At about 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 19, about half a dozen emergency response vehicles raced northward on Highway 17 past the Canadian Carver sirens wailing, lights blazing.
Batchawana Fire and Rescue posted a story about the incident on Facebook recently. That post by Batchawana Fire and Rescue Captain Ian Van Der Swan follows.
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We have angels always watching us
At the lower half of Montreal River Hill on the Trans Canada Highway just North of Twilight Road on Lake Superior a lone younger female tractor-trailer operator suddenly found her world upside down and in complete turmoil.
The operator managed to survive the one hundred foot long connection to the South bound guard rail and then the jolting laws of physics as her truck trailer went turned upside down and went into the deep ravine. Leaving her home on the road completely upside down and only being prevented from falling by the steel mangled guard rail.
Seconds seemed like hours as she tried to get a grip on what just happened. The woman was in the centre of the tractor portion of the trailer, surrounded entirely by twisted cab components and only could barely reach out of her space with a hand.
Jonathan Brooks, a safety environment officer for Andritz Hydro happened to be upon the scene within minutes of the terrible event and immediately reached out to the only human part he could connect with, a human moving hand. He told her everything is going to be ok as he fought to control his internal frustration of being a first responder and not being able to access her. Due to the inability of being able to assess her whole person, he had to just pray that everything was ok. After sizing up everything at the scene, he then immediately reached out to 911 and started the life saving response.
Batchawana Fire and Rescue personal were all in area, caring on with Summer activities of being on the water, enjoying a nice meal and running a business. The tones of a alarm hit the air waves and the small volunteer fire department sprang to action. As the clock ticked, many people from different emergency agencies all played a part in making sure that Mr. Brooks got the help he needed as fast as possible. OPP, Sault Ste Marie Ambulance Service and Wawa Fire Rescue were converging on his location.
All of Batchawana trucks were now in en route up the twisty national highway along Lake Superior to hopefully make a difference in her life. Being 45 miles North of Sault Ste Marie, they arrived first on scene with jaws of life auto extrication equipment. The fire chief and fire fighters quickly assessed the plan for gaining access to her and started removing components of the tractor. It seemed like an impossible task, to move so much metal. One item at a time was carefully cut away to start to free up her limbs.
Sault Ste Marie Ambulance arrives and backs in close to the inverted truck and prepares to receive patient into their care. Minutes seem like hours as fire fighters finally cut away enough steel to access her for extrication. The golden hour of life after a trauma event has long gone and first responders struggle to wait. Traffic travelling through this busy tourism corridor is backed up for miles in both directions.
The EMS team then slides a back board into the hole of the truck and inch by inch, pull the driver out.
Wawa Fire Rescue arrives to provide Heavy Extrication assistance, thankfully they were not needed.
Sault Ste Marie paramedics and Batchawana fire fighters carry her on the back board to a waiting stretcher and bring her to the ambulance for transport to Sault Ste Marie.
Mr. Brooks had delivered his promise to that lone truck driver that everything will be ok. Angels had made sure that the proper life saving personal and equipment were ready to respond.
This story goes out to Batchawana Fire and Rescue, Wawa Fire and Rescue, Sault Ste Marie Ambulance Service and Ontario Provincial Police. Especially to Mr. Jonathan Brooks for his unselfish and compassionate actions that made a difference in such a rural area of Algoma district of Ontario.
Written by,
Ian Van Der Swan
Captain - Batchawana Fire and Rescue
View the original post, here
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