Fire Extinguisher
So there I was, riding the bike, on the way to my day job. It's a pleasant, thirty-minute
putt up US-1; a nice way to start the day, even if the final destination is a jay-oh-bee. I was fixin' to pull in the driveway and I was thinking about the cool sound my new pipes make when I back off the throttle when I heard a huge bang
ahead. I looked up from the middle of my turn, just in time to see a full-sized pickup truck flipping through the air about fifty feet in front of me. I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing, as the truck miraculously landed on its
wheels in the median. I looked over my shoulder and pulled back onto US-1, up the short distance to the scene of the accident. As I ran over to the steaming, leaking truck, I was surprised to see that it was still running, in a sputtering,
grinding sort of way. The man behind the steering wheel was in rough shape and the entire driver's side of his truck was crushed. By that time, someone else had arrived on the scene and together, we tried to force the door of the truck open to
see if we could get that guy out of there before the leaking fuel ignited. The engine finally quit running as we pulled on that door with everything we had. It wasn't going anywhere. After reaching in through the shattered window and cutting
the seatbelt loose, I ran over to the passenger side, to see if there was a way to get him out from there. It was right about that time I looked up to see the other vehicle in the accident. The only thing you could tell was that it was a car,
and at one time it had been blue. It too was leaking badly and still trying to run. There was a group of people trying to open the driver's side door when flames erupted from under the hood. As people were desperately trying to throw dirt,
towels, anything they could find to put out the flames, I heard someone yelling, "Does anyone have a fire extinguisher??" No one responded and the flames were getting bigger. Like the truck, there was absolutely no way to open the door of the
car, despite the frantic efforts of at least five guys. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, someone showed up with a fire extinguisher. Carefully, with well aimed, short bursts of the extinguisher, this guy put the flames out. As more
people arrived, we learned that two of them were nurses, attending to the two victims and I heard at least one other person say he was an off-duty firefighter. Not long after, the emergency vehicles arrived and took over the scene. I learned
later that both drivers had to be cut from their vehicles with the Jaws of Life and were airlifted to different hospitals. So, why am I telling you about this? For two reasons, really. One, I wanted to relay a story about regular people,
pitching in during an emergency. Everyone on that scene worked as hard as they could to help those drivers and that was something special. It makes you realize that people really do care. It's a good lesson to learn, under difficult
circumstances. Two, I'd like to ask you all to consider carrying a fire extinguisher in your vehicle. (Yes, you can get a small one for your saddle bags.) Hopefully, you'll never need to use it, but if you do, you might just save someone's
life. Think about it, please.
