As the Vermilion 380 platform burned Thursday morning and 13 men jumped to safety, a New Iberia man captured the fire from a platform just four miles away from the site.
"I didn't hear an explosion, didn't see an explosion, didn't smell smoke or anything, it was just a black cloud of smoke," said Brandon Hebert in a telephone interview Thursday night.
Hebert and a co-worker noticed fire shortly after arriving offshore for work around 9 a.m. They knew there were men onboard, so they sprang into action.
"We called the Coast Guard by phone and we sent distress signals out by VHF radio," Hebert said.
According to Hebert, the Coast Guard remained on scene well into Thursday night, monitoring hot spots on the Vermilion 380 platform.

Jim Hummel


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