Pair pulls neighbor from burning trailer

PHIL NELSON THE TRINITY JOURNAL Eric, left, and Wally Remington stand in front of a burnt-out trailer where they pulled a resident to safety. A disabled Hayfork man was pulled from a burning trailer by a father and son last week as smoke threatened to overcome them all.

The fire broke out Tuesday evening, June 23, at the Sanders Trailer Park on Morgan Hill Road.

Wally Remington, who lives in the trailer park, was startled as his son Eric's girlfriend, D.J., ran to his trailer screaming "fire!" They had smelled the smoke, and Eric had already run into the trailer to look for the two men who live there. One occupant was on his feet and had attempted unsuccessfully to put the fire out and drag his roommate out.

"As I'm running in the door, Eric's running out to try to catch his breath," Wally Remington said, adding that he ran toward the victim's bedroom only to trip over him in the middle of the living room. "He was lying there on his back looking up."

Wally Remington said he began dragging the man out, but started having trouble breathing himself. "I just closed my eyes and kept going," he said, and Eric came back in to help drag the man the rest of the way out. The second occupant managed to get out safely.

From the Hayfork Volunteer Fire Department, Chief Dave Loeffler said the occupants of the trailer were fortunate that the fire broke out when neighbors were awake.

Loeffler said the fire page went out at 8:53 p.m., with dispatch reporting that people might be trapped inside, followed by a call that neighbors had gotten them out. Cal Fire got on scene at 8:56 p.m., followed by Hayfork Fire at 9 p.m. The two departments worked very well together, Loeffler said, and the fire was controlled at 9:05 p.m.

"I was ecstatic with how well my people performed."

The cause of the fire was one of the occupants smoking in bed while using oxygen, he said, noting "pure oxygen introduced to a fire is like making a welding torch flame. You can't put it out."

Although the fire was prevented from consuming the whole structure, the trailer is a total loss, he said. However, there were no injuries, and even the man who was pulled out was treated at the scene and not hospitalized.

"Somebody up above was watching out for him," Loeffler said. "If it had been 3 a.m. and the neighbors were asleep, both of them I'm sure would have been dead."