Just after 0800 on New Year’s day, Stonewall units received a call to respond to an auto accident with a passenger entrapped. Engine 511’s crew was inside a store on Sudley Manner Drive. When the crew came outside to board the engine, they could see the accident in the distance, and they were surprised to see the vehicles on fire.

Realizing that someone could be trapped in a burning car, the crew donned their gear with extreme haste and sped to the scene. Pulling up to Sudley Road, they found both vehicles fully involved. Wreckage littered the scene. One patient covered in white dust had been pulled to the median by two police officers and an off-duty EMT.

Firefighters swiftly extended the front bumper line and attacked the fire. E511’s officer discerned from the police that the entrapped patient had been removed. Although adrenalin was still soaring, crews extinguished the fire and performed overhaul without incident. Truck 511 and Engine 525 arrived to provide assistance, and crews were careful to keep the runoff from the smoldering car from flowing into drains.

After the fire had been extinguished and all hazards had been mitigated, Stonewall personnel learned more about the critical moments after the accident that became engulfed in flames. The off-duty EMT was Dale Parker, a member returning home from duty. He drove past the accident and noticed that it was on fire. Expecting the Station 11 units to be responding momentarily, he stopped to make sure everything was okay.

When Dale saw police officers with a fire extinguisher running toward the engulfed vehicle, he realized that the driver was still entrapped. An officer fired a short burst from the extinguisher to stifle the flames, and Dale reached into the burning vehicle to help pull the driver to safety. As E511’s sirens roared into the intersection, Dale and the officers had pulled the patient out of danger and began to administer care.

E525 established a landing zone, and the patient was transported via helicopter to Fairfax Hospital, where he was treated for second and third degree burns. The efforts of Mr. Parker and the two PWC officers saved the patient’s life. Had they not courageously intervened, the outcome would have been tragically different.