Innisfil’s Fire Station 4 in Cookstown was called out to a collision on Highway 400 just north of 89 on June 13 of this year. The volunteer firefighters knew they were responding to a two-vehicle collision. They didn’t know how bad it would be.
They arrived to find that a northbound Ford Windstar minivan had run into the back of a construction vehicle, stopped at the side of the road. While the driver’s side of the minivan was largely intact, the passenger side was crushed and mangled.
Andrew Gauci had been in the front passenger seat.
As Innisfil Fire Capt. Jason Braida arrived to take charge, and then full-time firefighters of Platoon B (Darren Hofland, Curtis Goodfellow and Marc McCallum) came on the scene within seconds, they found Police and paramedics already there.
“When we arrived on scene, the van was on its side. Andrew, the victim, his legs were pinned underneath,” Braida said. “We had to stabilize the vehicle. Once the vehicle was stabilized, we used the spreader to lift the van.”
Only then could Gauci be pulled free. A fuel tank had been ruptured in the collision. “We were basically doing this in a pool of gasoline,” said Braida.
Gauci, his legs badly crushed and suffering internal injuries, was rushed to a Toronto trauma centre by ambulance.
In most collisions, that would have been the end of the story for Innisfil Fire and Rescue. As Deputy Fire Chief Tim McCallum noted, Fire Stations 3 and 4 respond to about 100 calls each year on the 400, but firefighters seldom hear a follow-up.
In fact, said Braida, usually firefighters have only “a sense of satisfaction, that we did a good job… We had done our best.”
This time, not only did the Gauci family thank the firefighters, sharing Andrew’s survival and slow recovery, they also shared the story with Canada Post – which in September had just released a series of stamps honouring first responders.
With Andrew’s letter of support, Canada Post decided to present Station 4 with a special plaque bearing the image of the new stamp. The presentation took place Nov. 26.
Canada Post representatives Laurie Poole and Cookstown postmaster Corinne Mack were joined by local Councillors, Fire Chief Tom Raeburn and Deputy McCallum, volunteer firefighters, and members of the Gauci family – including Andrew.
Still in a wheelchair, having lost a leg in the crash, and still undergoing surgeries and rehabilitation, Gauci wanted to thank his rescuers in person.
“I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them,” Gauci said. “Thank you for the second chance, whoever it was who pulled me out.”
He remembered falling asleep in the front passenger seat. “The next thing I know, my head’s on the asphalt – lots of noise, lots of pain.” The last thing he remembered was hearing a firefighter say, “We’re going to pull him out.” Then he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
“I woke up two weeks later at Sunnybrook,” Andrew said. Both legs were crushed – part of his right leg had to be amputated – and his right arm “was just smashed.” He also suffered serious internal injuries.
Pinned together with metal plates, he has undergone intensive therapy and now has a wider range of movement in his right hand. Although he is still facing more surgeries and rehabilitation, he is upbeat and thanked not only staff at Sunnybrook Hospital and St. John’s Rehabilitation, but also the firefighters who pulled him out of the wreckage.
“I wouldn’t be alive if they hadn’t been there,” he said.
“I feel that I’ve lived a lot more in the last six months than I have in the last six years,” said Andrew, who recently turned 30. “Lots of scars, but I’m happy. I’m just happy to be alive.”
Chief Raeburn thanked Andrew and his family in return for contacting the firefighters.
“A lot of time they respond to calls like yours, and never hear the outcome,” said the Fire Chief. “It’s great for all these folks who work so hard. It’s a good outcome.”
Hofland, Goodfellow and McCallum were unable to attend, but Capt. Braida and Cookstown’s volunteer firefighters were on hand to accept the plaque from Andrew and the Post Office reps.
Cookstown’s fire station is specially equipped to respond to collisions on the 400, with both heavy hydraulics and an easier-to-use electric jaws of life.
“We are the ‘extrication station’,” said Braida. “My guys knew what to do. I just had to say ‘go’.”
This time, he said, “there was a positive outcome. You never know when the pager goes off, but the training takes over.”
