Bay Area Firefighter Helps Injured Victims While On Vacation
PLESANTON (KPIX 5) -- A Bay Area firefighter jumped into action to help victims of a car crash while he was on vacation in Arizona.
J.J.Duffy, a firefighter and paramedic from Livermore-Pleasanton was on vacation in Arizona when he saw a terrible crash and several cars on fire.
He stopped and treated burn victims until local firefighters arrived on scene.
The firefighter is back to work and we talked to him on Wednesday.
"We'd just passed through Kingman and noticed some smoke up ahead. The smoke got thicker, blacker so realized it was a car," Duffy told us.
He says his reflexes and training just kicked in.
"As we got closer, [I] noticed a man sitting on the ground, definitely burned ... He was in shock, had some confusion. The amount of burns he had, I'm talking third degree to his hands, neck, back, face, head. The big thing was his airway," Duffy explained.
With only basic first aid kits and help from other folks who stopped to help, Duffy stabilized the man until fully-equipped crews from miles away in Kingman arrived.
Duffy said, "We were able to get the patient in the ambulance loaded up toward the nearest hospital where they were going to try to secure his airway before airlifting him to the burn center."
Duffy said he hasn't heard anything about how the man is doing.
Now back to work at the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Duffy says he's nothing special, just doing what firefighters do.
Duffy said, "Doesn't matter if it's 3 a.m., noon during lunch or, when you're on vacation with family, you just want to help people."