Crash fire hero ‘just looking after truck friends’
Published: October 30, 2007
New Zealand — Fire hero Ted Collins says he was doing what came naturally when he pulled a driver from a crashed truck moments before it burst into flames yesterday.
Truck driver Mr Collins was on State Highway 1 just north of Hamilton yesterday when a truck in front of his and a tanker carrying 33,000 litres of diesel collided.
Mr Collins leapt from his cab and ran to help the other drivers.
“I did what I could to save somebody, it’s a natural instinct,” Mr Collins told the New Zealand Herald.
However, firefighters said his actions were heroic.
“It’s fantastic. If he hadn’t done that, it may have had some dire consequences. It’s pretty heroic really,” said Hamilton senior fire station officer Daryl Trim.
Mr Collins said he did not think about what he was doing.
“I just knew one of my truck friends could be dead or dying. It was a fuel tanker and I thought ‘I’ve just got to get there quickly’.”
Mr Collins helped the dazed driver get out of the truck cab but said his worst fears were that the driver of the fuel tanker had died.
“His truck was ablaze and it was blocking the road, there was no way I could get to him.
“That was the thing that was worrying me. I thought the other guy had gone, it was a hell of a blaze.”
Mr Collins helped the injured man to the side of the road, away from the fire.
“He was slightly out of it, a bit hurt. We sat down for a few minutes then some big bangs hit.
“I could see fuel going into the drains at the edge of the road and thought it (the fire) might get to us, so we had to move along another 50 yards or so.”
The tanker driver, 28, escaped from his cab on the other side of the blaze with minor injuries.
Both drivers were taken to Waikato Hospital. The tanker driver was discharged, but the truck driver was admitted with moderate injuries.
Firefighters waited until foam arrived from Hamilton before they seriously tackled the fire, saying it was no threat to any person or property and there was no point in risking firefighters’ lives.
The fire burned for some time, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky which could be seen for several kilometres.
The trucks crashed when the fuel tanker jackknifed and rolled, leaving the other driver, 51, little time to stop or avoid it.
The crashed blocked both lanes of SH1 for most of the day as firefighters fought the fire, cleaned away wreckage and repair crews worked on the road surface.
The fire sent clouds of smoke skywards and created an intense heat, up to 1000degC
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: