FORT SILL, Okla. -- Fort Sill firefighter Patrick Denton is back to work after being hit by shell fragments from unexploded ordnance that cooked off during a range fire May 8.
"It was actually on my birthday," said Denton.
At the age of 33 an event that changed his life would also change the way Fort Sill firefighters do their jobs from now on.
"It was a big eye opener as with any tragedy you sit back and think what caused this? What was the root cause," said Clint Langford, Fort Sill fire chief. "Things that are in the works now are going to literally change the way we fight fire on the installation. It'll be the biggest safety improvement for range firefighting that this department has had in probably 50 years."
Denton said he always knew a UXO explosion was possible because of where they fight fires, but it was definitely unexpected.
"They [761st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company personnel] were saying this one was partially buried. That's why I didn't see it because I'm usually pretty good, I notice my surroundings," said Denton.
Denton stood above the round when it detonated. The 155mm high-explosive blasted shell fragments into his chest, shoulder and leg. His face suffered second and third degree flash burns and he lost 95 percent of his hearing in his right ear.
"I heard the explosion and then it kind of knocked me silly for a minute. I went down to my knees and gained my composure back. That's when I felt all the blood," said Denton.
"So I ran back up the hill and by that time the other firefighters were running toward me," he said. "They started working on me trying to stop the bleeding."
He said thoughts of his wife and children flashed through his mind in that moment. He was aerial lifted to Comanche County Memorial Hospital, and then transported to Oklahoma University Medical Center's trauma unit.
"God was with me. There's really no reason why I'm here giving this interview other than God."
Jeremy Thomas, Fort Sill Fire Department training and safety assistant chief, and the incident commander were serving as lookouts on top of Jones Ridge while the crew worked the range fire down below.
"This would be a worst nightmare for I believe anybody on the fire line, involved in fire and emergency services. The thought of one of our own going down is something that we always train for and hope and pray that we never have to see it."
Langford said Denton and his crew were doing what they were supposed to do, but they should never have to endure this kind of incident again. He and many other departments on Fort Sill went to work to make sure that happens.
"We realized that some things have changed on Fort Sill. The heavier training load; some of the munitions; the terrain; the drought a lot of things have changed. We really took the holistic approach to find out what should we do from here."
He said their mission is to protect this installation and the off-post partners from fire. However, sometimes it's a very complicated and difficult task when the fire is in an impact area packed with unexploded ordnance.
"We've identified areas on the ranges that we thought were once safe, and we've expanded the areas that we now consider too dangerous to fight fire. We're changing our tactics and the way we approach a fire. There's some areas that we may be allowed to go into, but we may be confined to the fire break not allowed to step off into the grass where we may not be able to see hidden UXOs," said Langford.
He said ideally, all UXOs would be removed, but there are too many for it to be economically or physically possible.
The department also worked with unit commanders to adjust munitions used on the ranges to lower the risk of fires starting. Langford said since then range fires dropped from 300 a year to less than 70.
They are also working with Range Control, Public Works, 761st EOD, Natural Resources and the commanding general to finalize their new firefighting strategy which Langford expects to be signed into effect in the near future.
"[In] other words we're going to start doing more indirect fire tactics than direct firefighting tactics. Do as much mitigation and removing fuel that we can without actually putting the firefighter on the ground."
Denton has had one surgery on his ear and expects several more to regain his hearing. In the meantime he is allowed to do light duty at the station.
"It means a lot to not only Pat, but it means a lot to these guys to see their brother come back to work," said Thomas.
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