Frederick Maryland, 1991
It was a cold clear winter morning, with the sun shining bright in a azure sky. The man driving the pickup was cruising along at the speed limit talking with his daughter about the car they were going to look at for her at a local dealer. He and his wife felt that driving to and from Frostberg State campus and their home in Germantown was a bit much to ask of the aging old Chevy that the girl was driving. The car talk stopped suddenly when a dark blue Nissan flew by them at a very high rate of speed, even for the early morning deserted road.
The road made a sharp turn to the left ahead, where it went under the highway and some moisture had dripped down from the overpass and froze, leaving a patch of ice in the road. No problem under normal driving conditions, but at the speed the Nissan was going it was a disaster. The car hit the ice and spun out like a top, then hitting the dry pavement it rolled a couple of times before comming to rest against the guard rail. Shattered glass and moldings flew in a debris field.
The man slowed to a stop on the shoulder close to the wreck, and he and his daughter ran up to the overturned car. A stocky 30 something woman was still upside down in the drivers seat, held in place by the seat belt. A screaming terrified child was strapped in a car seat on the passenger side. With the windows all blow out by the rolling and partial crumpling of the roof, the man had no trouble crawling partly into the car to see what he could do. He was stopped by his daughter pulling on his jacket.
"Dad, Look!"
The man straitened up and saw the dark smoke comming from the engine compartment and got up to look down past the now upside-down engine. Dull orange flames were licking at the oily crud coating the side of the engine where the battery had been knocked loose from the force of the wreck and had shorted out against something and had started a small fire. Under normal circumstances this would be a minor problem, but with the car upside down after a violent wreck, gasoline was dribling out the tank at the rear, and he could smell it strongly under the hood.
"Jess, run back to the truck and get that bottle of baking soda from in back of the seat and spray it anyplace you see flames. Quick. I got to get them out now!" he told his daughter.
The girl sprinted back to the pickup with the speed that had made her a star on her Lacross team. The man wasted no time while she was doing that and had crawled back into the overturned car. Finding the seat beat release for the car seat the infant was strapped into, he had no trouble getting the child out of the car under the guardrail and out of the way. Then he went back for the woman, who by this time was screaming in panic from the black smoke and smell of gas thick in the air. She was also thrashing around, making things generally harder.
"Shut up and hold still!" the man yelled at her.
While she continued to scream and thrash, the man found the seat beat release and pushed with his thumb. Nothing happened. He pushed with all the strength in his thumb, but her weight hanging on the belt was overpowering or jamming something.
"How ya doin out there Jess?" he called to his daughter.
"It's working dad, it's putting it out." she called back.
"Just use the squirt top, don't unscrew the whole top."
"I did that, dad."
The man turned to the woman he was trying to help.
"Now you see, my daughter has the fire under control, your not going to burn to death, I'm trying to get you out of here, SO SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME DO WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" he yelled at her.
The woman fell silent, and the man dug into his jeans and took out his pocket knife. It was an old well used Buck stockman, and he took out the sheepsfoot blade thinking that when he cut the seat belt the woman was going to fall and he didn't want a pointy blade out. He set the edge of the blade against the nylon webbing down where it went into the hard plastic base and sliced. The first slice went almost through, and the belt was still atached by a tiny bit of webbing. The second cut went right through, and woman fell on her head on the ceiling of the car. A bit of crawling and then they both were out of the car and the woman was rushing to where her child was still in the car seat on the shoulder of the road under the guardrail.
By now distant sirens were comming closer, and he went up to where his daughter was holding a quart size Rubber Maid drink container that was now almost empty of the baking soda that had been in it. Squeezing the bottle and shooting a bit more baking soda on the last of the flames, the man patted his girl on the back and told her she had saved the day. By now the fire-rescue trucks were there and the firemen examined the scene and while the EMT's examined the woman and child the man gave his statements to the state trooper that had pulled up. When he looked back up after speaking with the trooper in his car, a couple young firemen were very absorbed in conversation with his daughter. Prying her loose from the firemen they drove off to continue the car quest at the Toyota dealer.
"Dad, where did you learn about the thing with the baking soda? That was so cool how it put out the fire."
"Well," he replied,"That was one of the things I got from my dad, your granddad. He said there were two kinds of poeple in the world, the prepared and the unprepared. He believed in having a few things around so in an emergency you had some options. Doesn't have to be expensive or high tech, just work when you need it. It's more about having a few simple things and the knowledge to use them, that gives you options."
It was a cold clear winter morning, with the sun shining bright in a azure sky. The man driving the pickup was cruising along at the speed limit talking with his daughter about the car they were going to look at for her at a local dealer. He and his wife felt that driving to and from Frostberg State campus and their home in Germantown was a bit much to ask of the aging old Chevy that the girl was driving. The car talk stopped suddenly when a dark blue Nissan flew by them at a very high rate of speed, even for the early morning deserted road.
The road made a sharp turn to the left ahead, where it went under the highway and some moisture had dripped down from the overpass and froze, leaving a patch of ice in the road. No problem under normal driving conditions, but at the speed the Nissan was going it was a disaster. The car hit the ice and spun out like a top, then hitting the dry pavement it rolled a couple of times before comming to rest against the guard rail. Shattered glass and moldings flew in a debris field.
The man slowed to a stop on the shoulder close to the wreck, and he and his daughter ran up to the overturned car. A stocky 30 something woman was still upside down in the drivers seat, held in place by the seat belt. A screaming terrified child was strapped in a car seat on the passenger side. With the windows all blow out by the rolling and partial crumpling of the roof, the man had no trouble crawling partly into the car to see what he could do. He was stopped by his daughter pulling on his jacket.
"Dad, Look!"
The man straitened up and saw the dark smoke comming from the engine compartment and got up to look down past the now upside-down engine. Dull orange flames were licking at the oily crud coating the side of the engine where the battery had been knocked loose from the force of the wreck and had shorted out against something and had started a small fire. Under normal circumstances this would be a minor problem, but with the car upside down after a violent wreck, gasoline was dribling out the tank at the rear, and he could smell it strongly under the hood.
"Jess, run back to the truck and get that bottle of baking soda from in back of the seat and spray it anyplace you see flames. Quick. I got to get them out now!" he told his daughter.
The girl sprinted back to the pickup with the speed that had made her a star on her Lacross team. The man wasted no time while she was doing that and had crawled back into the overturned car. Finding the seat beat release for the car seat the infant was strapped into, he had no trouble getting the child out of the car under the guardrail and out of the way. Then he went back for the woman, who by this time was screaming in panic from the black smoke and smell of gas thick in the air. She was also thrashing around, making things generally harder.
"Shut up and hold still!" the man yelled at her.
While she continued to scream and thrash, the man found the seat beat release and pushed with his thumb. Nothing happened. He pushed with all the strength in his thumb, but her weight hanging on the belt was overpowering or jamming something.
"How ya doin out there Jess?" he called to his daughter.
"It's working dad, it's putting it out." she called back.
"Just use the squirt top, don't unscrew the whole top."
"I did that, dad."
The man turned to the woman he was trying to help.
"Now you see, my daughter has the fire under control, your not going to burn to death, I'm trying to get you out of here, SO SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME DO WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" he yelled at her.
The woman fell silent, and the man dug into his jeans and took out his pocket knife. It was an old well used Buck stockman, and he took out the sheepsfoot blade thinking that when he cut the seat belt the woman was going to fall and he didn't want a pointy blade out. He set the edge of the blade against the nylon webbing down where it went into the hard plastic base and sliced. The first slice went almost through, and the belt was still atached by a tiny bit of webbing. The second cut went right through, and woman fell on her head on the ceiling of the car. A bit of crawling and then they both were out of the car and the woman was rushing to where her child was still in the car seat on the shoulder of the road under the guardrail.
By now distant sirens were comming closer, and he went up to where his daughter was holding a quart size Rubber Maid drink container that was now almost empty of the baking soda that had been in it. Squeezing the bottle and shooting a bit more baking soda on the last of the flames, the man patted his girl on the back and told her she had saved the day. By now the fire-rescue trucks were there and the firemen examined the scene and while the EMT's examined the woman and child the man gave his statements to the state trooper that had pulled up. When he looked back up after speaking with the trooper in his car, a couple young firemen were very absorbed in conversation with his daughter. Prying her loose from the firemen they drove off to continue the car quest at the Toyota dealer.
"Dad, where did you learn about the thing with the baking soda? That was so cool how it put out the fire."
"Well," he replied,"That was one of the things I got from my dad, your granddad. He said there were two kinds of poeple in the world, the prepared and the unprepared. He believed in having a few things around so in an emergency you had some options. Doesn't have to be expensive or high tech, just work when you need it. It's more about having a few simple things and the knowledge to use them, that gives you options."
