Brush With Death Teaches Value of Life : Firefighters: Casualties of the October blazes say they appreciate simple things such as friendship and family.

Friends say he has always been an active guy, choosing to work with his hands rather than sit and watch television, but these days Russell Nakamura marvels at such simple things as raising his arm and wiggling his fingers.

“Just walking is a big deal,” said Nakamura, 40, one of four Pacoima-based firefighters who were severely burned when a fireball erupted up a slope west of Chatsworth, becoming the worst casualties among the thousands who fought dozens of destructive fires last month.

“Seeing, breathing, all the simple things that other people take for granted, you really learn to appreciate after something like this,” Nakamura said.

Nakamura suffered burns to 40% of his body, and he finds it painful to even move. His legs are stiff and he is having difficulty walking, but he will probably be released this weekend.

Along with his engine company colleagues Capt. Jan Bernard, Cleveland Tipton and Gary Carpenter, Nakamura knows about the most precious gift of all.

Life.

“I’m thankful that I’m still alive,” said Tipton, 45, an engineer with the Los Angeles Fire Department, from his home in Quartz Hill.

“I get to see my grandkids grow up, spend time with them and accomplish a lot of things that I want to do,” said Tipton, who suffered burns to his right hand and arm Oct. 27.

Tipton will travel to Pacoima and spend Thanksgiving with his parents, his three daughters and his grandchildren.

Tipton and Carpenter were the lucky ones: They were able to scramble inside the firetruck in Box Canyon before a wall of flames 30 feet high swept past them.

Once inside the cab, which was gutted, Tipton and Carpenter stared at each other as they felt the oxygen sucked out, blowing out the windows.

“When the windows broke and I jumped out, at first I thought, ‘Don’t fight it,’ then I started moving toward the back of the engine,” Tipton said.

“Yep, being alive is the No. 1 thing I’m thankful for this year because when the flames came through the windows, I was thinking, ‘Well, this is it,’ ” said Carpenter, from his mother’s home in Downey.

Carpenter’s mother, Joyce Hancock, says her 35-year-old son is in for some babying, whether he likes it or not.

Carpenter, who suffered burns on his nose, lips, face and legs, will join 25 friends and relatives at a celebration that will serve as his coming-home party as well. He was released from the hospital Friday.

Nakamura and Bernard were hurt more seriously. They were outside, huddled at the back of the truck, when the unpredictable Santa Ana winds changed direction and sent a wall of flame toward them.

“I saw the fireball about one-eighth mile down the hill,” Nakamura recalled. “We had plenty of time to move back.” Then the wind changed and, “it was like a blow torch.” Nakamura is still hospitalized in the burn center at Sherman Oaks Hospital.

One bond they treasure is the friendship of the men and women with whom they spend about one-third of each year, working, sleeping, talking, eating and maintaining the fire station. Since the fire, that has only become stronger, they all say.

The station is a self-contained community of sorts, to which each firefighter brings a special skill or talent, said Capt. Dan Frazeur, the station commander.

“If you need something done, we can usually do it, from car problems to painting houses to building additions to homes,” he said.

The fire station will hold a Christmas party in mid-December and Frazeur expects all his men--including Bernard and Nakamura--will attend. The injured firefighters may also take part in the annual Hollywood Christmas Parade, although Frazeur says it will be difficult to persuade Nakamura, a private person, to participate.

For all the camaraderie firefighters share, the outpouring of support that they’ve received from people whose homes were saved and countless others who appreciate what they have done has been an important part of the recovery process, Tipton said.

“You don’t know that people care,” Tipton said. “You can go for years on this job and then something like this happens and you feel appreciated and it helps you to feel better.”

Nakamura said that firefighters he’s never met have stopped by to visit him, passed on words of encouragement and pledged their support.

Carpenter, who has been burned on the tips of his ears twice before, stopped by Room 112 to see him Wednesday, and said what Nakamura never would admit.

“Man, he’s hurting like hell.”

For many firefighters, Thanksgiving is another workday, and Nakamura is used to celebrating early or late with family members. His brother and his wife’s uncle are both firefighters, too.

“We just hold it earlier than other families,” he said. “It doesn’t matter when Thanksgiving is held, as long as you get together,” he said.