Dateline: June 6, 2002

Citizens risk own lives to save man 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A railroad crewman asked volunteers not to leave him behind as they worked diligently to save his life after the train he was on collided head-on with another last Tuesday.

The heroism of those local volunteers and officials has gained widespread attention and has local citizens giving thanks for the kind of people who live in Donley County.

“The firemen, lawmen, EMS, TxDOT employees, and citizens displayed extreme heroism as they worked to rescue the train wreck victims,” DPS Trooper Chad Simpson said.

Joe Neal Shadle, who drives a trash truck for the City of Clarendon, was one of the people early on the scene of the accident two miles west of Clarendon. He was stopped at the railroad crossing on FM 3257 as the eastbound coal train went by.

“I waved at those guys out of habit,” Shadle said.

Seconds later Shadle heard a “boom” and said the ground around him shook.

“I saw the ball of fire, and I knew there had to be people hurt.”

Shadle said he radioed the sheriff’s office and went to offer his assistance. He found other citizens on the scene and one railroad crewman – Bruce Patterson of Amarillo – trapped underneath a car.

“That man asked us not to leave him, and I said ‘We’re not gonna leave you,’” Shadle said.

Despite being surrounded by tons of coal, diesel fuel, and the burning wreckage of the locomotives, the volunteers rescued Patterson and carried him to safety.

“We got him out,” Shadle said. “It took a lot of people.”

One of those people was Dan Sawyer, who volunteers with the Associated Ambulance Authority. With others’ help, he dug Patterson free and said the ground was like trying to dig through concrete.

“I would dig and then crawl in the hole with a flashlight to try to see what position his leg was in,” Sawyer said. “After we got three feet under him, I could see his boot and knew which way to go.”

Sawyer said Mother Nature was a big help to the rescue effort. A light breeze from the northwest kept the smoke away from the rescuers, and rainfall earlier that week kept the fire from spreading from the engines. The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department also battled to keep the fire contained and away from the trapped man.

“We did what were trained to do, and our experience paid off,” Sawyer said.

Associated Ambulance Authority Director Belinda Montana and Shane Ashcraft were on the first ambulance to the scene. They could see the billowing smoke as they left the ambulance service’s facility on Hwy. 70, but nothing prepared them for what they saw on the scene.

“The initial shock was overwhelming, but after that we were okay,” Montana said. “In my eight years of experience, I have never seen anything like that, and I hope I never do again.”

She and Ashcraft found one of the railroad crewmen, who told them how many people were involved; then Jeff and Heather King directed them to Patterson’s location.

Ashcraft worked with the one crewman, preparing him for transport, as Montana joined in the effort to rescue Patterson.

“It went very, very well,” she said. “I never felt like our lives were in any danger until right at the end when [Department of Public Safety] Sgt. Richard Gribble became concerned and told us to hurry.”

Montana said Gribble was worried because diesel fuel was starting to stream into the area where they were located.

Among other volunteers who have been identified were Kyle Hill, Alan Fletcher, James Thomas, Mike Ritchie, Cal Thomas, Tommy Hill, Dee Thompson, and Jim Thorton. But there were other citizens and volunteers who helped, including unidentified truck drivers.