Firefighter who narrowly survived Big Sur blaze released from hospital burn center after 50 days.

U.S. Forest Service Fire Captain Casey Allen was released from hospital care on Wednesday, Oct. 28, some 50 days after being airlifted to the burn unit of Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. 

The release of Allen was disclosed by Det. Michael Smith in testimony provided in Monterey County Superior Court on Oct. 29 during a preliminary hearing in the arson case arising from the investigation of the Dolan Fire, a 125,000-acre blaze that started in Big Sur on Aug. 18.

Smith described how Allen and a group of 13 fellow firefighters became trapped at the Nacimiento Station at the top of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road in Big Sur on Sept. 8. They were overcome by the fire and needed to deploy their fire shelters in a last-ditch effort to survive. 

“It was the worst-case scenario for a firefighter,” Smith said. 

A fire shelter is essentially a flame-resistant bag, he said, coated with reflective material designed to keep out heat. 

Casey was the most severely injured of the group, but two others were also airlifted to the medical center in Fresno and nearly all of them had suffered from smoke inhalation, Smith said. 

Casey suffered second-degree burns on his hands, and the burns on his thighs and lower legs were so severe that doctors feared they would have to amputate his toes. 

Allen’s fiancé, Tina Nott, has launched an online fundraising campaign to assist with the cost of ongoing care now that he has been released. 

“We can’t return to our home in Big Sur at this time due to lack of hospital services which he will need for the next year at a minimum. I am reaching out for help with housing,” Nott wrote on her GoFundMe page. “The day after this horrific incident, I was able to see him in the hospital which was the one and only time he could have a visitor due to Covid-19. The first thing he asked me was, 'Is everyone on my team alright?' Casey and 14 other firefighters had to deploy their shelters and fortunately, everyone else is doing well.”