Quick Thinking
Quick Thinking
As Jaden McIntosh, a customer field services technician at NW Natural, drove to his first call of the day, he didn’t think much of the small plume of smoke in the distance.
That was until he passed it and saw a bystander frantically waving him down.
The smoke turned out to be from a small but rapidly growing house fire. By the time McIntosh had turned around and parked a safe distance away across the street, the fire had engulfed the front porch of the single-story house and was beginning to ignite the roof.
His initial reaction was to grab his extinguisher. But fire safety training at NW Natural had taught him to fully assess any situation, and he realized immediately that the fire was far too big for him to contain. As he raced over, his second reaction was to ensure natural gas infrastructure was not at risk and that any people were out of harm’s way.
Two residents, a man and a woman, were at home, and they stumbled out the back door just as McIntosh arrived. The woman was distraught, and the man was badly burned on his back and on the back of his legs. McIntosh guided them to his van, helped the man get into a comfortable position and called 911.
By this time, neighbors and other bystanders had gathered, and one of them had begun looking for a garden hose to help contain the flames. McIntosh ran back over to get the man to safety; that’s when he noticed the oxygen tanks on the front porch. “I was telling the man to get back, and one of the oxygen tanks ignited,” McIntosh said. “It popped, and it flew at the guy and just missed him.” (McIntosh later learned that the tanks belonged to a roommate with medical needs who wasn’t home at the time of the fire.)
Both men retreated from the house, and McIntosh—who said the minutes felt like hours—continued to keep bystanders out of harm’s way. By this time the fire department had arrived, and McIntosh immediately directed one of the first responders to the injured man.
He credits annual fire safety training at NW Natural for giving him the confidence to respond. “Also, some of the situations we deal with, with odors and gas emergencies—being a first responder on those scenes gave me the confidence to handle this situation,” he said.
“I don’t think I did anything extraordinary,” McIntosh added. “I’m glad I was able to help and give those people a sense of security and safety. I just wanted to make sure the people there were safe.”