Hawaiian vacation nearly turns deadly for Seattle firefighter
SEATTLE -- A Seattle firefighter had a harrowing day on a Hawaiian trail when he and his daughter were caught in torrential rains and became stranded on the Island of Kauai.
The dream vacation quickly turned into a nightmare, but firefighter Joaquin Hubbard proved he's the right guy to have around when things go wrong.
"They asked if we wanted to go on a hike with them and it sounded great. You know, it was a beautiful day," Hubbard said. "It was a bit windy, but it was sunny, really nice big waves on the coast and humpback whales."
As Hubbard, his girlfriend and his daughter made their way to a waterfall with another group of hikers, the rain became even heavier. They met up with another group of hikers stranded across a raging river.
To most, it may seem an impossible task to have the lives of 20 people in your hands, but firefighters aren't like most people.
"One of them was pregnant, that was also a concern," Hubbard said. "I started kicking into emergency mode, you know, thinking something needed to be done or people could get really cold overnight and into trouble."
Leaving everyone behind, Hubbard used a tree limb to cross the river and get help. When rescue crews arrived, they realized there were more to be saved -- now more than 50.
Finally, helicopters arrived and buckets were lowered. But time was a concern.
"There were so many people and it was getting late they were running out of time and fuel," Hubbard said.
One person died in the rescue, but everyone else made it to safety. In true firefighter fashion, Hubbard said the attention should be focused on someone else.
"They made a lot of rescues that day and did an amazing amazing job," he said. "They're the heroes of that situation, did a fantastic job that day."
The dream vacation quickly turned into a nightmare, but firefighter Joaquin Hubbard proved he's the right guy to have around when things go wrong.
"They asked if we wanted to go on a hike with them and it sounded great. You know, it was a beautiful day," Hubbard said. "It was a bit windy, but it was sunny, really nice big waves on the coast and humpback whales."
As Hubbard, his girlfriend and his daughter made their way to a waterfall with another group of hikers, the rain became even heavier. They met up with another group of hikers stranded across a raging river.
To most, it may seem an impossible task to have the lives of 20 people in your hands, but firefighters aren't like most people.
"One of them was pregnant, that was also a concern," Hubbard said. "I started kicking into emergency mode, you know, thinking something needed to be done or people could get really cold overnight and into trouble."
Leaving everyone behind, Hubbard used a tree limb to cross the river and get help. When rescue crews arrived, they realized there were more to be saved -- now more than 50.
Finally, helicopters arrived and buckets were lowered. But time was a concern.
"There were so many people and it was getting late they were running out of time and fuel," Hubbard said.
One person died in the rescue, but everyone else made it to safety. In true firefighter fashion, Hubbard said the attention should be focused on someone else.
"They made a lot of rescues that day and did an amazing amazing job," he said. "They're the heroes of that situation, did a fantastic job that day."
I'm a native of the island & this is not the 1st time this sort of rescue situation of visitors has had to occur. WHY don't our tourists heed warnings, signs & PAs that educate about high, swift or rough water, flash floods & other dangerous situations????? I have spoken to visitors & discouraged swimming or hiking in areas, especailly during the winter rains. Some listen & some don't want to hear it because this is their last day & they really wanted to get one more swim or hike in. Our island has had 9 drownings so far this year, 7 of them visitors. So sad. Locals understand accidents happen, but to hear that tragedy happens to our visitors when they are in areas they have no business being in or around during rainfall or high surf is trying. It's pouring rain today - so far, no news is good news.
Following the link from popjack also gives links to follow-up stories. They found the body of the woman--she tried to cross following her husband holding onto a rope in 4-foot rushing water and lost her grip and was washed down.Â
I was stranded in exactly the same spot under exactly the same circumstances in 2004. One hiker tried to cross and got his legs banged up by rocks in the stream before returning--he came very close to getting swept away. But the 20 or so of us who were stranded pooled our resources, cooked up a stew from the food we had left, broke into a little cabin there for shelter, made sure everyone had enough to stay warm, sang songs and swapped stories all evening, and in the morning the stream had gone down enough to cross safely. Since I know the setting, the stories as written don't make it very clear to me why people had to be "rescued" with helicopters rather than dropping them some supplies and letting them shelter in place.Â
Some more info
http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/woman-swept-out-to-sea-hikers-stranded-at-hanakapi-ai/article_8c3ea860-7cd0-11e2-aec4-0019bb2963f4.html
I love the next to last sentence..
Oh, BTW someone died... Anyway...
@PacMan Noticed that too.. someone died... how and or why?... if your going to put something like that in ... get the facts of it... sheesh.... less the person who wrote this has is one of those people that have to find something bad in every good situation.... I love when it is sunny.... 'but I hate putting on sunscreen' ... etc... everyone has to have known someone like that!
@PacMan Yeah, that was pretty weird and offhand.Â
Here's a link to the full story for anyone that's interested in reading it:
http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/Seattle-firefighter-helps-local-crews-during-harrowing-ordeal/-/8905354/19083842/-/item/0/-/2r3aj/-/index.html
@Mickey602Â thanks. (wow, badly written story, too.) Â
@DTÂ @Mickey602 The link above is to an informative, well written article. The person who died was a woman who was swept out to sea trying to cross the swollen river. That's a big bummer.
@DTÂ @Mickey602 I mean the link posted by "popjack"
I have a feeling if the old man gathering mushrooms lasted two days in the mountains of Washington by himself in October. Â A group of people would have made it the night in a tropical environment. Â
@somegoofyguy at least one person died... how many more might have without rescue? We weren't there my friend
@TruthinAdverts You seem to lack a bit of reading comprehension.  It states very clearly that the person that died was killed in rescue.  Not died from exposure to temperatures in the upper 60's.  While cool enough to cause trouble.  With 30-50 people that is a lot of gathered warmth. Â
@somegoofyguy @TruthinAdverts My intent, is that the primary concern might have been rising flood waters, rather than Hawaii hypothermia. Again my friend, the Fire Department took a very aggressive rescue posture in this situation, which tells me they had a legitimate concern "shelter in place and wait it out" might not be the best option.Â
@TruthinAdverts @somegoofyguy The person who died was swept away while trying to cross the raging waters, not from hypothermia, heart attack or any other reason.
@TruthinAdverts @somegoofyguy Or maybe no one would have died if they'd stayed overnight until it was calm again.  Hypothermia in Hawaii was probably not an issue.
@TruthinAdverts that's because they tried to cross the stream not stay put and hunker down for the night.Â
@DT @TruthinAdverts @somegoofyguythe fire department saw a reason to actively evacuate these people rather than sheltering them in place. Why? These people were trapped on pockets of land between flooding waters... Heavy rainfall was presenting a scenario where there was a possibility that these "islands" may not have remained islands. Neither you or I were there, but this off duty Seattle fireman was, and the Fire Department in Hawaii was... and they were apparently seeing a very real threat.Â
This is quite a story. I wonder when exactly this happened? Many people don't realize but some of the rainiest points on earth are in the Hawaiian Islands. In fact the very wettest spot is in the mountains just above the Princeville area and Hanalei Bay on Kauai which may be exactly where this took place. Very sorry to hear one died in the rescue- but I wonder how they died?
he left everyone behind? MY HERO.
@customerservice good point customer... perhaps he shouldn't have led them to the relative high ground where he left them. Then he definitely shouldn't have completely risked his life crossing a raging river to get help. Gosh, he just should have sat there smiling at them, whistling or something and stoically watched everyone drown around him... The guy literally risked his life getting help you armchair ahol
@TruthinAdverts Obviously customerservice has some serious comprehension issues. Too many big words. Or then maybe just stupid.
@69GTÂ @TruthinAdverts Let' s hope he or she is not in the "customer service" business!