Firefighters recognized for rescue

MEADOW LAKES -- Two emergency responders, Capt. Allen Swett and Lt. Randy Newcomb, will be recognized Aug. 27, for outstanding work in saving a woman who was trapped in a burning car after a head-on collision.

At 5 p.m., on July 22, the Central Mat-Su Fire Department and Wasilla Ambulance Service were dispatched to a reported head-on collision with entrapment and fire at Mile 46.5 Parks Hwy. The total time from the first call to dispatch to extrication was 26 minutes. Within 13 minutes of arriving at the crash site crews were able to remove the woman from the car.

Responding from his residence, Swett arrived at the scene at about 5 p.m. and found 18-year-old Christina Simmons trapped in a burning car. People from the second vehicle were also injured. Swett requested an additional ambulance and reported he was going to attempt to extinguish the fire with fire extinguishers.

Since Swett was dressed in street clothes as he set to work putting out the vehicle fire police reports mentioned him as a "passerby." Swett is a 20-year fire-fighting veteran. The Frontiersman also mistakenly referred to him as a passerby.

Swett said it took five minutes to put out the fire, though "it feels like forever when you're the only one there," he said Friday.

At one point the fire was burning through the dashboard of the Dodge Neon within inches of the trapped driver. Swett was successful in pushing the fire away from Simmons until Newcomb arrived on location with a fire department pick-up equipped with a skid unit. Utilizing the water from the skid unit and additional fire extinguishers, Swett and Newcomb were able to extinguish the fire.

If Captain Swett had not arrived when he did and acted as he did, Simmons would have been severely burned and probably not survived this accident, according to a fire department release.

Meadow Lakes captain Ross Crawford was also commended for his hard work in the rescue.

The second vehicle involved in the accident was a Dodge Ram 2500 truck with five occupants. All the people in the Dodge, including several children, were able to escape the truck after the impact and were taken by ambulance to the hospital with relatively minor injuries.

All four doors of the Dodge Neon were jammed shut and the dashboard had been pushed about 40 inches into the passenger compartment.

Simmons' legs were completely trapped under the dashboard, and the floorboard had wrapped around her feet. She was unconscious and having difficulty breathing. The men worked to get her out, and medical crews arrived by helicopter to airlift Simmons to Providence Hospital.

Simmons' family said she is doing much better now, and they are happy with her progress. Immediately after the accident, Simmons' mother and father publicly thanked the emergency crews for their swift work.

Swett said he hopes they will get to meet Christina Simmons one day.