It's been an interesting couple of days.

Sometimes things in this job go in cycles. For instance there hasn't been a serious MVA in my area for months. There have been a number of minor ones, the kind where we show up and calm some people who are upset, direct traffic for the cops, fill out the necessary paperwork and go home. These calls are mundane and not challenging in the least. They're routine, and routine is something to watch out for. When I started on the job an old fella used to say (during slack periods) "The further you are from the last, the closer you are to the next" He has been proven right time and again. The longer its been since the last serious call, the sooner it'll happen.

The night before last we were woken up at 0230 for a "Rescue MVA, rollover" This means it was a motor Vehicle Accident that required rescue. Some do, some don't, when it's specified like that it usually means someone is really trapped, so they page out the rescue rig as well as our apparatus.

When I rolled up on the scene I saw a Dodge Neon upside down in the ditch. Actually all I saw was a twisted ball of metal with wheels upside down in a water-filled ditch. I learned much later what kind of car it had been.

The second thing I saw was the head hanging out of the side window and the two soaked teenagers standing beside the road with a cop, both of them screaming. I ran past them to the one who was hanging out, my rig was almost there and they looked alive so I ignored them. I went to the one hanging out to dee if she was alive. She was, she was moaning and crying, he wrist hung at a bizarre angle and she was soaked.

She kept begging me not to let her die. I looked at the wreckage wrapped around her and wondered what she looked like inside the car, Half of it was imbedded in the bank of the ditch, part of it was underwater, there was just the passenger side exposed and that was mostly crushed. She seemed in pretty good shape though, considering the wreck. They had left the road and cut a swath of destruction over about 50 metres, took out chunks of two hedges and a big piece of a tree. It was obvious they had gone end-over-end a number of times.

It took 45 minutes to free her, the guys had to shore up the car so it wouldn't slip into the ditch, we had to lift it weith rescue air bags, cut part of the roof off, spread some of it with jaws and hydraulic rams, and ended up sliding this 18 year old girl out finally. She was actually very lucky, a broken wrist and bruises. Scared as hell. Maybe she'll be a bit more careful who she rides with in future... but then, maybe not.

The second one was this morning.

we were called to a "pedestrian struck" These are either nothing or horrible. Thay are very very rarely anything in between. Cars and pedestrians don't mix and the pedestrian never ever wins the contest.

When i rolled up this morning, I looked down the street and saw a car parked with a police car beside it, and people all around it. As I got closer I saw a sight that will stay with me forever. The shattered windshield had two legs sticking out of it.

When I got up to the car there was a guy laying inside it, his head was on the passenger seat, his body twisted, he was conscious and talking, making good sense and in very good spirits considering he had just been pasted by a vehicle. He had a compound fracture of his lower right leg, and he was cut in a number of places. He was alive though, and could feel and move everywhere he should. It took us 20 minutes or so to get him out, it was a really interesting rescue, lots of challenges and problems to overcome.

Interesting day, interesting week.

These things come in threes though, and that's two so far.

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