Cal Fire report recounts tragic incident, rescue
By Tony Manolatos
STAFF WRITER, San Diego Union-Tribune
November 9, 2007
Thomas and Richard Varshock were driving away from their home in Potrero when four firefighters in Engine 3387 saw them through the smoke and flames.
Thomas, a 52-year-old geological engineer, was in his white pickup. His 15-year-old son, Richard, a wrestler at Valhalla High School, was on his ATV.
Thomas pointed down the dirt road and asked the firefighters if they could check on his home, which was less than a mile away. He also told Cal Fire Capt. Ray Rapue that at least one of his neighbors hadn't evacuated.
Rapue told the Varshocks to get out of the area. But instead, they turned around and followed the fire engine toward their home. It was the first in a series of decisions, made in the span of just 30 minutes, that would leave Thomas Varshock dead and everyone else severely burned.
A preliminary report released yesterday by California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention investigators helps explain what happened to the Varshocks and the firefighters less than three hours into the Harris fire, which broke out on Day One of the wildfires, Oct. 21.
Many engines were dispatched to Potrero and nearby communities in southeast San Diego County minutes after the fire started, the report says.
Engine 3387, based in San Marcos, pulled into the Dulzura Cal Fire station just before 11 a.m. At 11:11, it was assigned to Strike Team 9330C and sent to the Harris fire.
Turning onto state Route 94 and heading east were Rapue, rookie firefighter Andrew Pikop and two firefighters – a man and a woman – whose names haven't been released.
“They did everything right,” said Henri Brachais, Cal Fire's lead investigator. “They did a real heroic thing trying to get those civilians out of there.”
As the crew traveled south along Route 94, on the fire's left flank, they began hosing flames with water from the truck. But the rocky terrain was too difficult to navigate, so they started searching for homes and businesses that could be saved.
They had turned onto the dirt road leading to the Varshocks' residence when they spotted the father and son. Rapue told them to evacuate the area immediately. But Thomas Varshock jumped onto the ATV with his son and followed the firefighters back to the double-wide mobile home where his family had lived for about 20 years.
The smoke ahead of the engine was so thick, however, that Rapue decided to retreat. As the engine was backing up, the Varshocks approached and said their ATV had stopped running, probably because of a lack of oxygen.
The Varshocks climbed onto the engine, the report says, and Thomas told Rapue there was a spot where he could turn around near his home, along with a good water source. So instead of continuing to back out, Rapue decided to drive farther down the dirt road.
When they pulled in front of the mobile home, Rapue told the Varshocks to stay in the engine. The firefighters got out and checked the property.
Smoke was coming from attic vents, and the heat began knocking out windows on the east side. The living room was on fire.
The firefighters tried to douse the flames, but Rapue realized it was hopeless and sent them back to the engine.
At that point, the captain saw someone driving a tractor behind the engine. Investigators are still trying to determine if it was Thomas Varshock, who had gotten out of the engine and might have been trying to clear brush to save his home.
Rapue had trouble backing the engine out of the driveway because the tractor was in the way, the report says. He told Pikop to hose down the mobile home from the engine as it began inching out.
But the engine stalled, and flames shot from the mobile home toward the firefighters.
They tried to cover the windows on the engine's passenger side with their fire shelters – tents that firefighters deploy in an emergency.
“Before the shelters could be deployed, the passenger windows broke due to heat, immediately filling the cab with flame, heat and smoke,” the report states. Everyone was burned.
Rapue told his crew to take cover near some rocks while he helped Richard Varshock get to the clearing. Two of the firefighters were already there, but Pikop was missing.
At 12:28 p.m., a fire commander in the air heard screams from one of the firefighters over his radio. Then Rapue radioed for help. Thomas Varshock was dead, Rapue said, and Pikop was probably dead, too.
Within minutes, Mike Wagstaff, a contract pilot working for the U.S. Forest Service, located the engine in the smoke and landed his helicopter in a spot so tight that the tip of one blade hovered over a chain-link fence.
Richard Varshock, Rapue and the two other firefighters were flown to safety. Then Wagstaff flew back and rescued Pikop, who had tried to avoid the flames by crouching behind a rock. He said later that he thought everyone else was dead – and that he was going to die, too.
Thomas Varshock's body was found near the front of the engine, which had been reduced to four smoldering tires and a charred frame.
Richard Varshock and one of the firefighters remain in critical condition in the burn unit of UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. Rapue is listed in good condition. Pikop was released four days ago, and the female firefighter was released yesterday.
A private service was held last week for Thomas Varshock near what is left of his family's home. The ground has been scorched and the trees blackened by the fire that burned almost everything in its path.
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