Wayne Coker
Here I am standing in the Navy Base fire department in Kodiak Alaska with a few of the crew, except, I look like I had a mud facial among the other firemen.
You're asking why is my face blackened and the others are not? Well, we just returned from this mysterious fire at the Chief Petty Officer's Club that now looks like it got caught up in an out-of-control forest fire. We arrived on the scene just as the fire began to take off. I started running toward the front entrance with a 2.5-inch hose and two guys behind me. When we stepped into the building, I signaled for the line to be charged with water. I set it on spray just as the gas main busted at the boiler creating a natural gas fireball explosion (so we were told later) and we were quickly escorted out of the building like being shot out of a cannon. We landed about 60 feet away, just short of hitting our rig. Without the water spray, we would’ve been toast. Only after the rigs were cleaned and shiny, and the three of us had taken a shower, they trucked us to the infirmary. The navy has its own priorities.
It’s true, during my near-death experience, my life flashed through my mind like going down a bright-lighted tunnel. The details quickly faded away, except for what I just described and it all happened in nanoseconds.
You're asking why is my face blackened and the others are not? Well, we just returned from this mysterious fire at the Chief Petty Officer's Club that now looks like it got caught up in an out-of-control forest fire. We arrived on the scene just as the fire began to take off. I started running toward the front entrance with a 2.5-inch hose and two guys behind me. When we stepped into the building, I signaled for the line to be charged with water. I set it on spray just as the gas main busted at the boiler creating a natural gas fireball explosion (so we were told later) and we were quickly escorted out of the building like being shot out of a cannon. We landed about 60 feet away, just short of hitting our rig. Without the water spray, we would’ve been toast. Only after the rigs were cleaned and shiny, and the three of us had taken a shower, they trucked us to the infirmary. The navy has its own priorities.
It’s true, during my near-death experience, my life flashed through my mind like going down a bright-lighted tunnel. The details quickly faded away, except for what I just described and it all happened in nanoseconds.
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