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Stopped and i looked up, and i was like this ain't -- this can't be happening. i said there is no way we can put that fire out. >> what did it look like? >> it -- it looked like you was looking at the face of death. i mean, you could hear it, see it, smell it. i mean, it was like -- i mean, it was the worst thing i'd ever seen. >> how high were the flames? >> they were -- they were way up the derrick. they were probably i'm going to say 150 foot then. probably three-quarters of the way up the derrick, and i was yelling there's no way we're going to put that out. i said we're leaving here. >> t...

Could feel the heat from the flames as soon as i come out on to the smoke deck, but when i got up on the deck i just stopped and i looked up, and i was like this ain't -- this can't be happening. i said there is no way we can put that fire out. >> what did it look like? >> it -- it looked like you was looking at the face of death. i mean, you could hear it, see it, smell it. i mean, it was like -- i mean, it was the worst thing i'd ever seen. >> how high were the flames? >> they were -- they were way up the derrick. they were probably i'm going to say 150 foot then. probably three-quarters of ...

Or what the deal was. and there was a lot bigger explosion after that. >> you're on the fire fighting team, of course, what you did because that's your duty. you went out and grabbed your gear and went to the fire fighting station. you saw the rig on fire. how were you struck by that scene? >> when i saw the derrick on fire, you knew that there was no way we were putting that fire out. i knew we were going, more than likely, going to abandon the rig. i still kind of in shock. i just didn't expect to see that. >> did you fear for your life at that point? >> absolutely. that was the main thing g...

Explosion after that. i knew that there was no way we were putting that fire out. i knew we were more than likely going to abandon the rig. i was still in shock, didn't expect to see that. that was the main thing going through my head. it hit me in my stomach, all of kept thinking, there's no way i'm getting off of here. we're all dead. >> he also served as a firefighter and said he and another crewman tried to save a crane operator who had fallen 40 or 50 feet to the deck but things just kept blowing up and there was no way they could get to that crane operator and leaving him behind was the ...

Sensitive esuaries in that type of the state. they're lowering down containers, barricades to keep this oil from getting past the barrier islands. there's booms going out. so much stuff we're seeing from other parts of the gulf. very heat fred that part of louisiana right now, has everyone scrambling to make sure, as this oil is moving west, to make sure it doesn't do any more damage than it has to right now. >> cnn's david mattingly for us from venice, louisiana. thank you. the explosion that unleashed the massive oil leak in the gulf left 11 people dead. one survivor of the tragedy is spea...