We have angels always watching us

Wawa-news has been to many collisions but has to stand aside and out of the way to capture the scene of emergency services doing their job. There is no time to ask what is happening, the Golden Hour is way too short, and they are busy. The photographs document their efforts – but not the story.

The Captain of Batchawana Fire & Rescue, Ian Van Der Swan wrote this and shared on their Facebook page. It is well worth a read for all who are not on Facebook.

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19 July 2018 7:44 PM

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 southbound guardrail 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 guardrail.

 

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 & Rescue personnel were all in the area, carrying on with summer activities of being on the water, enjoying a nice meal and running a business. The tones of an alarm hit the airwaves and the small volunteer fire department sprang into 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 the scene with jaws of life auto extrication equipment. The fire chief and firefighters 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 the patient into their care. Minutes seem like hours as firefighters 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 backboard 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 firefighters carry her on the backboard 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 & Rescue, Wawa Fire & 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.

 

Thank you to the local people who responded first and dealt with getting the scene safe and going above and beyond. The staff at Twilight Resort took charge of the scene and kept it safe. Well done!