An ‘amazing force’

DURANGO — When Tony Jakino was paged to fight a fire in downtown Durango, he expected to be working hard even though it was his day off. The former Montrose resident just didn’t expect it to change his life.

One minute, Jakino was putting down a tool outside of the Le Rendezvous Bakery on Main Avenue, one of three Durango businesses destroyed by fire Feb. 22. The next, he felt the “unbearable” weight of bricks crushing him. The bakery had exploded.

“I had knelt down for a second,” Jakino recounted Thursday in a telephone interview. “That’s when the explosion happened. It definitely made me think what would have happened if we’d spent a little more time inside that building.”

Jakino was working with two other firefighters from the Durango Fire and Rescue Authority, Nate McGrath and Lt. Dave Tranum, and checking the bakery for fire extensions. When they opened the business’ door, smoke quickly dissipated and the men’s thermal-imaging camera did not pick up significant heat readings.

“It felt pretty safe,” Jakino said.

The men decided to first contact their command center. Because radio traffic was busy, Tranum walked to a nearby command post to advise crews there of their plans. Still outside the building, Jakino knelt to set down his tool.

“I was hit by the initial blast, which was just amazing...amazing force that threw me to the ground. At that point, I felt OK. I had no idea what had landed on me,” he said.

He later learned he was buried in bricks and the restaurant’s awning.

“It could have been the whole wall. All those things ran through my head. It was so unexpected. The weight was unbearable,” Jakino said.

“I laid there trying to catch my breath and calm down. It’s amazing how much you can think about in a few seconds.”

Jakino thought about his family — his wife, Deanna, and the baby due in August, and his parents, Rich and Nancy Jakino of Montrose.

But he kept enough presence of mind to rely on his paramedic training. Jakino wiggled his toes and fingers, then took a careful, mental inventory and his body. “My back hurt quite a bit,” he said.

Fortunately, the DFRA’s rapid intervention team was jut 15 feet away.

“I heard the voices of all the guys around me,” Jakino said. “The first guy to me, he moved a couple bricks away from my face mask and asked if I was OK. I felt OK. They had me out pretty quick. They all did an amazing job.”

Jakino believed kneeling down just before the blast had spared him more serious injury.

“Fortunately, he was down and perhaps that helped limit the force of the blast,” DFRA public information officer Dave Abercrombie said.

“Unfortunately, he was covered in bricks from the facade. You’re going to sustain some sort of blunt force trauma. But people were there literally within seconds and helped pull the bricks off. Some of them were also injured, but responded to his need.”

Jakino was one of about nine firefighters injured in the massive blaze. He said all crew members were doing well, including Deputy Chief Allen Clay, who was thrown off the top of a building.

“We are fortunate we didn’t lose any (firefighters),” Abercrombie said.

Durango Fire continues to investigate the cause of the blaze, which also destroyed the Half-Price T Shirt store and Seasons Grill. Two other buildings in the same block were imperiled as well, Abercrombie said.

He said investigations are focused on the oven and grill hoods at the Seasons restaurant, but there was nothing definitive yet.

“We have asked the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to come in and help us determine the cause of the explosion,” he said. “They normally do not investigate unless there’s been a fatality.

“It’s very important to us that we determine the cause of the explosion, because we had no warning. We had no indication.”

Certain conditions that can trigger explosions — such as backdraft — give off signs that trained firefighters can recognize. There were no such signs in the Durango fire.

“The fire service in the whole country is very interested because, again, we didn’t see this coming,” Abercrombie said.

 “Everyone that critiqued the call said everything was going by the book. It was very, very unexpected,” Jakino said. “There’s variables that are out of our control.”

While his close call concerned him, the 1993 Montrose High graduate who formerly worked with the Montrose Fire Protection District said he’s not really considering a career change.

“I feel I have a healthy respect (for fires). There’s definitely moments when I consider the career choice, but I think it’s an acceptable level of risk. I’m looking forward to getting back into it,” Jakino said.

The experience has changed his outlook on life, he said. “We tend to get caught up in a lot of really stupid things. It’s kind of an amazing feeling to think about ‘what if.’”