Man Sets Fire to Get Help, Is Rescued

A man who spent five days in a desolate area northeast of Castaic after his car became stuck was rescued Thursday when he started a brush fire to attract help, authorities said.

Thomas Hammack, 49, of Torrance said he ate toothpaste and drank urine to survive during the ordeal that began when he went for a Saturday afternoon drive in the wilderness and got stuck in Ruby Canyon.

He was about three miles from a public road where could have gotten help from passing motorists, but did not realize it until after his rescue, he said.

Shortly after Hammack set the brush fire at 9 a.m. Thursday, firefighters arrived and he was flown by paramedics from the rugged canyon north of Lake Hughes Road to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia. He was treated for dehydration and weakness caused by lack of food.

‘Firefighters Knew’

“The firefighters knew why I started it,” Hammack said from his hospital bed. “They walked up and asked me, ‘Did you set the fire to get help?’ and I said, ‘God, yes.’ They were very nice.

“It’s a felony to start a fire but so what?” Hammack added. “I’d commit almost any felony to get out of that position. It didn’t hurt anybody.”

Authorities said the five-acre fire was still under investigation and would not comment on whether Hammack will be held liable for starting it.

Marilyn Hartley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service, said the service’s routine policy is to bill a person who starts a fire with the cost of putting it out. She said criminal charges are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Hoarse Voice

Hammack, a retired attorney who said he had practiced in Newhall and Long Beach, spoke in a hoarse voice to reporters about five hours after his rescue. He was sunburned and had two cuts on his forehead. “I’m feeling pretty raggedy,” he said.

Hospital officials listed him in good condition.

“He is doing remarkably well considering he was in the wilderness so long,” said Ann Ingram, spokeswoman for the hospital. “He is very dehydrated.”

Hammack, who lives alone, said he decided with no planning Saturday to go for a ride in his Chevrolet Blazer, which is not equipped with four-wheel drive. He ate lunch at a restaurant in Long Beach and then headed to the north county, where he had a law office until his retirement earlier this year.

Circuitous Network

He said he took Lake Hughes Road north from Castaic and then turned north again into Ruby Canyon and began following a circuitous network of dirt roads. At dusk, while driving over a bump, the Blazer became stuck, with the bump under the center of the vehicle and all four wheels raised in the air.

Hammack had not told friends or family where he was going and knew he would not be reported missing. He said he spent about 12 to 15 hours trying to dislodge the truck but broke the vehicle’s jack and could not move it.

Authorities said the Blazer was stuck only three miles from Lake Hughes Road, but Hammack said he did not realize it. Because he had followed winding dirt roads, he thought he was miles from help and was confused about his whereabouts.

“I didn’t know I was that close to a paved road,” he said. “If I had known that I would have walked out.”

Instead, Hammack, with no food or water since the stop at the restaurant, stayed with the Blazer and waited for help.

“I had toothpaste and I ate the toothpaste and drank urine,” he said. “Each night I did SOS with my headlights and with my horn. . . . No one ever came. I thought they would. . . . So I stayed there. I’ve always been taught to stay with the boat, so to speak. So I stayed with it and . . . nothing.

“I kept thinking that someone would drive by and I’d say, ‘How about a tow off of this bump?’ That’s all I needed, was a tow.”

On Wednesday, Hammack said, he started a small signal fire but there were no results.

“I decided I couldn’t survive past today,” he said Thursday. “So I lit a real fire. They came right away.”

Billow of Smoke

The fire quickly spread to five acres of brushland and sent a billow of smoke into the air that brought several reports to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire was contained in about 90 minutes by firefighters from the county and the U.S. Forest Service.