Kenney said the community came together during this time and “had each others’ backs,” he said. Medics remained on the scene every day until the Murrah building was demolished. “I think that’s the kind of bravery we saw in all of our medics, and for that matter, all the first responders that morning.” “I’m very, very moved by that instinct of her not being able to lay that baby down to die by itself,” Kenney said. The female medic noticed the baby was still breathing and that she could not lay the child down to let it die alone, so she sat in the ambulance with the baby and rocked it until the breathing stopped. One rescue worker brought an infant to Kenney whose injuries were so severe that he described them as “incompatible with life.” He handed the child to a female medic and told her to put the baby in the ambulance that was serving as a morgue for children. “In a disaster situation, that’s a very real category,” Kenney said. Major injuries are treated immediately, but some injuries are so severe that they are considered a “black tag” - no amount of treatment will help that person survive. Some minor injuries didn’t need treatment or could wait while more serious injuries are addressed. KGOU Bill Kenney today, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and MuseumĪfter a patient is triaged, Kenney said medics need to make a quick decision about the severity of the patient’s wounds. Kenney estimates that 70 percent of the people he treated were from surrounding people or the street. “We had some crushing injuries and unfortunately we had a couple of falls - people just trying to get away or get out.” There was a fire in the parking lot across the street,” Kenney said. In fact, there was no real fire at the explosion site. The scene was chaotic as people started to leave the surrounding buildings, milling about and running in all different directions because nobody was sure what was going on.īy 10:05 a.m., Kenney’s team had transported 110 patients from the blast site. “The original thought was that there may be three or four hundred people in the building, and that meant that we had to expect possibly three or four hundred injuries,” Kenney said. He jumped into a vehicle with other paramedics and arrived at the Murrah building about two minutes after the bombing. “As soon as we were outside and could see around the building, we could see the smoke starting to rise from downtown,” Kenney said. It was jammed shut so they had to kick it down. Once they figured out the blast did not come from their own building, he and other paramedics rushed to the back door. He later went to Timothy McVeigh’s trial in Denver for a week, where he experienced a whole range of emotions as he would stare at the bomber.Īt the time, Kenney was the training coordinator for the Emergency Medical Services Authority, or EMSA. “I don’t think it’s ended yet for so many people who lost family members and that’s something they’re still dealing with,” Williamson said. He didn’t lose any family members in the bombing and that has allowed him to come to terms with the tragedy. He survived with only minor wounds which eventually healed. Williamson and his coworkers maneuvered around the debris to find a hallway that led to a stairway on the south side of the building where they were able to escape. “The combination of all of these factors made us think, maybe the city was under attack,” Williamson said. Williamson heard popping sounds everywhere, which he thinks might have been the sound of broken glass. News helicopters circled overhead while burning cars sat in the parking lot across the street. They later found another co-worker underneath a desk. The three of them stood in shock, looking outside. Williamson helped her climb over her desk and was joined by another co-worker.
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