Forest Service Crew Injured in Vehicle Crash

Janet Hinchee, a Forester/Silviculturist on the Ocala National Forest in Florida, was seriously injured while responding to a wildland fire on May 24, 2000. Hinchee and co-worker Wayne Jordan were part of a three-vehicle task force dispatched from the Seminole Ranger District to a small fire in the western portion of the Forest. Hinchee was riding in the passenger seat of a Forest Service engine driven by Jordan; as the vehicle proceeded through the intersection of two forest roads, a pickup truck operating at a high rate of speed ran the stop sign and hit the engine broadside.

The force of the impact pushed the engine -- weighing 11,000 pounds and carrying a full 300-gallon water tank -- nearly 120 feet down the road. The pickup hit the engine at its right front wheel area and passenger-side door, shattering Hinchee's right femur and breaking her pelvis. She also suffered lacerations to her head.

Personnel from the other two vehicles in the task force were on the scene almost immediately. One was an EMT, who immediately called for a rescue helicopter, as the nearest ambulance was 45 minutes away. He and other co-workers were able to maintain Hinchee's airway and support her until the helicopter arrived. She was taken to a hospital in Orlando where, according to Fire Management Officer George Custer, "it was touch and go for a while." Jordan was also injured in the crash, but did not require hospitalization. Both occupants of the pickup truck -- who reportedly had been drinking, and were not wearing seat belts -- were dead on the scene.

Hinchee happened to be wearing her hard hat, which may have saved her life: it was completely shattered on the right side, and was held together only by the reflective tape. It is not USFS policy for fire crews to wear hard hats while responding to fires: most personnel are too tall to do so, given the limited headroom in the engine cabs. At 4'11", Hinchee could and -- fortunately for her -- did. It was also fortunate that the welds on the truck survived the impact of the collision: neither the water tank nor any of the heavy equipment on the back of the truck broke loose to possibly slide forward into the cab and cause further injuries.

Hinchee, who is 47, has been with the Forest Service for 26 years. She is also an active swimmer and runner. She and her husband and two sons, ages 15 and 11, live in nearby Umatilla. (The Ocala National Forest is located in north central Florida, between Orlando and Gainesville.)