Duane Hicks
Christmas is a season for gratitude–and two local women are eternally grateful to four local firefighters for rescuing them following a single-vehicle accident earlier this fall.
Melinda Grumm and Dana Fowler met with full-time firefighters Dave Crichton, Doug Wright, and Gavin Payne of the Fort Frances Fire & Rescue Service, along with local volunteer firefighter Real DeGagne, last Thursday evening at the fire hall to say thanks and find out more about what happened during the traumatic incident.
The pair were headed back to Fort Frances from Thunder Bay on Oct. 8 when Grumm lost control of the car on Highway 11 near Turtle River Road.
The vehicle went off the road, hit a rock, and flipped over onto its roof in a ditch. It then slid for a distance until hitting a second rock, which brought the vehicle to a halt.
Fowler, who was sleeping when the accident occurred, remembers being awakened by the crash and then taking off her seatbelt and getting out of the passenger seat with little trouble.
But Grumm was pinned upside-down on the driver’s side of the vehicle–her head pressed against gravel outside the car.
Within a half-hour, emergency personnel arrived, including Crichton, Wright, Payne, and DeGagne.
“I didn’t think there was any survivors, to be honest,” DeGagne said of his first impression of the accident scene.
“I was surprised when I looked in and you were alive,” Payne added, speaking to Grumm.
“I felt like I was in the back seat with my feet in the front–this leg over here, this leg over there,” she recalled.
“I felt like I was minutes from death,” she later added. “I can’t believe I’m alive.”
Wright noted the team utilized pretty much all of the tools they had at their disposal, including the “Jaws of Life,” a hydraulic combination tool, heavy hydraulic cutters, hydraulic rams, and stabilizing struts to get Grumm out of the vehicle.
The crew had to push the steering column out of the way and then cut the steering wheel apart to free one of her legs that was trapped, as well as remove the backs of the seats to pull Grumm out of passenger side of the vehicle.
The driver’s side was crushed.
They also removed several of the car doors and even cut a hole through the floor of the vehicle at one point to see if it was possible to get her out that way.
All in all, they spent about 30 minutes working on the vehicle.
“It was tricky,” Crichton remembered.
“We couldn’t believe how well you kept your composure,” Wright said to Grumm.
“There were some moments when we tried to do certain things, and you wanted to know what was going on,” he added.
“You were talking to us and helping us.”
Wright explained firefighters train using a variety of scenarios, including the extrication of test dummies from cars, but it would be tough to re-enact this particular extrication.
“We will probably never see that again,” he remarked.
“You can train for different things but every one is going to be different, right?” echoed Payne. “And that was a unique situation.”
“You taxed our minds,” Wright said to the pair. “It was like, ‘Okay guys. Now what? Let’s try this.’
“We train as a team, we work as a team,” he added.
“I’ve seen it on TV but I never would have believed it happened to me,” Grumm said of the experience.
Once extricated from the wreck, Grumm was taken to La Verendrye Hospital and remained there for about a day.
She still suffers severe pain in her back, collarbone, and leg, and is shaken up about the incident. She has not slept well since.
Groom’s dog, a chihuahua-pug mix named “Bella,” also was in the accident but ran away after the collision.
Fortunately, she was found safe and sound several days later but still is shaken up by the experience as well.
One individual told Grumm they saw “Bella” and a white timber wolf both dining on a moose carcass, noted Grumm.
Grumm said she was not sure how she could thank the firefighters who saved her.
But Wright mentioned that her dropping by was thanks enough.
“A lot of times we go places, and we help people and then they go into an ambulance,” he noted. “And you always wonder, ‘Whatever happened with that person? How did they end up?'”
“That happens too much,” agreed Payne. “You’re always wondering what happened to people . . . I’m glad you’re still with us.”
“Thank you for being there and getting me out of there,” said Grumm.
“No problem. That’s what we do,” replied Payne.
“We’re glad you’re up and walking,” added Wright. “Unfortunately, you’ve got some ailments but with time [you should get better].”
Grumm said the whole incident demonstrates the value of firefighters here and everywhere.
“They’re more needed than anything in the world,” she stressed.
“They’re our heroes. What are you going to do without them?
“I’m thankful from the bottom of my heart that they do what they do,” she added.
Grumm also said her rescue demonstrates why it is vital firefighters have the time and opportunities to train and practice rescue scenarios, and the government in general should “give a little more credit to the firefighters all over.”
More specifically, she gave the town a “thumbs down” for reducing fire department staffing over the past 12 years.
“I am not happy about that,” Grumm remarked. “So let’s hope that things can change for these guys.”
As reported last month, Wright, Crichton, Payne, and DeGagne were awarded the world-renowned Green Cross Award, which acknowledged them for this successful rescue using Hurst “Jaws Of Life” rescue tools.
