He suffered burns to over 90 per cent of his body and was given a five per cent chance of survival.
Those burns left him disfigured and most likely will shorten his life expectancy.
But given the chance, Spencer Beach says he wouldn't change a thing.
A native of Edmonton, Beach was in Estevan Thursday for the Sanjel Safety Fair at Affinity Place. Before a crowd of roughly 50 people, he told the powerful and harrowing story of his workplace accident in 2003 and the following 10 years.
"I've been to hell and back. I've survived something that most people fear the most, and because of that, today I have a story that you will never forget," Beach said.
Now a motivational speaker with a focus on safety awareness and education, Beach was working as a flooring installer at an Edmonton home on April 24, 2003. Despite the fact his employer was charged for 12 violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act as a result of the fire, Beach focused more on the choices he made and how those choices irrevocably changed his life and the lives of his family and friends.
Describing it as a day like any other, Beach said his task was to remove a linoleum floor. However, instead of employing the manual removal method, Beach used a chemical process developed by his employer where he poured a solution over the floor, which loosened up the glue and allowed him to remove the linoleum in just a few hours. Although quicker, the process was much less safe due to the chemical.
Beach recalled it was around 4 o'clock that day and he had begun looking forward to getting home to plan his friend's bachelor party. The rush to get home led to shortcuts such as not re-opening doors on the house to provide proper ventilation.
"I had just a few more square feet of linoleum left to remove right in front of the front door. In order for me to do this more effectively I actually closed the front door. Then the air currents closed the garage door on me again, and this time I didn't bother to get up and re-open that door. After all what could possibly happen to me in the next 15 minutes?"
Beach said as the day wore down, there were just him and another tradesman in the house. The other worker had just left the home when Beach said he heard a loud whistle. Before he could he react, his entire body was engulfed in flames.
"The fire was so thick that I couldn't see through it as the flames danced all around me," he said. "It was everywhere - floor to ceiling, wall to wall - and I was in the middle of it."
Acting purely on instinct, Beach said he jumped up and ran for the front door and pulled on the handle. When he couldn't budge the front door because of the pressure difference in the house, he ran down a hallway and into the laundry room where the garage door was located.
"In the few short moments it took me to run down an eight-foot hallway, I could already feel, smell and hear all of my hair burning off my head."
Beach said he grabbed onto the handle of the garage door and, much like the front door, could not move it even the slightest. He let go of the handle and ran back to the front door.
Again, nothing.
"By now I could feel all of the clothes burning and melting to my body. The skin on my face literally felt like it was shrinking as it melted to my skull.
"At this point it became very apparent that I was trapped and going to die."
With what little energy he had left, Beach ran back to the laundry room and grabbed on to the door handle again.
Much like before, the door would not budge.
Beach said it was this point he gave up. He dropped to the floor, curled up in a ball and prepared to die.
"As I huddled there in a ball, alone, bald, naked, tormented beyond belief and now, physically on fire, time slowed down. Everything became peaceful. It's the eeriest feeling, those moments just before death. Everything was so calm."
While lying on the floor Beach said he began to think. He couldn't believe that just 20 seconds earlier he was getting ready to leave. He thought of his wife Tina who, at the time, was four months pregnant.
Beach said he was wracked with guilt as he thought about the burden he was placing upon and the fact he wouldn't be there for his daughter as she grew up.
"To be quite honest with you, at that point I realized just how much I have worth protecting. At the exact same moment, I realized just how much I failed to protect."
It was then that Beach says God gave him the strength to rise up, grab hold of the door and pull until he finally got it open. Seeing daylight he dove out the door and fell five feet into a pile of garbage. On the top of the pile was the chemical soaked linoleum that he had just removed from inside the house.
"My body was the match that lit the second fire."
Beach said even though he started another blaze he still had enough left in him to run out of the garage and onto the driveway where he collapsed.
That was the last time he would ever run. In fact, that was the last time Beach would do much of anything for the next couple of years.
He was transported to the University of Alberta Burn Unit which fortunately for him is one of the best in Canada. Doctors at the unit gave him a five per cent chance of survival and informed him that the fire, which he noted had gotten as hot as 1500 degrees Celsius, left him with third and fourth degree burns over 90 per cent of his body.
Beach said his recovery was every bit as grueling as one might expect and at one point he was in such incredible pain that a doctor gave him the option to live or die. A few months later he said he wanted everything to end because he simply couldn't see a way through the pain and anger he was dealing with.
Remarkably, he made it through and said now, some 10 years later, he is mostly pain free. Still, he admitted the guilt of how his accident impacted others remains something that follows him every day.
"The one pain that still gets me is knowing that I changed my daughters' life before she was ever born, it was watching my middle brother turn into an alcoholic and it was knowing and watching and praying when my wife hit depression five years later because it finally caught up with her."
Beach said the worst part of his accident and the resulting injuries is that it was all preventable.
That knowledge has prompted him to become an advocate for safety. He passed on six steps to staying injury and accident-free at work and at home.
Be aware. Beach said with today's get-it-done mentality, people often forget to survey their situation and observe any possible hazards they might encounter. He also encouraged the audience to step up if they see something that isn't safe or might become a hazard.
Take the time to be safe.
Use personal protective equipment. Continuing on with the theme that most accidents are preventable, Beach said so many accidents happen because people did not use their personal protective devices. Citing his own case, Beach said one of the biggest regrets involving his accident was he didn't wear his leather gloves and because of that his hands have been severely disabled.
"These hands used to be so skilled that they used to get paid to fix other qualified installers' mistakes," he said. "Now I struggle to tie my shoes. I can't even do up the buttons on my shirt without a special tool, and I will never be able to play ball with my daughter."
Don't gamble when it comes to your health and safety.
"When you gamble with that, you are playing for keeps."
Realize it can happen to you, and you are not invincible.
"The number one thing I have learned is that safety preserves your life just the way you like. My life didn't need to change, just my attitude did."
Pass safety down to children and be a good example. Beach said over the years many companies have taken a much more serious approach to safety and the reason they did is changing attitudes in society. He feels if parents take that same approach in their lives, it will instill much-needed lessons in their children.
Beach closed by talking about his life now, 10 years post-accident. He and his wife, who separated for two years, are back together and have a four-year-old son.
He continues to deal with the after-effects of his accident and expects to undergo his 38th surgery within the next year or so. Infections also remain a major concern; so much so that he said it will likely be infections that end his life. He also has permanent lung damage that will require constant attention.
However, in the face of all he deals with daily, Beach said he will remain a voice for safety and hopes that his story might help others from a similar situation.
"My definition of safety is quite simply this: protect yourself adequately, at home, at play, at work and while driving so that you have a long, rich, joyous, prosperous life. That is my definition of safety, I hope it becomes yours."
Aside from Beach's speech, the fair included a number of booths from groups such as the Estevan Police Service and the Sun Country Health Region. A number of events for children were also included.
