CCSD Officer Acts Fast To Contain Vehicle Fire

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A local school resource police officer got to show off his chops as a volunteer firefighter late last month. And in doing so, he saved thousands of dollars in property and possibly even saved lives.

On the afternoon of August 24 it was just another work day for Officer Jimmy Lescinsky, the Clark County School District (CCSD) Police Officer assigned to Moapa Valley schools. At about 1:00 pm, Lescinsky was travelling in his patrol vehicle from the lower Moapa Valley to make a routine visit to Ute Perkins Elementary School in Moapa.

He got on the southbound side of Interstate 15 at about the same time as Florida couple Bill and Sandy Ward were passing the Logandale/Overton exit. The Wards were travelling through the area in a truck pulling their large Jayco RV travel trailer.

Lescinsky entered the freeway just behind the Wards and almost immediately noticed sparks issuing from the rear of the trailer.

“I figured that he must have had a blowout,” Lescinsky recalled in an interview last week with The Progress. “Little did I know what that situation was about to explode into.”

Using his emergency lights and pulling up alongside the vehicle, Lescinsky got the Ward’s attention. He instructed him to get off at the Glendale exit.

“By the time he pulls of the exit, the trailer had started smoking with this black smoke coming out from beneath it,” Lescinsky said.

Lescinsky yelled to Ward to get the trailer unhitched from the truck and pull the truck away to safety. Meanwhile, Lescinsky grabbed two fire extinguishers he had in his vehicle and started to attack the fire.

“I was trying to put out, what I thought was a small fire underneath,” Lescinsky said. “But it turns out, by that time, it wasn’t a small fire anymore. Those attempts failed.”

With the Wards’ truck pulled away to safety, Lescinsky went back to get a number of propane tanks off of the trailer and pulled away from the fire. He was able to do that.

“But by that time the whole thing was just engulfed in flames,” Lescinsky said.

It was at this point that Lescinsky noticed someone working with a water truck in a nearby field. It was being operated by local resident Chet Pulsipher.

“There is all this smoke billowing out and I am trying to get the water truck driver’s attention,” Lescinsky said. “He saw me and came over in our direction right away. He threw a hose over and I started spraying it down.”

Lescinsky manned the hose at a full stream and went to work on the raging fire. That was enough to keep the blaze contained and prevent it from spreading to the brush on the roadside. But there wasn’t enough water in the truck or water pressure available to actually put out the fire, Lescinsky said.

“Still, I appreciate Mr. Pulsipher’s cooperation and willingness to help in an emergency,” Lescinsky said. “If it weren’t for him, things could have got worse pretty fast. Not much we could have done about it.”

Fortunately within just a few minutes, the firefighters from Moapa Fire Station #72 were rolling onto the scene with a brushtruck apparatus equipped with a powerful water cannon designed to fight wildland fires. A water tender truck followed shortly thereafter from Station #72 to supply additional water to the effort. Also responding was an engine from Station #73 in Logandale.

“Wow! They did a great job,” Lescinsky said of the Moapa Valley Fire District personnel who responded. “They were there within a couple of minutes and the services they provided were outstanding.”

Moapa Valley Fire District Chief Stephen Neal reported that it only took about 15 minutes to bring the fire under control once his team was on site. But firefighters stayed at the scene for about 2-and-a-half hours to completely extinguish the fire, Neal said.

Unfortunately, the Wards travel trailer ended up being a total loss. But no one was injured in the blaze, including their two cats who also got out okay.

Lescinsky downplayed the idea that his involvement was anything extraordinary or heroic. He said he was just glad to be there to help.

“You know, you are put into situations for a reason,” he said. “You may not know what that reason is at the time. But as you look back you understand why you were in that position at that moment.”