Using Aerial Beyond Safety Limits Saves 3 Trapped in Car by Flood

Using Aerial Beyond Safety Limits Saves 3 Trapped in Car by Flood

Considered Risk

BY

Through the considered use of an aerial ladder beyond recommended safety limits, a mother and her two young sons were rescued from their overturned car in the center of the turbulent waters of a rain-swollen creek.

Last Jan. 13, Mrs. Vicki Bierman, who lived in California’s Santa Cruz Mountain Range near San Francisco, was returning home with her two sons, Bodi, 9, and Jason, 6. Their house was at the end of Stevens Canyon Road near Stevens Creek. The creek, normally dry or little more than a trickle, was flowing several feet deep across the road because of heavy rains. When Mrs. Bierman attempted to drive her older model Volvo through the water, the current washed it about 75 feet downstream and overturned it. The car caught on a sand bar and trapped the occupants inside.

At 6:51 p.m., about half an hour after the mishap, a passerby spotted the overturned car and called the Santa Clara County communications center. Central Fire Protection District Engine 7 was dispatched with three men. The 7-mile run along the wet, narrow, mountain road took an unusually long 21 minutes. It was about 45 minutes after the accident when Captain Richard Baughman and his crew arrived on the scene. It was unknown at this time whether anyone was in the vehicle.

Photo courtesy of California Highway Patrol

Aerial ladder requested

Finding the vehicle partially submerged in the rapidly flowing 6-foot-deep creek, Baughman immediately requested the additional response of the Central Fire District’s 100-foot American LaFrance aerial ladder truck. Truck 1, from the downtown Cupertino Station, had a response time of 28 minutes, arriving on the scene at 7:43 p.m.

Because there was only one useful spot for operating the aerial ladder, Captain Mike Harrigan had to extend the outriggers to the creek edge of the road. The creek side of the road was being undermined by the flowing water, but Harrigan determined that for rescue purposes, the risk of tipping the truck had to be taken. The aerial ladder was then extended horizontally to its maximum length to reaching a point just above the car. A 10-foot attic ladder was positioned from the aerial’s tip to the car’s underside. At this time, all aerial safety indicators were in the danger zone.

Baughman, the lightest man on the scene, crawled to the tip of the ladder and secured ropes to the car’s rear axle. These ropes were then tied to trees on both banks of the creek to prevent any possible downstream movement of the precariously perched vehicle.

Secured by a lifeline, Baughman dropped into the water and looked through a side window of the vehicle. He saw three occupants, trapped but alive and well. He determined that the quickest and easiest access could be made by forcing the trunk open and removing the back seat. This was immediately accomplished with a Halligan tool.

Each victim was secured to lifelines and carried to safety over the aerial ladder. Although none of the victims appeared to have sustained any injury, they were transported to Kaiser Hospital for examination and released shortly afterward.

Problems overcome

The overall time required for the rescue was 2 hours, 45 minutes. Some problems met and overcome by the rescue crews were:

1. A delayed alarm since the accident was not discovered for at least 30 minutes.
2. A long response due to wet, narrow, winding roads under adverse weather conditions plus considerable travel distance for fire apparatus.
3. The vehicle, in a wide, deep, rapidly flowing creek, was inaccessible to first-arriving crews.
4. Radio communications were poor because of the remote area and noisy, rushing water. A radio relay system had to be established.
5. The road was barely wide enough to position the ladder truck.
6. The river side of the road was being undermined by flowing water, creating a tipping hazard for the ladder truck.
7. There was a danger of losing the occupants if the vehicle was washed downstream any farther.

This was one more incident that shows it is occasionally necessary for fire fighters to take calculated risks and push their equipment beyond the limits of safety to preserve life.