Actual poisoning victim

My half sister's mom (my ex stepmother) knows a guy who lives in Penn Valley California. He has a big pond/tiny lake he dug in his back yard. My sister and I used to go up and hang out and swim in the lake, get tans, pick up guys and get nibbled on by bluegills and camp out in the bed of her truck.

Once while we were there, a friend of the owner came by to visit as he was racing sprint cars in the area. He asked us who wanted to be trophy girl at the race that night and I pointed at my sister and said, "She does!"

That night we hung out in the pit and got et up by skeeters real bad, but it was fun. After the race, the guy took us out to eat. He told us he had been an Oakland firefighter 10 years previous. He had been a victim of a famous tunnel fire.

In 1979 a Bay Area Rapid Transit Train caught fire in the tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland. The material in the train seats turned out to be deadly poisonous. Our friend went into the tunnel to rescue people and in the smoke filled tunnel he met a San Francisco firefighter, who did not have a mask. That guy had a heart attack and our friend took off his mask and put it on that guy. He was immediately overcome by poisonous fumes and passed out. He remained in the tunnel for hours because the poison fumes and smoke were so thick rescuers couldn't find them.

He survived but with about 20% lung capacity. The other guy died. 58 people were injured from the toxic fumes. Once they found out that the seat materials were toxic when burned, they replaced all the seats.

Our friend worked as a firefighter trainer for awhile but got discouraged by all the unqualified people that were entering the dept. He could no longer do any exercise and could not be a firefighter. Eventually he got a contract from the Japanese to race cars.