JOYCE — When Alex Baker, assistant chief for Clallam Fire District No. 4, arrived at the scene of a horrific wreck on state Highway 112 near Freshwater Bay during the summer he was certain that not everyone would survive.
Three of the five people involved in the wreck required advanced life support and couldn’t be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle due to foggy weather. It was one of the worst- looking wrecks he had seen in his career, he said.
Those three Port Angeles teens — Tanner Bradeen, his girlfriend Arianna Pharr and Ryan Garber — attended the fire district’s awards banquet Saturday to thank the first responders who saved their lives.
Garber was driving a 1980 Chevrolet pickup southbound from Freshwater Bay Road onto Highway 112 when it was struck in the intersection by a 2000 Ford F250 pickup truck driven westbound on Highway 112.
Garber said it was “breathtaking” to be able to meet the people who helped after the crash and “to realize who all came together to help out and see who all put their lives on hold when the phone rings.
“They were surprised that we all showed up because they don’t normally have people from accidents.”
Most who attended the banquet were not aware that that Bradeen, Pharr and Garber were in attendance and when they learned they were there it was an emotional moment, Baker said.
“It’s an incredible feel-good moment for all the first responders and their families,” Baker said.
“For our people to see them, talk to them and realize they made a difference in someone’s life only happens on 1 [percent] or 2 percent of calls we respond on.”
About 25 people from six agencies responded to the wreck and state Highway 112 was closed for about three hours after the crash.
The first responders extricated the injured from the wreck, put them on life support and got them to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Clallam County Fire District No. 4 was first on scene, followed immediately by Clallam County Fire District No. 2, the State Patrol, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, state Department of Transportation, U.S. Border Patrol and Olympic Ambulance, Baker said.
The first person on the scene was Lt. Gary Southard of District 4.
“He did an incredible job of assessing a chaotic scene and was able to get the right resources responding,” Baker said. “It was amazing to see all these organization pull together to help these people in their time of need.”
Bradeen, Pharr and Garber said Monday they are well on their way to making full recoveries, but are still living with the effects of the crash.
Garber said he broke his left tibia and fibia and now has a rod that goes from his left knee to his ankle. He also broke his right ankle.
It was difficult to begin walking again and he’s starting work, but it’s difficult to work longer hours, he said.
He said driving has been difficult. Though driving in the day isn’t a problem, once headlights are needed, it brings back memories from that night.
“As soon as my headlights come on I don’t like to drive,” he said.
Pharr said it was surreal to hear the firefighters describe the the wreck. She doesn’t remember much from the wreck and she doesn’t like to think about it, she said.
What surprised her was to learn there was a second wreck that night that paramedics also had to help with.
“I didn’t know that until the ceremony,” Pharr said.
She said that when she Garber and Bradeen were invited she thought “it’d be cool to meet the people who are the reason I’m alive,” she said.
Pharr said she is thankful to be alive. She had so many injuries — 17 —that it’s difficult to recall all of the injuries.
She suffered a boxer fracture in her right hand, broke her right knee cap, broke her left femur, broke her pelvis in two places and ruptured her spleen, liver and kidney. The bottom half of her right lung was also damaged and she suffered a concussion.
“I didn’t even know I had 17 injuries until they sent me the paperwork from the hospital,” she said.
She said she is still sore, but she is walking and hopes to be walking “normal” again sometime in the next few months.
“The only thing that bothers me at this point about the wreck is I got a pretty gnarly concussion, so my memory has been affected,” she said. “That messes with me.”
Bradeen said it was a “cool” experience to meet the first responders.
“I was really appreciative I got to meet them,” Bradeen said. “It was really cool how we got to meet them and got to thank them for what they did for us.”
Bradeen said he’s doing better now. He can walk and hasn’t been hurting.
“I’m doing alright,” he said. “I’m doing a lot better.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
