|
Firefighters improve after lightning strike
By Nathan Key, Managing EditorEight firefighters struck by lightning while battling a forest fire Saturday are continuing their recovery process. Firefighters from the North Carolina Forest Service, prearranged fire crews and bridge crews from Morganton were taking a break from fighting a fire in the Buffalo Cove area of Caldwell County Saturday afternoon when a strike hit a tree snag and traveled underground toward them. All eight were taken to Caldwell Memorial Hospital for treatment, and six have been released so far. Caldwell County Ranger Rusty Dellinger said Saturday’s events were a harrowing experience for those involved “ the injured as well as those providing assistance. “I hope this is the first and last time we ever have to discuss something like this,” Dellinger said Monday. “We were very fortunate. “I’m so thankful we had no fatalities. The Lord was watching over those guys. Things could have been so much worse.” The NCFS has not released the names of the firefighters involved in Saturday’s incident, but three of them were from Caldwell County. One firefighter was released Saturday night, and another was released Sunday after being taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Another four firefighters were discharged Monday, with two still under observation, one at Caldwell and another at Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory. Dellinger said the firefighters were treated for burns, pain in their lower extremities, and some were complaining of headaches. He added that none of the injuries appears to be life-threatening, based on reports from medical personnel. Crews were in the Buffalo Cove area Saturday fighting a fire that started Friday afternoon by a lightning strike. Smoke was reported in northeastern Caldwell County at 2:45 p.m. Friday, and a scout plane was dispatched to pinpoint the exact location. The fire was backing off both sides of a ridge when spotted from the air, and 16 firefighters responded to make access near Green Rock Baptist Church. After a brief rain shower delayed their entry into the steep and rocky woodland area, firefighters hiked approximately two miles in an hour and a half to the fire. Bucket drops of water from an NCFS helicopter helped slow the spread of the fire to keep it from advancing to a steep, rocky cliff, and firefighters began putting in check lines by hand to limit the fire’s progress before leaving around 10:15 p.m. Twenty-three firefighters returned Saturday to improve those check lines, do mop-up duty and secure the perimeter. Dellinger said all was going well, and the crews were taking a break while waiting for the helicopter, grounded in Hickory because of a thunderstorm in Catawba County, to arrive and provide more aerial assistance. Dellinger said it was mostly sunny with some scattered clouds in the area while the firefighters took their break. He also said they had been in regular contact with their operations center getting updates on weather conditions in the area, which is standard procedure. “There was nothing to give any warning that they were in imminent danger,” he said. “There was no thunderstorm activity in the immediate vicinity.” There was no storm, but the lightning came. The strike hit a snag some 12-14 feet in height about 25-30 feet away from the firefighters. The electrical current quickly traveled down the snag and moved underground toward the unsuspecting firefighters. Dellinger said the power of the strike churned the ground as it made its way toward the group of men, sitting and standing. Dellinger was on his way back from another wildfire near Foothills Regional Airport in western Caldwell County when he heard the call at 4:48 p.m. that firefighters had been injured by a lightning strike. He said his immediate reaction was about getting the injured men out of the woods safely and as quickly as possible for medical treatment. A Kubota all-terrain vehicle used to transport supplies to the fire scene was used to take the injured firefighters out of the woods. Time and distance were the greatest obstacles. All the injured firefighters were to a transport site by 6:30 p.m. “It just took us time to get them loaded and out,” Dellinger said. Had there been any signs that a thunderstorm was approaching or that lightning was possible, Dellinger said the crews would have been sent out of the wooded area to seek shelter. But, he added, there often is not any shelter in remote areas like the one firefighters found themselves in Saturday. To make matters worse, there was nothing showing on the radar at the operations center to give any warning of what was coming. “When something like this occurs, you often don’t have time to take shelter,” he said. “We look for signs (of bad weather). Had there been signs, our crews would have been making their way out. This came without warning. I’m just glad it wasn’t any worse than it was.” A fire crew of 12 people returned to the location Sunday to check containment lines and work any hot spots at the scene. The fire burned a total of four acres. Dellinger said the fire scene will be monitored by air the next few days to make sure it remains in check.
|
