"...Next thing I know, I'm up in the air," CAL FIRE Officer Says after Tornado-Related Crash
CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Manny Garcia found himself in a unique position Saturday -- a tornado.
“All of a sudden, I see a van in front of me start moving, start leaning toward the side. And, next thing I know, I’m up in the air. Got turned around, the other direction slightly and just got dropped," he told a Bay Area reporter.
His duty truck ended up on its side. His tools and medical kit that were in the back of the truck when the twister hit vanished along with the bed cap.
Garcia ended up kicking out the front windshield to get out of the flipped vehicle.
“They (citizens) started helping me, which I want to thank them, for helping. They started kicking he windshield in."
He couldn’t believe it. He'd been caught in a twister. After calling for help, he shot a video on his cell phone.
Then, he went from tornado crash victim to rescuer.
“I just wanted to help and started assessing to get a better picture because I couldn’t give a good report on conditions to get the resources that were needed to start treating the patients there."
Three days later, Garcia said that he’s still in bewilderment.
“A little bit. It's not something that we see every day around here. When you go to calls, you’re usually on the other side of things. You’re usually helping people. In this case, I was fortunate there were people able to help me."
