Fireball sends man to Seattle hospital
Photo by Ed Moreth<br>EMT Zach Vanderwall tends to burn victim Taun Cobb at Lynch Creek Nursery near Plains. Cobb was eventually flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A Plains man was severely burned after an explosion occurred at the Lynch Creek Nursery on Lower Lynch Creek Road last Tuesday.
Taun Cobb was transported by ambulance to Clark Fork Valley Hospital. He was taken by Life Flight helicopter to Missoula, where he was then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Cobb, believed to be in his late 20s, was burned on his face, hands, arms, and part of his stomach and chest after he reportedly threw gasoline on a fire about 10:30 a.m., according to Johnny Holland, chief of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department and one of the first to arrive at the scene. Holland was at his farm on Lower Lynch Creek Road nearby when he heard "a big boom" and saw smoke billowing from the Lynch Creek Nursery, owned by Randy and Della Garrison.
By the time Holland arrived at the scene, Cobb had already doused some of the fire with two shop extinguishers and had pushed a burning rack of various items from the shop into the parking lot.
Randy Garrison said Cobb was working on wooden greenhouse benches at the time. Garrison said there was only minimal damage of the shop.
Holland used his fire extinguisher he keeps in his truck on the patches of fire in the workshop. The chief said that a group of Jehovah Witnesses were walking by and rendered assistance. The man helped extinguish the fire while one of the women called 911. Most of the fire was out by the time the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department firefighters arrived. Josh Saunders and Tara Baker, junior firefighters with the department, put compressed air foam on the remaining flames. Assistant Fire Chief Lee Mercier used the department's thermal imager to make a sweep of the area to check for hot spots. The fire was completely doused in about 15 minutes, said Holland.
EMT Zach Vanderwall of Plains arrived within minutes of the Sanders County Sheriff's Office dispatch call. Vanderwall looked over Cobb and worked to calm Cobb, who was visibly shaken by the incident and in pain. Cobb was released from the hospital a few days after the incident.
No one else was injured, according to Holland, who added that only a few things in the shop were consumed by the fire.
"He was very lucky," said Holland. "You should never, ever throw gas on a fire."