Miracle Wreck - 01/26/2000 Rural Metro Fire Department, Grants Pass, OR Gold Pin Award Recipients: District Chief Lang Johnson Captain Randy Benetti Firefighter Brian Pickett Firefighter Jason Hines GRANTS PASS, Ore. (January 26, 2000) -- For fifteen minutes after Rural/Metro's Captain Joe Hyatt and his crew arrived on scene of a semi-tractor trailer rig accident outside Grants Pass, Oregon recently, they believed their only challenge was to extricate the body of the deceased truck driver. But, what they soon discovered was nothing less than a miracle waiting to be "unfolded." Unknown to Hyatt, State Troopers and medics on scene, the twisted mass of wreckage that slid 150 feet before burrowing into mud was concealing another vehicle. Upon tipping over, the truck's trailer had crushed and enveloped a Honda Civic containing five people -- a mother, her three young children, and an 11-year-old friend. For more than 20 minutes, the driver of the Honda, 27-year-old Melanie Murtaugh, had been trying to keep the children calm and signal for help. However, buried under mud and a full trailer load of beer, emergency crews could not hear the car horn over the freeway traffic noise. Although the vehicle had been crushed to a height of eighteen inches, and she could not move, all of the children were talking to her, more scared than hurt. About this time a State Trooper found a hubcap while laying out flares, and she threw it off the roadway. Then she saw another. Looking more closely at the debris trail left by the big rig, she then spotted a car bumper, and the search for Melanie's car was on. After stopping all traffic, Captain Hyatt could just make out Melanie's faint voice under the trailer. "At first all I could hear was Melanie's voice yelling out," said Capt. Hyatt. "Hearts stopped as Melanie told us she had four children with her. The circumstances facing the rescuers where grim. All we could do at that point was yell back to reassure her we were there and that we were coming to get her out." The impact of the wreck had literally sealed the Honda in a tomb. Rescuers feared that any attempt to right the weakened trailer would likely cause the load to rupture through the side of the trailer, further crushing the Honda. The other option was to off-load the trailer by hand, gaining access to the inside; then cut a hole down through the trailer and eventually the roof of the car. Hyatt immediately made a request for Holmatro extrication equipment and struck two additional alarms for personnel. Within minutes, two human chains where formed, off loading cases of beer piled six to eight feet high. As crews worked, Melanie and the kids could be heard beating on the underside of the trailer. Once the trailer was cleared enough for cutting operations to begin, a team set to work. "It was the most incredible and frightening rescue I have ever been involved in," said District Chief Lang Johnson. "To hear them banging away right under you and yet know there's nothing you can do to get them out any faster -- except concentrate on the task at hand." Two hours after the Jan. 21 rescue began, rescuers gained access to the Honda through a twelve by eight foot hole. "When we peeled back the trailer siding, there they where, crushed between the roof of the car and the ground in a space no bigger than eighteen inches," said Chief Johnson. "A 3-year-old girl was sitting in an upright fetal position, wedged in a hole created by the rear driver's side window when the roof collapsed. The intensity of her cry was moving, but the look on her face as I was finally able to reach for her gave me as intense an emotional experience as I've ever had." After the extrication of the little girl, crews immediately set out to cut the roof away, revealing the other four passengers. "The amazing thing is that the worst injury suffered by any of them was a cut on a hand requiring three stitches," said Capt. Randy Benetti, who served as Operations Officer. "They all went home that same night after being checked out at the hospital." The last patient was removed three hours after the rescue began. The operation at its height included 35 people from Rural/Metro Fire Department, Grants Pass Fire Rescue, Wolf Creek Fire Department, Oregon State Police, Oregon Department of Transportation, Caveman Towing and the local ambulance company. "We have named this the Miracle Wreck," said Chief Johnson. "Melanie is the real hero of the hour. If it wasn't for her keeping the kids calm and updating us on everyone's status, we could have had a completely different outcome."