Great rescue stories of 2018: How fireys and paramedics saved lives
From fireys rescuing a disabled boy from certain electrocution, to paramedics bringing a much-loved grandfather back to life, here are some of the stories of the men and women who save lives for a living — turning tragedy into triumph.
NSW
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They are the people who have made this Christmas very special for the ones they rescued. The men and women who save lives for a living — turning tragedy into triumph.
From fireys rescuing a disabled boy from certain electrocution, to paramedics bringing a much-loved grandfather back to life to volunteers saving the house of another volunteer. And the dad who trusted his instincts to find his missing son and the surfer who risked his own life to save a teenage boy. They are the great NSW rescues of 2018.
Today we bring these heroes together with those they rescued to celebrate happy outcomes and show gratitude for the remarkable turn of events that ensured a happy 2018.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, EVERY DAY
It was a rescue that firefighters had never trained for because nobody thought it was possible but, when the impossible happened, the team swung into action to save a boy’s life.
A non-verbal, severely autistic 14-year-old boy had climbed a power pole and was perched on the top with live wires above and below him.
Sutherland Station Officer Kieran Taylor and his team had never trained for such a scenario.
“It was impossible to fathom how he could get in that situation and still be alive,” Mr Taylor said.
“He had four lines of 415 volts above and below him and he was holding to the metal pole. All, he had to do was touch one power line and his head and hands were just centimetres away.”
Staff from the Minerva School across the road, where Mark Teuma was a student, piled pillows and cushions under the pole in case he fell but communicating to a disabled boy the dangers and absolute need to stay still was tricky.
“The thing was getting him to stay still, he had no verbal skills, so our first action was to get the teacher from his school who had a good rapport to get him to stay still with signage,” Mr Taylor said.
The power had to be shut down and a cherry picker was required to safety bring Mark down.
“Getting the power shut off with Ausgrid, that process took an hour and 15 minutes, it had to be isolated in two points and the whole time he was just centimetres from being electrocuted.”
Looking on for the longest hour of her life was Mark’s distraught mother Silvana Ristevski.
“He does not have fear and he loves climbing, I don’t mind him climbing trees, but power poles, that scared me. What made him do it I have no idea,” Ms Ristevski said.
After 90 minutes, Mark was safe on the ground.
“For me and my crew it was one of the most precarious rescues totally left of field. In training no one would think of something like that, it was so high risk, the climb, the live wires, the child can’t communicate, all those factors and it turned out amazing,” Mr Taylor said.
When Mark Teuma met his rescuers for this Christmas reunion, he shook everyone’s hand — and then climbed on top of the fire truck to remind them of the hair-raising incident in August.
Ms Ristevski is grateful she has her boy home for Christmas even if Mark is blissfully unaware of how close he came to losing his life.
“They were very fast and didn’t muck around and they saved his life,” the grateful mum said.
TEEN TRAPPED FOR 30 HOURS
When Samuel Lethbridge didn’t show up at a friend’s place as expected, his family knew something must be very wrong.
The 17-year-old wouldn’t have gone missing without a word, so parents Lee and Tony knew they had to do something.
“When we didn’t hear from him that day we sat in the lounge room with his friends and pieced together where he had been and who he was with. The only logical explanation was that he’d had an accident and was trapped, or, well, you stop yourself thinking the worst,” Mrs Lethbridge said.
Mr Lethbridge remembered a car accident several years earlier where a neighbour had crashed off an embankment at nearby Crangan Bay and died before anyone found him.
“No-one found him for six days and he was dead. I just had this feeling and thought the quickest way to find Sam was to hire a helicopter so I went to Skyline Aviation and said: ‘I’ve got $1000, I need to find my son’,” Mr Lethbridge said.
Mr Lethbridge’s brother went up in the chopper and found Sam’s car in the same spot where the neighbour had died. .
It had rolled 20 metres down the embankment on the Pacific Highway in Crangan Bay. He had been there, trapped and badly injured for 28 hours before he was spotted by the chopper.
Belmont Fire and Rescue Station Officer Allen Jenkins was first on the scene with his team and feared the teen would not make it.
“We expected the worst,” he said
“He was severely injured, he had become part of the car, his arm and leg had become entangled in the door.
“It was a very difficult extraction as we had to take the car apart around him and as soon as we let pressure off he would start bleeding and the paramedics had to step in.”
Samuel had bleeding on the brain, his femur had snapped and broke through the skin as had his elbow.
“It was a miracle we found him and a miracle he survived,” Mr Lethbridge said.
Samuel, who has no memory of the incident, is on the mend and met with his saviours last week at the Belmont Station and showed off the scars from 13 operations.
“This is the first time I’ve come here and I’d like to thank Allen and the team, and my dad for having the foresight to get the chopper, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Samuel said.
“It was really nice to meet him,” Mr Jenkins said.
“To have a good outcome and see him doing so well, it doesn’t happen very often, it’s very rewarding.”
Samuel’s parents were happy he was able to be reunited with his rescuers.
“These guys never see the other end, but for them to see him as he is now is just amazing,” Mr Lethbridge said.
“It would have been a totally different year for us, we are so grateful and it will be a very nice Christmas,” Mrs Lethbridge said.
GRANDAD REVIVED AFTER HEART ATTACK
Mick Lukins was taking out rubbish for a council clean-up when he collapsed in his driveway with a cardiac arrest earlier this month.
He did not know it but he had just a three minute window between life and death.
Luckily his son-in-law Moussa Namini, who was helping with the clean-up, was trained in first aid and immediately started CPR.
“His lips and cheeks were blue, I dialled triple-0 and started CPR,” the 31-year-old said.
Paramedic Inspector Jordan Emery said the “planets aligned that day” to save Mr Lukins.
“You are talking a three minute window where permanent brain damage sets in,” Insp Jordan said.
“Time is everything and so is early CPR which the family commenced.
“And we had an ambulance just around the corner.”
The odds of survival are low for cardiac arrest — only one in 10 will pull through.
“I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it was two weeks from Christmas and his whole family was at the scene, wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchild and it is so incredibly rewarding because the statistics are not great,” Insp Emery said.
“To have Mick with his family this Christmas is incredible.”
Mr Lukins, still recovering in St George Hospital, has no memory of the incident.
“Apparently I was hit four times with the defibrillator to get my heart back in rhythm,” Mr Lukin said.
At their bedside reunion, Mr Lukin was almost lost for words.
“I’m so lucky, what can I say?’ he said.
“I have a beautiful grandson and I know get to watch him grow up.
“It was his father that worked on me but I am so grateful to the paramedics that I get to celebrate another Christmas.”
ORDINARY BLOKE SAVES DROWNING KID
Accidental hero saves drowning boy. October 22, 2018 Soldiers Beach, Central Coast
Caleb Wright has a new tattoo on his arm bearing the initials of Matt Syron, the surfer who pulled him out of ocean unconscious on October 22.
Caleb, 17, had not intended to take a swim at Soldiers Beach that day, but his friend jumped in and immediately got stuck in a rip. He jumped in after her and after pushing her to the rocks, he got caught in the same rip.
“I just jumped in after her and the rip was pulling us both out so I pushed her towards the rocks and then I got pushed out by the rip and then I blacked out. I just remember going under and it was all black from there,” he said.
Surfer Matt Syron had just finished a surf with his two young sons when he heard screams and immediately ran to the rocks. Witnesses said there was a boy on the bottom and the 37-year-old concreter from Noraville jumped in without a second thought.
“I couldn’t see him, but people were pointing to where he went under and I just swam to the bottom and found him, I grabbed him and dragged him up and he was out and foaming at the mouth,” Mr Syron said.
“I started to get in a bit of trouble myself then and my friend Ryan Eldridge jumped in with his board and we got him on the board and started CPR.”
With the help of surf life savers, Caleb was resuscitated without any long term damage.
“I’ve learnt to appreciate life, it can be over in an instant. My family and me, were pretty happy and I see this as a second chance at life and I want to join surf lifesaving now,” Caleb said.
“And I’ve got Matt and Ryan’s initials on my arm, they saved me.”
FIRE EMERGENCY
SES volunteer Michelle De Friskbrom was helping the Rural Fire Service as the Bega Valley fire roared out of control — when the fire turned on her property.
While husband Todd and two daughters stayed on the family’s 100 hectare property at Numbugga, she was helping evacuate people from Brogo dam.
By the time she got back to Bega about 1pm on September 15, it was to hear the massive fire, fanned by wind gusts of up to 100km/h, was heading straight for her home.
“My husband rang and said the fire was at our perimeter and the rural fire service was on its way,” the 48-year-old said.
Other SES members evacuated her girls and Rural Fire Service volunteer Mark Ayliffe and his crew arrived to help Michelle and Todd defend the home.
“The fire came very close,” Mr Ayliffe said.
“It had a four or five metre flame height and all we could do was steer the fire around her house, all you can do is knock it back because you are fighting something that you can’t control.”
The pictures Michelle took show just how close they came to losing the house.
“It came within metres of the house,” Mrs De Friskbrom said.
“We don’t know how long we fought but it was about 1am when the RFS crew left.
“Our house would not be here for Christmas if not for them. You can’t imagine how appreciative myself and my family are of the RFS and my fellow Bega SES members.”
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