Woman saved seconds before car explodes

CLIO FRANCIS

As flames threatened to engulf the wrecked car where a woman lay trapped and conscious, paramedic Wayne Stevens knew time was running out.

"I could just never have forgiven myself if I'd watched that woman burn to death. It would have been unforgettably terrible," he said yesterday.

With a final burst of adrenaline, he and his partner Geoff Proctor dragged the woman from the smoke-filled car just seconds before it erupted into a fireball early Saturday morning on the Hutt motorway.

By day Mr Stevens is a senior analyst at the Treasury but every Friday night, from 6pm to 7am, he is a volunteer paramedic for Wellington Free Ambulance.

He and Mr Proctor had been transferring a patient from Hutt Hospital to Wellington Hospital when they came across the accident just after 2am.

"We had an intensive care passenger on board – she was in quite a sick state. We noticed there had been a car accident in the other lane. Obviously the car had hit the median barrier in the fast lane."

They pulled the ambulance over and jumped the median barrier. "When we got there, the car was on fire, there were flames and we could see petrol."

The only occupant, a Polynesian woman in her 40s, was conscious and trapped in the driver's seat.

"Her legs were pinned under the steering wheel. It was hard to breathe and see, there was just so much smoke. You could see an orange glow through the bottom of the car."

Frantically they tried to free the woman, but she was wedged in her seat.

Finally, with Mr Proctor pulling the woman, Mr Stevens gave the steering wheel "one hell of a shove".

"I don't know where the strength came from – I was running on adrenaline. But it moved and we were able to pull her out through the passenger door.

"We knew that the car could just explode at any moment. There was a prospect she would have burned in front of us, we were just so damn determined to not let her die there. I'm just so glad she's alive, eh."

Mr Proctor said they acted on auto-pilot. "We were just acutely aware of the urgency required to get things done quickly."

Seconds after they pulled the woman free, the car was engulfed in flames.

A father of three young children, Mr Stevens said he hoped he would survive as he struggled to free the woman.

"There was every chance it could have gone up when we were in there. I just wanted to be alive for my kids. We were lucky someone was looking after us that day."

The woman was later transferred to Hutt Hospital with minor facial injuries before being discharged. Mr Stevens and Mr Proctor continued their shift.

"We had to apologise to the next few patients about the smell of smoke."

Acting Wellington area commander Detective Inspector Stephen Vaughan praised the actions of the men whose "quick thinking and bravery" had saved the woman's life.

Police would contact Wellington Free Ambulance today to extend their thanks formally, he said.

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