Fire-fighting skills may not top the list of preferred core competencies at Enterprise, but personal integrity and teamwork certainly do.
Those skills and more were on full display in December, when members of a Dallas Truck Rental team found themselves assisting with a highway rescue.
It was just before 9 a.m. when employees heard a huge bang and assumed a trash dumpster was being emptied. But Vehicle Service Coordinator Tammy G. was in the parking lot and quickly saw otherwise. Multiple vehicles, including an 18-wheeler, had collided on busy State Highway 183, about 1,000 yards from the branch. A crumpled cargo van was on fire.
The highway was jammed, and emergency vehicles had yet to arrive, so she grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprinted across the access road and the interstate to help. As she neared the site, she signaled others at the branch to bring more extinguishers. Thanks to Department of Transportation requirements for fire extinguishers in rental trucks, the branch had about 20 extinguishers in its storage area.
Account Specialists Antonio C. and Austin B., Assistant Branch Managers Kevin L. and Nicholas B., and Branch Manager Adam F. grabbed as many extinguishers as they could carry and followed Tammy to the scene.
“When we recognized what was going on, we remembered we had a whole room of extinguishers and just took off,” said Adam.
On the scene, he said, the task was clear: pull the pin and shoot.
“The van was just crushed, and the bumper was in the door,” said Adam. “The driver looked to be severely injured, and bystanders were using a crowbar to try and get him out.” Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew blasted the threatening flames until rescue workers arrived and safely removed the driver.
It wasn’t until after the team returned to the branch and the adrenaline wore off that they fully realized the danger at hand. “But it was just the right thing to do,” said Adam.
“This is an incredible display of heroism,” said Brent R., VP/GM of the Dallas operating group. “There’s no training for what they did. It was just good people responding to the need of someone else, but during circumstances many others may have been overwhelmed by. I’m so proud of the team!”