Page 2 - Greg Knuckles News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the 18-wheeler plummets and explodes, instantly killing the driver. but amazingly kelly groves and her two the daughters, 10-year-old sage and 10-week-old milo are alive, trapped inside the twisted wreckage of the car. santa barbara fire department battalion chief and firefighter paramedic greg knuckles are among the first to arrive on scene. >> when we first went out we thought it was a vehicle accident. we didn't know we had a tractor-trailer that was on fire that went over the car and crushed the car and exploded. >> you could tell from the radio traffic and the discussions that were hap...

A window above, possibly below or to the side. >> but plan "b" has its own problems. >> when you're looking at a building that way on tv, it looks like everything is flat. it doesn't give you the dimensions. but those windows were actually ten feet back and ten feet offset. so when you're on rope, you never want to pendulum and swing them. because your rope could actually cut. >> the ladders are too short. the windows too distant. firefighters are left with one final option. the roof. >> we had a repelling rack up top that they were using, and basically a bunch of bars that we weave the rope t...

Gives him cause for concern. >> the first victim was actually standing on scaffolding. he was hanging on pretty tight to the building but seemed okay. wasn't, like, super panicked yet. the guy below him seemed more in a panic state. i think one of the reasons was that his harness was right around his legs where it should have been, but his whole weight was suspended by that harness, which was starting to cut off the blood flow. >> gero approaches the lower victim and secures him to the rope lines. >> with the main line attachment, what i did, is i attached the end knot to myself and attached h...

To know that she was still alive. i remember saying we need to be strong and that these children need your strength. >> but kelly's strength is fading fast. she's crushed against the driver's side window while at the same time reaching behind to hold up her infant daughter in the car seat. the rescue team gets a harness to kelly but it's little comfort as she stares through the gaping hole beneath her feet. greg knuckle stands by, but feels helpless. >> she wanted a net. greg, can you give me a net? it was just, having to tell her, i can't. i don't have a net. i wish i had a net right now. i w...

But those windows were actually ten feet back and ten feet offset. so when you're on rope, you never want to pendulum and swing them. because your rope could actually cut. >> the ladders are too short. the windows too distant. firefighters are left with one final option. the roof. >> we had a repelling rack up top that they were using, and basically a bunch of bars that we weave the rope through. and acts as a frictional device. >> and once that was all done, which took an 30 minutes, we had placed a firefighter into the harness and we lowered him off the side of the building. >> gero carefull...