploded,” he said.

He said he saw his left hand flash white before he ended up underwater, looking up.

“I watched as the fire went over me. I came up for air once and went back down and I don’t remember what happened next,” Garfinkel said.

Choking back tears, Garfinkel told jurors he later urged one of his fellow anglers to save himself when the man told him he had to get out of the water and flee.

But the man pulled him out of the creek, and the third fisherman helped them climb up to Colorado Highway 82 as they continued their race against the fire.

Defense attorney Tom Silverman questioned whether Garfinkel’s emotions in recounting his ordeal were entirely genuine. Silverman suggested that Garfinkel hadn’t cried in describing the fire during a deposition Thursday, regarding a lawsuit Garfinkel has filed against Gerbaz.

“I beg to differ, sir,” Garfinkel said.

The two-week trial is scheduled to go to jury deliberation Friday.

Garfinkel was the prosecution’s last witness and Gerbaz’s attorneys began to call witnesses late Monday.

 

Wildfire Today previously reported on some of the details of the November 16 entrapment of Corona Fire Department’s Engine 5 on the Freeway Complex in southern California. The engine had a 4-person crew–three men and one woman. The woman, Anita Jackson, is originally from New Zealand and is a firefighter/paramedic for Corona. A New Zealand web site has her story. Here is an excerpt:

Anita’s mother, Barbara Bryan, described what happened in an email to the Hutt News.

Her daughter left Stokes Valley in 1999 to complete her paramedics degree at the University of California. She married and lives in Anaheim. She is a paramedic / fire fighter for the City of Corona (Los Angeles).

On November 16 (in the US, 9.23am on Saturday the 15th) the engine she was on fighting the wildfires was engulfed in flames when hurricane-force winds caused the blaze to change direction.

The engineer was able to climb up on the rig and use the master stream (a huge nozzle capable of releasing 1200 gallons per minute) to spray water around to try to buy them some time. With just 500 gallons in the tank it rapidly ran out, leaving them with no protection.

The heat was so intense that the hoses ignited and the tyres on the engine started to burn and melt. The captain radioed their position and all available helicopters with monsoon buckets and water-carrying aircraft were dispatched to the area.

A specialised bush fire engine was also sent to help.

The one protection hose they had been using was burnt rubber but Anita hadn’t realised it had melted and picked it up to move it. The rubber burnt through her gloves, leaving her with second-degree burns to her hands and no water to take away the heat. It was so hot that she couldn’t remove her glove to stop the burning and had to continue to work beyond the pain.

Even though she was wearing her specialised protective gear, her legs felt like they were on fire as the ground ignited around them. With no water left in the engine, they had to beat back the flames with shovels until help arrived. She said that although it was terrifying, no-one panicked they all stayed focused and in survival mode.

Barbara, husband Tony and Anita’s brother Paul in New Zealand were frantic when the news came through that Anita had been hurt.

But Barbara says Anita’s husband Jack reassured them that all four crew had got out and were being treated in hospital. Anita’s worst injury was burning to her throat, airway and lungs. She is healing well, but Barbara says her daughter has confided that the emotional scar will take a little longer.

“They all stayed totally positive throughout the ordeal but reality hit the following day when they realised just how lucky they were to survive,” she says.

Barbara is particularly proud that despite her own injuries, Anita wanted her crewmates one of whom had eye injuries checked out first.

“In her line of work Anita continually deals with injury and death and always says to her family that we can never be guaranteed of tomorrow,” Barbara says. “Although she is miles away she always remains in close contact with home.”

Anita’s husband told the family in New Zealand that despite the harrowing experience, she is anxious to get back to work as soon as she gets a medical clearance doing the job she loves, which is helping people.