‘Clock was ticking.’ Rescuers amputate man’s leg as Alabama home crumbles from tornado

The massive oak tree came smashing through the roof of Arnoldo Vasquez-Hernandez’s home as he shepherded his wife and children into the basement, sheltering them from the EF-3 tornado spinning destruction outside.

It had weathered 100 years of storms, but the 150 mile-an-hour tornado sweeping through Fultondale, Alabama, the night of Jan. 25 was enough to uproot the old tree, and send it down onto Vasquez-Hernandez’s leg as he stood at the top of the stairs — pinning him inside his crumbling home, AL.com reported.

The danger isn’t gone when the storm ends, and what isn’t flattened outright by the winds is sometimes left weakened and precarious, a structure slowly buckling, or falling apart a section at a time. His home had become a time-bomb in that way. His rescuers knew it, and still they made their way to him: EMTs, firefighters, cops, neighbors, nurses and surgeons came to free the father of three before the storm could claim his life hours after it had raged, media outlets reported.

EMT Brandon Fuller, paired with a police officer, was searching around Vestavia Hills that night for anyone in need, and was the first to find Vasquez-Hernandez, AL.com reported.

“We got to Lykes Boulevard and you couldn’t even recognize the neighborhood,” he said. “I grabbed my jump bag and started running that way, hollering at whoever could hear me.”

It was a little after 11 p.m. when he entered the ravaged home, Fuller told the outlet. Most of the second floor had already come crashing down to the ground level, and in the midst of it was Vasquez-Hernandez, still awake and conscious.

“I told him, ‘Hey, I’m not going to leave you here. I’m going to stay with you,’” Fuller said.

More help arrived, but neither the man nor the tree could be moved, and there wasn’t much any first responder could do.

“I knew if we moved the tree an inch or the house an inch, it would have all come down on us and it would have made the situation worse,’’ Fuller told the outlet.

Emergency workers decided surgeons were needed on the scene, WBMA reported.

Dr. Don Reiff, an emergency surgeon with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, got the call.

“So I reached out to one of my partners who was at the hospital to get the surgical instruments ready for us,” Reiff said.

While they waited, rescuers did what they could to prepare the unstable scene for an unorthodox operation.

When Reiff arrived, a weight was lifted.

“When they showed up, everybody took a sigh of relief,’’ Vestavia Hills firefighter Lawrence Pugliese told AL.com. “The clock was ticking because the house was actually collapsing.”

Reiff and his team made their way inside and unpacked their tools. Reiff explained to Vasquez-Hernandez who he was and why he was there, with the help of a Spanish-speaking translator, WBMA reported.

The man seemed to accept what was about to happen, Reiff told the station.

“I think he had seen the efforts of the fire departments and the heavy rescue units trying to extricate him and with their best efforts they couldn’t get him out,” Reiff said.

And so, in the early morning hours after the storm, Reiff’s team carried out the life-saving amputation, without the safety or sanitation of an operating room, AL.com reported.

“It was novel,” Reiff admitted.

The procedure took about 10 minutes, outlets report.

Once freed, he was rushed to the hospital. More surgery was performed.

The home is a total loss — authorities wouldn’t allow the family back inside to retrieve belongings, for fear some piece of the structure might come loose and crush someone, WBRC reported.

Despite the pain, the lingering shock at his missing limb, and the anesthesia haze, he worries about his family most of all.

“Every time he wakes up he will ask for his kids, how are they doing, how are they handling things,” niece Selene Concepcion told the station.

Given enough time and adjustment, Reiff believes Vasquez-Hernandez will be able to lead a normal life, WBMA reported. That he’ll have the chance at all is nothing short of a “miracle,” Pugliese said.

“At least 10 different agencies were there working together,” he told AL.com. “It was a miracle. It was beautiful.”