On the morning of November 13, 2021, Firefighter Paul Burgett was responding to a vehicle crash that was caused by icy roads in Eagan, Minnesota. While responding to the initial highway crash, Firefighter Burgett and his team witnessed a second, three vehicle accident on an adjacent icy bridge deck fifty feet from the end of the bridge.
As Firefighter Paul Burgett approached the second vehicle accident scene, he saw that the three vehicles were blocking the right and center lanes of the highway. One vehicle had a female occupant visible inside her car; another female was standing outside of a minivan which was sideways in the road. A third vehicle was empty, blocking the center lane of the highway.
As Firefighter Burgett crossed the highway, with his Captain and paramedic, he noticed a car rapidly approaching. He signaled them to slow down using arm gestures. His intent was to get the drivers to activate their brake lights and begin signaling to the other drivers behind him, allowing traffic to gradually slow and create a safer traffic flow around the accident scene. Unfortunately, the bridge deck had iced over, and the oncoming vehicle slid out-of-control at 60 to70 mph.
As he and his team ran for the cover on the far highway shoulder, they could hear the oncoming vehicle striking the empty vehicle and see shrapnel and debris from the vehicles flying over their heads. They had zero protection. As soon as the drivers tried to swerve, they would lose control of their vehicles. There was no way for them to slow down on the icy bridge deck.
Once his team reached the safety of the shoulder, they could more accurately assess the situation, and realized, “It was not a good situation.” Cars were careening by the accident scene, and there was an adult male and an adult female standing outside of their cars on the highway. This was the worst of all places to be in this situation.
Firefighter Burgett called to them to come to the sound of his voice. The adult female and the other female who had been sitting in her car responded and moved to the safe area behind the metal guardrail on the right-side shoulder of the road. The adult male, however, refused to come over to the shoulder; so, Firefighter Burgett exposed himself to the traffic to determine what was happening, since the man’s life was in immediate danger. His Captain stayed with the two females and began assessing their injuries and interviewing them.
When Firefighter Burgett arrived at the crashed minivan where the adult male was standing, he realized that the man’s wife was trapped in the front passenger seat inside the vehicle. Her door had been disabled and she was unable to extricate herself from the vehicle. Although it is sometimes preferrable to stay in your vehicle after an accident; in a situation like this, Firefighter Burgett recognized that the vehicle speeds involved in this situation could cause serious injury or kill the female passenger who was unbelted in the crashed vehicle.
Firefighter Burgett acted quickly and took her arms to assist her from the vehicle by pulling her across the seats. Once outside the vehicle, he determined that she could walk and ordered both her and her husband to immediately follow him to the safe area on the right-side shoulder of the highway. Firefighter Burgett, along with the man and his wife, immediately moved to the far-right side and walked as quickly as they could on the icy bridge to get to the safe area.
As they were neared the safe area at the end of the bridge, Firefighter Burgett looked back and noticed a white SUV heading right toward them. He ordered the man and woman to follow him and run. As he did so, he was struck bodily by the SUV and knocked unconscious. He says, “As I flew down the highway., I remember everything spinning and then the lights went out.” The Captain witnessed Firefighter Burgett get hit and started toward him to assist him.
Burgett came to his senses and looked up to see the female who was in the minivan, lying unconscious on the ground in front of him. He had no real awareness at that point other than to recognize that this highway was deadly, and everyone needed to get off it right now. As he tried to stand up and lift the female, a searing pain in his left leg prevented him from doing so. He ordered the husband of the female, who was conscious, to lift the legs of his wife and help carry her to safety. Burgett managed to lift her, and with the aid of her husband, carry her to the safe area on the shoulder of the road. Once in the safe area, the pain in his leg overwhelmed him and he collapsed.
A split second after Firefighter Burgett was hit, a pickup truck careened into the other crashed vehicles on the highway at 70+mph, knocking all the vehicles sideways. The minivan began smoking. The impact was so severe that his Captain had to dive over the guard rail and down the embankment on the other side to avoid being struck. Firefighter Burgett says, “I have no idea how that impact missed us, but we were not injured further when this happened.”
If the adult females, the husband, and the wife had remained with the vehicles on the highway, they most likely would have lost their lives by the last impact.
Firefighter Burgett was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul for medical care. The female patient he had been assisting was transported to Hennepin Health Hospital in Minneapolis. Firefighter Burgett was later informed that the female he assisted survived her injuries.
Firefighter Paul Burgett has been a firefighter for over 15 years, beginning his firefighter career in 2007 as a firefighter and an Emergency Medical Technician with the Hopkins, MN fire department. He later joined the North Memorial Hospital Ambulance team in 2019 as a Paramedic. He joined the Eagan Fire Department as a firefighter and paramedic in January 2020.
Firefighter Burgett is a Marine veteran. He served in the US Marines as a Motor Transport Operator for eight years, from 2008 to 2013.
He is a member of the American Legion, Post 1 in Minneapolis, and a member the Local Firefighter Union 5171.
Paul P. Burgett is a licensed Paramedic having graduated from the Paramedic course at Century College in 2018. He is also a HAZMAT Specialist, taking courses in Weapon of Mass Destruction, IEDs and other state fire schools. He is a graduate of the Camp Ripley Firefighter Honor Guard Academy and a member of the Eagan Fire Department Honor Guard.
Paul and his wife, Natalie, and their son live in Apple Valley, Minnesota and are members of the House Church in Eagan. Paul volunteers for security for the youth programs in his church.
Paul and Natalie enjoy dancing and are members of a Bachata and Salsa dance Troop.
Firefighter Burgett has gone through multiple surgeries and undergone therapy since December of 2021. He currently engaging in physical therapy two to three hours per day, three to four times each week.
He will have to wear orthotics for the rest of his life due to nerve damage that he suffered in this incident. Despite his injuries, he expects to return to full active duty as firefighter soon, in June of 2022.
At great risk Firefighter Burgett went from behind the highway safety barrier into the crash scene to move two people to safety who had exited their vehicles. As he was moving the two people to the safety barrier, another vehicle veered into his traffic land and struck Firefighter Burgett and one of the other passengers. Despise serious leg injuries, Paul got up and dragged the other victim to safety. He saved the two people from death that day by moving them from the crash scene that turned out to be a multiple car crash after the removal of these two people.
After this incident, Firefighter Burgett says, “I’m thankful that I can work for such a great community and alongside such a stellar team of professionals at the Eagan Fire Department. I know that we did the best we could under difficult circumstances and would gladly do it again to save the lives of the people we serve. Thank you for considering me for this award. It is an honor and a privilege.” All these reasons are why Firefighter Paul Purcell Burgett is an outstanding firefighter in his career and is nominated by the Daniel R. Olsen Eagan American Legion Post 594 and Eagan Fire Chief Hugo Searle for the American Legion Firefighter of the Year award.