Prince George , B.C.- Prince George Fire Rescue member Peter Brbot, has testified at the inquest into the deaths of Alan Little and  Glenn Roche that “It felt like an eternity” before ambulances showed up at the scene of the mill explosion on April 23rd, 2012.Brbot says when his team from Hall #3 arrived, he was advised there was an injured man, exposed, lying in the mud who needed immediate attention.  That man was Alan Little.

Brbot testified  Little was naked, except for one sock,   was placed  on a stretcher, covered with a blanket and taken to a triage area near  a fire truck. “We waited, and we waited, and we waited, but there were no ambulances at the scene.”   He says Fire Rescue doesn’t  transport  victims to hospital, but  that   they pleaded to get   an ambulance on scene in order to attend to the severely burned Little.

Finally,  not willing to wait any longer, they loaded the stretcher into the back of  a pick up truck,  Fire Chief John Lane got behind the wheel, and Brbot stayed in the box with Little.

Brbot told the inquest  they drove to  River Road,  where they waited for an ambulance to appear “It felt like an eternity” said Brbot, but  that it was likely 7 to 9 minutes before  an ambulance was on scene “You know, usually,  we turn around and they are right there to assist us, this time, there was nobody there.”

Testimony yesterday  detailed how  protocol prevents BC Ambulance Service from  accessing a scene  until  they have been given  word from the proper authorities that it is safe to do so.  That  message is delivered through dispatch,  the efficiency of that  communication chain has already been questioned by one of the jurors.