Lucky coincidence may have saved lives

On Thursday morning, just minutes before a single-engine plane would plunge into the Echelon I building, the Travis County Hazardous Materials Team gathered in the parking lot of Dave and Buster's at the intersection of U.S. 183 and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1).

It was the first time the team, made up of firefighters from the Lake Travis, Pflugerville, Westlake, Oak Hill and other fire departments, had decided to hold its monthly training exercise there. Someone had heard that the big, empty lot was available, and it was a central location for team members coming from the four corners of Travis County.

The parking lot just happened to be across the highway from the Echelon I building.

About 10 a.m., firefighters saw the Piper Cherokee scream overhead, flying dangerously low and fast. Moments later, the 15-person team heard the blast as the plane made impact. The crew immediately gathered its protective equipment and its single fire engine and raced around the Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway) crossover, arriving on the scene several minutes before the first Austin firefighters would get there.

Officials say that coincidence and quick reaction probably helped keep death and injury counts so remarkably low. Despite the horrific damage to the office building, only two people were hospitalized and two others killed, including, officials think, the pilot. Fire officials say the presence of the Travis County crews was particularly vital because several Austin fire engines in the area were already battling a blaze at the home of Andrew Joseph Stack III, accused of being the pilot.

"For us to just happen to be there was very fortunate," said Oak Hill/Westlake Fire Chief Gary Warren, who took command of the operation. "It was a huge coincidence."

Equally lucky was the fact that Lake Travis firefighters had brought their fire engine. Typically, the team doesn't use fire engines, but Lake Travis Fire and Rescue had just received some new trucks and wanted to show one off to the other departments, said Lake Travis Lt. Ben Sanders. "By the grace of God, we had this apparatus with us," he said.

Three firefighters drove to the crash site and initiated a "blitz attack," blasting the gaping hole left by the plane with their deck gun. Those efforts helped squelch the fire around the crash area.

"They were able to knock that fireball down and give people extra time to evacuate," Warren said.

Meanwhile, the remaining crews, armed with just their firefighter clothing and personal breathing devices, assembled at the building's entrance and set up search-and-rescue teams that cleared the first and second floors of the damaged building.

Warren said the first floor, which received most of the plane's impact, was largely vacant, while the busier second floor caught fire as furniture, file cabinets and reams of paper burned fiercely. Those flames pouring from the building produced the frightening images that led local hospitals to prepare for a massive influx of patients, but Warren said nearly all the workers had fled before his crews arrived.

Several were saved by a window installer, Robin De Haven, who had been driving down the highway when he saw the crash and quickly used his ladder to free employees from a window on the second floor.

After the crews cleared the first two floors, Warren stopped them from going up to the third. At that point, he said, the steel floor beams were beginning to sag. "They wanted to go to the third floor, but I wouldn't let them until I knew that the building wasn't going to collapse," he said.

In addition to the quick response, Warren said, two other factors helped keep casualties down: The plane knocked out the windows on the U.S. 183 side of the building, allowing some of the choking smoke to escape and literally giving office workers more breathing room; and the building's sprinkler system played a crucial role in tamping down flames inside .

Austin Fire Department officials said they were thankful for the quick arrival of the Travis County crews.

Austin Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr and Chief of Staff Harry Evans were at a meeting downtown when a digital page alerted them to a possible plane crash into a building.

They jumped in the same car and started racing toward the scene. On the way, they listened to radio dispatches and recognized fire engine numbers from other departments. Then they heard Warren's voice giving instructions.

"I was thinking, 'What are those guys doing up there, this deep in the city?'\u2009" said Evans, who is an assistant chief.

When they arrived, they raced over to Warren, who filled them in and handed over authority to them. Evans said he did not know how much time elapsed between their arrival at the scene and when the first Austin firefighters showed up.

"They did fill that gap," Evans said.

He said some of the Austin fire engines that would have responded to the office building were already fighting the fire at Stack's house.

"It wasn't about whose jurisdiction it is or what agency," Kerr said. "The sooner that someone gets on scene of an emergency, the better everybody is. We couldn't have asked for anything better to happen in terms of the outcome."

jschwartz@statesman.com; 912-2942

Additional material from staff writer Tony Plohetski.