It was a typical day for site foreman Chris Goetze and contractor Larry Brown, who were working on an underground plumbing project in Ventura County, when a piece of broken machinery caused an accident, and life was suddenly in the balance.
A sharp piece of equipment had completely severed an artery in Brown's elbow, and he was quickly bleeding out.
Brown told KNX Heroes host Heather Jordan, "I knew that I needed to get somebody there or else I was not going to be in good shape," so he immediately called Goetze on the phone for help.
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"I couldn't see him from where I was, but it's gut feeling something's wrong," Goetze recalled.
Goetze dropped everything and got there as fast as he could with a rope from his truck that his late wife insisted he keep with him.
Goetze used that road to tie a tourniquet around his coworker's arm, twisting it as hard as he could while sticking his thumb in the damaged artery.
"He's kind of trying to tough it out and say 'Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine.' I was fearful that I wasn't going to get him past waiting for the ambulance," Goetze said.
"He's kind of trying to tough it out and say 'Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine.' I was fearful that I wasn't going to get him past waiting for the ambulance," Goetze said.
Firefighters and paramedics from Ventura County Station 45 arrived at the remote location within minutes and made it very clear Brown would not have made it if Goetze hadn't worked so hard; he was bleeding out too much.
His quick thinking and determination to save his friend makes Chris Goetze our KNX Hero of the Week.
Chris Goetze
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