4 Firefighters Badly Burned in Santa Susana Pass Blaze : Firestorm: Wind shift sends wall of flame out of ravine, trapping men inside their firetruck.

Like the half-dozen other firetrucks stationed on residential Lilac Lane in eastern Ventura County, Engine 98 had been on standby for several hours, ready to protect the area’s custom homes if necessary but enjoying the relative calm of a brush fire that appeared under control.

Then the wind shifted just before dawn and a wall of fire 50 feet high came roaring out of a ravine--engulfing the truck, severely burning four firefighters and sending others scrambling for refuge on rigs, in culverts and under canopies of water they desperately sprayed over and around themselves to stave off the flames.

“In under one minute it turned from a safe environment into an inferno,” said Los Angeles City Fire Capt. Sonny Garrido, who saved himself by diving into a ditch. “It was a literal firestorm.”

Garrido and his crew on Engine 35 escaped injury, but the men of Engine 98 were not so lucky. Situated about 200 feet away on Lilac Lane and perched on the edge of the steep ravine, they had little time to react, despite a radio warning from a crew stationed closer in.

“It’s starting to turn on us! It’s making a run at us!” the message crackled, Garrido said.

They briefly tried to keep the flames at bay using a one-inch diameter hose attached to a small, 500-gallon tank inside their truck, according to Capt. Steve Ruda, a department spokesman. But lacking enough water pressure to force back the sheets of fire, they abandoned the effort and jumped inside the cab.

The windows imploded from the heat as the wave of flames passed by.

All four men from the Pacoima-based truck--Capt. Jan Bernard, Engineer Cleveland Tipton, Senior Firefighter Russell Nakamura, and novice Firefighter Gary Carpenter--managed to walk away from the wreckage of their truck toward stunned colleagues.

“They said, ‘We’re burned, we’re burned.’ They looked like they were in a state of shock,” recalled Garrido, who said the gradually emerging image of the injured men in the predawn darkness deeply shook him and other veterans.

“It was like you couldn’t see at all; it was dark. All you know is these guys are telling you they’re burned,” Garrido said.

“Then you take a closer look.”

Paramedics who were already on hand kept the injured men wet with water and saline solution until they could be taken away by ambulance. Eventually, all four were taken to the Sherman Oaks Hospital Burn Center where they were being treated for what medical officials described as “deep, second- and third-degree burns” as well as smoke inhalation.

Listed in critical condition last night was Bernard, 45, who suffered burns over 40% of his body; Carpenter, 35, burned over 25% of his body; and Nakamura, 40, burned over 35% of his body. Tipton, 45, burned over 12% of his body, was listed in serious condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

All four are scheduled for surgery by a team of four surgeons later this week, and skin grafts starting next week, said Dr. Richard Grossman, the burn unit director. Their treatments will include twice-daily exposures to a hyperbaric chamber, in which pure, highly oxygenated air speeds the healing of wounds.

About 700 Ventura and Los Angeles county firefighters fought the blaze, which consumed 1,500 acres before it was contained late Wednesday without the loss of a single structure. The Los Angeles County crews were brought in because Ventura County firefighters were occupied battling a much larger fire that started near Thousand Oaks.

They “did an incredibly awesome job,” Ruda said.

Ruda said the department will conduct a full investigation of the incident, which happened just west of the Ventura County border between 5 and 6:30 a.m. He said it appeared the Engine 98 team used what is known as an “inch line” instead of the wider, hydrant-attached “supply line” to fight the flames because they had been trying to remain mobile--to move from hot spot to hot spot as needed--and did not have time to lay the bigger hoses.

Garrido said that Engine 98 was not stationed near a hydrant while his truck, Engine 35, had been--a factor he said may have saved his men because they had enough water pressure to insulate themselves against the flames.

“We could see the fire coming at them and overtaking the rigs,” said another firefighter deployed in the area, Capt. Bob Franco of Engine 27. “It was a pretty awesome sight.

“It was faster than they could run. They didn’t have time to put on their breathing apparatus or anything, it just happened so fast,” Franco said.

The fire--described by Ruda as the possible work of a copy-cat arsonist--was reported at 1:26 a.m. near the intersection of Iverson and Santa Susana Pass roads, in the hills above the Simi Valley Freeway.

Fanned by gusts of wind up to 40 m.p.h., it spread southwest from an original 50 acres in Los Angeles County to 1,500 acres there and in Ventura County, including the exclusive, Santa Susana Heights neighborhood where Engine 98 was among the firetrucks deployed to protect million-dollar homes.

Despite the horror of their colleagues’ burns, firefighters said Wednesday the incident was just a grim reminder of the occupational hazards they face every day and the particular danger of brush fires. Fighting fires is the most dangerous occupation in America, according to the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, and the brush fire--fast-moving and unpredictable--represents the most hazardous duty of all.

“We’ve lost more firefighters in brush than in any other area,” said Capt. Ted Menold, who helped conduct brush-fire training for the Los Angeles Fire Department this year. “Every year, on the average,” Menold, of the United Fire Fighters of Los Angeles said, “we’re going to lose two fire firefighters in the brush.”

Southern California brush fires have claimed 71 firefighters’ lives over the past 50 years, Menold said. The most recent deaths occurred in August when two Los Angeles County firefighters perished after their eight-member crew was trapped by a fast-moving fire in a canyon above Altadena.

All the men injured on Lilac Lane on Wednesday are veterans with the exception of Carpenter, a former insurance salesman who returned to his native Los Angeles County from Merced to pursue firefighting.

Carpenter, 35, joined the department 3 1/2 years ago. A resident of Downey, he has been studying for promotion to fire inspector, plays on a department basketball team and is a member of the Stentorians, an association of African-American firefighters. His mother and sister, waiting to see him at the burn center, said he has an 11-year-old daughter to whom he is devoted. He is separated from his second wife.

Carpenter’s mother, Joyce Hancock, also described the phone call that broke the news of her son’s injury Wednesday morning. The fire official’s voice, she said, “made my heart jump in my mouth. He was so solemn but didn’t want me to panic.

“We worry continuously,” she said.

Nakamura’s mother, Shirley Nakamura, got the news when she was awakened at 7 a.m. by her son Wayne, also a firefighter, who had been watching the incident on TV and saw what looked like his brother on a gurney.

“I think Russ was in that fire,” he told his mother, who lives in Chatsworth just west of the incident and also has a son-in-law in the Fire Department.

Nakamura, 40, is a 13-year department veteran whose wife is expecting their first child in April. A resident of Valencia, he is an award-winning flier of remote-controlled model air planes and was described by Capt. Robert Aker Wednesday as a “diabolically clever” practical joker.

Aker was unable to provide much personal information about Bernard, the crew captain, who was transferred to the station about five months ago. A 45-year-old resident of North Hills, he is married with one son and has 17 years of service with the department, Aker and other fire officials said.

A 19-year department veteran, Tipton was in tears at the fire scene Wednesday--not because of his painful burns, witnesses said, but because of the damage to his beloved truck, which he maintained and operated as crew engineer.

A resident of Quartz Hill and father of four, Tipton maintained a sense of humor at the hospital, where his visitors included two daughters and one of his five grandchildren, 3-year-old Jasmine.

Trying to reassure the girl, who was upset at the sight of her grandfather’s bandages, the child’s mother said he told her, “I’m OK, sweetheart. This is my Halloween costume.”

Staff writer Leslie Berger reported from Chatsworth. Also contributing were staff writers Henry Chu, Tracey Kaplan, Jocelyn Y. Stewart and Doug Smith.

More Fire Coverage

* FIREFIGHTERS BURNED--Four firefighters were trapped by flames and badly burned, one critically, west of Chatsworth. A1

* FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT--A couple who live in a house between Altadena and Sierra Madre describe their day in the midst of fire. A6

* SANTA SUSANA PASS-- Firefighters and private citizens pitch in to save hundreds of homes from 40-foot-high flames. B1

* ADDITIONAL STORIES, PHOTOS A3, A5, A6, A7, B1, B4, B5

“It’s Starting To Turn On Us.”

--Radio call from Lilac Lane

A sudden shift of wind down a narrow canyon created a wall of flame that trapped four firefighters stationed on Lilac Lane above Chatsworth to protect a mansion and nearby houses. All four were injured--some critically, some seriously. The erratic fire began about 1 a.m. Wednesday near Santa Susana Pass Road and burned to the southwest into Ventura County and along Box Canyon Road.

Chimney effect: The topography of Lilac Lane, narrow with high hillsides, formed a natural chimney flue, funneling the flames toward the firefighters.

1. At about 5 a.m., a radio call warns firefighters that gusting winds have suddenly shifted direction.

2. Escape impossible, four firefighters scramble into the cab. There is no time to don breathing masks.

3. Flames 40 to 50 feet high engulf the fire engine, breaking out the windows. The fire jumps the road, igniting the nearby hillside.

4. A minute later, the firefighters, burned and suffering from smoke inhalation, walk to a nearby fire engine for help.

5. The firefighters are treated at the scene and rushed to area hospitals.

Healing Fire’s Wounds

Speed is essential when treating fire victims at burn centers, such as the Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center. Victims are treated by a burn team composed of several doctors, a surgeon and, if there is smoke inhalation, a pulmonologist.

Degrees of Burns

First-, second- and third-degree burns are referred to by medical personnel as superficial partial thickness, partial thickness and full thickness burns. Partial and full thickness burn victims receive specialized care in a burn unit.

First degree: Affects only epidermis. Skin reddens and may peel, but does not blister.

Second degree: Affects epidermis and dermis. Skin blisters.

Third degree: Skin’s entire thickness is destroyed.

Skin Surface Area

This is a rough guide to what each area represents of the total skin area. Patients burned on more than 20% of their body are put in burn intensive care units.

Treatment

Patients with second- or third-degree burns undergo the following treatment. The recovery period varies with the severity of the injuries, but may take several months.

1) Burn team evaluates injuries. Vital signs taken.

2) Burn in cleaned with soap and water. Gauze dressing with silver sulfadiazine, an antibiotic and pain reliever, is applied.

3) Pain killers, such as morphine, are administered intravenously.

4) Intravenous solution is administered to replace fluids lost through edema, when fluid flows from unburned parts of the body to burned areas.

5) Once stabilized, patient is put in hyperbaric chamber, in which oxygen-rich atmosphere decreases swelling and hastens healing.

Smoke Inhalation

Smoke consists of oxides of nitrogen, sulphur and lead among other substances. When smoke in inhaled, carbon in the smoke attaches to the hemoglobin in the blood, preventing cells from absorbing oxygen. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is used to displace the carbon from hemoglobin.

Sources: Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center, American Medical Assn. Encyclopedia of Medicine

Researched by JULIE SHEER / Los Angeles Times