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SUNNY Temp: 81 °F Wind: W at 3 mph Friday, August 2, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend July 31, 2002 Daniel and Janette Morgan fight fires together for the Merlin-based company Grayback Forestry. Injured firefighter feels she is lucky to be alive By CHRISTIAN BRINGHURST Mail Tribune Firefighter Janette Morgan probably did not have a hospital room in mind as the best setting for her 22nd birthday celebration today. But after being hit by a falling snag while fighting the Timbered Rock fire Sunday, the Ashland woman counts herself fortunate to be celebrating at all. Her husband, Daniel, 23, who works on a Grayback Forestry fire-line crew with her, said they were in rough terrain just off Elk Creek Road. "It was just steep and rocky (with) a lot of heavy fuels — so it was burning pretty hot around that area," he said. Their crew was told to retreat a little from the area until a number of burning snags — dead trees — could be removed by timber fallers. "There was a big snag that was burning at the bottom and we were going up the hill to get away from it," Janette recalled from her room at Rogue Valley Medical Center. Suddenly, the crew heard a snap, and then the crackling rush of the falling tree. "We looked back, and there was this huge tree coming down toward the crew," said Daniel. "I could hear it cracking and I could hear it falling toward (us)," said Janette. The pair said the approximately 100-foot snag hit other trees on its way down, breaking apart as it did. "I was running down the hill and I could hear it crashing down on me," Janette said. The crew dove in different directions to escape the falling tree, said her husband. "I dove behind a boulder and she was in the process of diving behind a stump, but she didn’t make it," he said. "You only have about three seconds to react." "It rolled up over my back and hit my head," Janette said. "It kind of bent me in half. "I pulled my head out of it real quick because I felt like I was going to be ripped in half." Daniel initially thought his wife and the rest of the crew had escaped injury — until he saw several men run to the spot where a large section of the tree had fallen. "I got down there and all you could see was her head poking up from the limbs," he said. "I could tell she was pretty hurt." The 23-year-old estimated that the section of trunk that hit his wife was 20 to 24 inches in diameter. "We were fortunate that nobody was killed," he said. After he and other Grayback crew members removed the tree limbs from around her, they called paramedics to transport her down the hill to Elk Creek Road. Although there were concerns that moving her would exacerbate her back injury, first-aid crews determined that the risk from other falling snags was too great to leave her on the hill for very long. An ambulance took her as far as Shady Cove, where a Mercy Flights helicopter flew her to RVMC. Janette has been diagnosed with a compression fracture on her lumbar vertebrae and must wear a body cast for at least three months, the couple said. "I have to have a surgeon look at me and make sure I don’t need surgery," Janette added. For the time being, however, she seems to be out of the woods. "If she’d been down the hill another foot, it would have hit her (directly) in the head," said Daniel, "and a tree that size, it would have killed her." "It’s pretty much a miracle," Janette added. The Morgans are hoping for a quick recovery — Janette plans to start a career from the other side of the gurney this summer. "She is supposed to start nursing school on Friday," said Daniel. Reach reporter Christian Bringhurst at 776-4459. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S