Lending a Helping Hand

When you’re a member of the County’s Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) any call can be kind of “hairy” — you know, dangerous — whether it’s responding to a meth lab, a transformer fire or a mercury spill.

But some calls just end up being unexpectedly hairier than others.

Just ask HIRT’s Amy Paquette.

Hurrying off in the dead of night last month to a call about an explosion in Spring Valley, Paquette ended up giving emergency first aid alongside the freeway to a woman who flipped her car over a median and head-on into oncoming traffic on Highway 94.

Paquette, who’s been with the County for more than 12 years and the Department of Environmental Health’s HIRT team for six, said she was responding to a law enforcement call around 11 p.m. after a guy blew up his apartment while using highly flammable butane gas to turn his marijuana into “honey oil.”

She was actually in her hazmat outfit and just coming off of Interstate 805 onto Highway 94 to head to Spring Valley when she rolled up to the crash scene where she saw two men trying to get the woman out of her wrecked car.

“I must have missed it by seconds,” Paquette said. “I could see her car was facing the wrong way and there were two guys who were trying to pry the car door open. Thankfully, no one hit her head-on.”

No other emergency responders — police or paramedics — had arrived.  Paquette quickly rolled down her window, flipped on the emergency lights on her County hazmat car and yelled out to ask if anyone had called 911 and if they needed first aid help. The men, who were able to get the woman safely out of the car, yelled back that no one had called yet and — yeah! — they needed help!

Paquette called the accident in, grabbed her first aid kit and helped get the woman safely out of the roadway. Paquette said the first thing that came to her mind was gratitude — because the County provides DEH’s HIRT members with first-aid “refresher” training every other year. So Paquette said she felt comfortable knowing she would be able to do something to help.

Fortunately, the woman wasn’t seriously hurt, but did have a number of cuts and was “just freaked out.”

Paquette said she bandaged cuts, applied direct pressure to stop the woman’s bleeding and tended to her for “oh gosh, maybe 15 minutes,” until paramedics arrived and took over. You may be asking, “what about the explosion? What exactly is the protocol if you come upon one disaster while responding to another?”

“That’s a great question,” Paquette said. “I knew my partner was going to the same call, so I called him and said I was going to be late. I knew that sheriff’s were on the scene and I knew somebody had control of the situation.”

Paquette’s experience was actually the second time this year that a County HIRT team member happened upon a car wreck and took control of the scene. In January, HIRT team member Todd Burton was driving home from work and came across a collision between a car and a pool cleaning truck carrying hazardous chemicals. In that incident the drivers didn’t need first aid, but Burton called 911, controlled the scene and took care of the chemical spill.

Hazardous Materials Division Chief Mike Vizzier said he wasn’t surprised by Burton or Paquette’s performance and willingness to do the right thing without hesitation.

“The willingness to do the right thing is one of the things we look for in our HIRT team members,” Vizzier said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We’re lucky to have people like Amy, and to have such a selfless and expert group.”

As for Paquette, she said she was simply happy that she was prepared to help and had the chance to do so.

“Right place, right time, I guess,” she said. “I was just happy to do what I could. I think if anything, I’d give credit to our department, for the training that they give us. Given our training as first responders, it’s our duty to help if we can.”