Culkin Chief Frederick a critical part of Satartia rescue team with Briggs and Garrard

Culkin Fire Chief Lamar Frederick was with Jerry Briggs and Shane Garrard when they rescued the three unresponsive men in the Satartia gas leak disaster last weekend.

The original report did not include Frederick. Today, Fire Coordinator Jerry Briggs confirmed that not only was Frederick with them, his help and expertise made all the difference in the rescue.

“There is no way Shane and I could have gotten all three of those guys out,” Briggs said. “Thank the powers that be Lamar was there. This would be a tragic story otherwise.”

Dozens of vehicles near the scene of the pipeline explosion stalled on the roadway due to a lack of oxygen leaving the occupants in deathly danger. Several people were rescued running away from their vehicles and the deadly gas cloud.

Frederick, Garrard and Briggs were searching the blast area for people who may have been stranded. They were riding in a Ranger utility task vehicle, each wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus. The rescuers turned down Perry Creek Road near Satartia to check on a house at the end of the road. Just over the last hill, they noticed vehicle lights and went to inspect the scene. Garrard saw someone slumped in the passenger seat and recognized the signs of respiratory distress. Shining the flashlight the team saw the driver and the back seat passenger.

All three of the young men in the vehicle were in bad shape. They were non-responsive and had white foam covering their mouths and noses, a sign that they were near death from oxygen deprivation.

A Ranger UTV similar to the one driven by Lamar Frederick.

Frederick was piloting the UTV and was challenged to keep it running because of the lack of oxygen in the air.

Frederick maneuvered the sputtering vehicle next to the car and then assisted Garrard and Briggs to retrieve the three young men, all while keeping the UTV running and ensuring they all had air. The rescue team also began to provide oxygen to the distressed men.

Frederick drove the crowded and overweight UTV with the extra breathing tanks, the rescue team and the three victims safely back to the staging area some four miles from the recovery site.

Lamar Frederick was as vital in saving those young men’s lives as Briggs and Garrard. He is one of Warren County’s finest, and we, as a community, are blessed to have him as the Chief of the Culkin Fire Department.

Lamar and Shondail Frederick (photo from their social media)