June 2009
You Gotta be Prepared
I was canoeing/kayaking with my grandfather on the Greenbrier River Trail in Pocahontas county West Virginia. After we got back to camp, we prepared dinner and were eating the best baked potatoes of my life. If only I had gotten to eat all of it.
We were sitting in a little picnic shelter (which is where we were staying in Seebert), when we heard a loud crash. We decided to investigate. Immediately behind the camp was a small gravel road, then a small hill, after that, the trail and after that, a mountain with a road at the top. We got over the hill and stood on the trail wondering what it was. We couldn't see anything, but we heard a whirring sound. Upon closer examination, I saw a vehicle on its side about halfway down the mountain. My grandfather went to get help and I went to see what I could do. I got about halfway to the car up the mountain and heard, "Somebody please help me"! I shouted, "Hang on, just stay calm, I'm coming". I couldn't get too close to the car because I could see a small sapling about three inches wide holding the car in place; that was it. I got to her, and there was one woman inside, no one else. She seemed to be in pretty good shape, considering the car had completely flipped and ended up laying on its passenger side. She shifted and all of her weight went to the chest part of her seat belt, via her neck. I asked her if she was okay, but she couldn't talk. I knew it wasn't a good idea to move someone without knowing for sure if they were uninjured, but I knew if I didn't cut the chest belt, which was separated from the lap belt, she would die. I used the serrated blade on my Leatherman Surge to cut the belt and she was okay again.
I kept her calm and held her hands while monitoring her breathing and pulse for about fifteen minutes until rescue got there. They had to brace and tie off the car before they could do anything, but they didn't have a chain or cable. After about five minutes, a guy from Morgantown showed up with a chain. They were going to get her out now. They put a backboard under her and were going to undo the seatbelt, but two of the guys couldn't reach it. They asked her if she could reach it. She couldn't. I offered to cut it (it's not like the car was going anywhere but the scrapyard) and they said that was okay. (The emergency crews). I reached for my Surge, but it wasn't in its sheath. "Great, anybody got a knife? Got a blade?", I said. Out of five guys that were standing beside me, nothing. I asked them if they were serious. I couldn't believe it. I found my tool in my pocket where I had put it in the hurry earlier, and cut it. We finally got her out, got her down the mountain, and she was taken to the hospital. She was released that evening. She was fine. But if I hadn't had my Surge the first time, she would have strangled to death. If I hadn't had it the second time, she would've been in there a while longer or still in there now. Be Prepared. It's the scout motto for a reason.
Jonathan M.
St. Albans, WV
OK, you voyeur, you. Enough of reading other people's stories. It's time you told your own tale of gripping heroism or even just neat DIY'ism. We know there's a Shakespeare in you somewhere. Don't make us use the Steens to find it.