‘I was freaking out’: Volunteer firefighter responds to car crash involving teen brother

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- A local boy is miraculously alive after a car crash sent him to the hospital on Monday night. Riggin Bliss, 17, was on his way home from his summer job when officials say an oncoming driver hit him head-on. Bliss is a volunteer firefighter with Cowlitz-Skamania Fire District 7. His own colleagues, including his brother and the fire chief, responded to the call to help him. "I've got a duty to act. I have to help no matter what the situation is going on," said Bliss's brother Charlie Silvis, 19. Silvis, along with Fire Chief Nick Huesties, responded to the crash about a mile away from their station on Lewis River Road in Ariel, Washington. 'It's very hard when you get a call for a car crash and when you're rolling up, you see a car that you recognize," Huesties said. The two fire officials found that Bliss was trapped in his red truck. "I just started freaking out," Silvis said. "I tried to keep my composure." Washington State Patrol says a vehicle driving north towards the interstate and crossed the center line and hit Bliss's car heading south. Police say the driver, 76-year-old John Jessup, may have been impaired and has been charged with vehicular assault. Huesties says he's responded to many crashes on the road. "The chances of being in a car crash, if you live up here your whole life, is pretty high," he said. Bliss is on the mend, although his recovery will be a long one. Huesties says he has a broken femur, tibia, hip and a bruised carotid and he also bruised his chest. "It's going to be a long time before he's back to work and fully recovered. So anything anybody is willing to do and anytime anybody is willing to volunteer, either their time, their service, their energy, we encourage them to do it in this community," he said. It might be a few months before Bliss is back out there, serving his community. However, his brother says he's just thankful he can still joke around with his little brother. "He's still cracking jokes and making fun and whatnot. And I was telling him, I was like, 'yo, I pulled up to the scene. I was really sad.' He was like, 'oh, come on, you don't have to be a sad loser. You know? I'm going to be just fine.' And we're laughing it off. And he's still in good spirits," said Silvis. A GoFundMe has been created to help with Bliss's medical expenses.