Fire Captain

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

9/6/2001

Special Act Award (Gold)

On September 6th, 2001 as the Poe Fire incident quickly consumed over four thousand acres, Fire Captain Carr, assigned to Red Eye Road as Red Eye Structure Group along with his group of three teams and two single resource dozers performed heroically saving numerous homes in dangerous, poorly designed subdivisions throughout the fire area. As winds increased to 30+ mph and humidity fell as low as 7%, the fire front hit the Pine Brae area hard and at least five structures were burning. Shortly thereafter, ridge top winds suddenly spilled over increasing the fire’s spread. Advised by an engine crew that a resident that they believed was in danger remained at a structure that was partially involved by fire, Fire Captain Carr drove to the location of the home where he observed a citizen taking refuge up hill from his burning home. Fire Captain Carr spent several minutes convincing the citizen that he needed to leave. Having little success, Fire Captain Carr finally told the citizen he would most likely die if he remained. The citizen agreed to leave but insisted on driving his own vehicle. Fire Captain Carr felt there was little time left for either of them and told the citizen to follow him out in his personal pick-up truck. Fire Captain Carr led the way out of the danger area encountering heavy fire and poor visibility along the way. As they progressed, Fire Captain Carr made the decision to hold in place and to allow the fire to burn down instead of attempting to drive through the poor visibility and heavy fire. Suddenly Fire Captain Carr noticed the citizen was maneuvering his vehicle in an attempt to get around his vehicle. Fire Captain Carr urged the citizen to stay put but he ignored this direction and proceeded to drive around



Fire Captain Carr and in to heavy smoke and fire. Fire Captain Carr opted to follow the citizen so he could affect another rescue if needed. However, luck was on the side of the citizen and several minutes later he made it to Yankee Hill Road and Hwy 70 and out of harm’s way. Nonetheless, if Fire Captain Carr had not put his own life at great risk to go back into a firestorm, a firestorm that an engine company had chosen to leave, and save the life of the citizen, there is no doubt that the citizen would have stayed with his residence and perished.