December 2007
A Babe from the Wreckage
I have carried a Leatherman tool for around 15 years now and it has proved to be a "lifesaver" at times. You see, I’m a firefighter/paramedic. I have worked for a rural EMS service full time for almost 11 years now. One summer evening we were dispatched to the outer edge of our county for a motor vehicle accident.
On arrival, we found a car that had gone over a very steep embankment, approximately 50-60 feet, and had landed on and crushed the top of the vehicle down almost even with the body of the car. There was no way to gain access to the vehicle without heavy rescue equipment, which was on its way but was still about 15 min out. There were 3 occupants in the vehicle including a 6 month old girl in a car seat at the passenger side door.
She was hurt badly and unresponsive on my arrival. With the car seat wrapped around her and the top crushed down there was only about a 10 inch square space that I could get into. The only equipment I had with me was on my side, my Leatherman Wave. I used the saw attachment and just within about 60 seconds I had cut through the plastic arm of the car seat and brought this baby out of the vehicle and air lifted her to the nearest trauma center.
Without my Leatherman I would have had to wait another 10-15 minutes on our rescue truck to extricate this child which could have been the deciding factor between life and death. I got to see her about 6 months later after she had made almost a full recovery. I have since upgraded from the Wave to the Charge TI. When on duty, or any other time, my Leatherman never leaves my side.
Brian H.
Shade Valley, TN
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.