Miraculous survival of boy, 12, crushed by a falling tree in bushfires
Brave Ivan Kovalevskiy is finding his feet again after cheating death six months ago. The 12-year-old was crushed by a falling tree while fighting fires on his family’s south coast property. READ HIS AMAZING STORY
NSW
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Ivan Kovalevskiy was fighting for his life in the back of a helicopter when he saw the New Year’s Eve fireworks sparkling over Sydney Harbour.
The 12-year-old, who was suffering from internal bleeding and a broken back, pelvis, arm and leg, had only made it there because of incredible bravery from ambulance officers — and was only in that situation because of his own amazing courage in the face of the raging bushfire.
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Six months later, Ivan has learned to walk again and doctors from Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick expect him to be running within a year.
But he wouldn’t have got that chance if it weren’t for an ambulance crew willing to drive through walls of flames to get him to an ambulance helicopter that could whisk him to Sydney for lifesaving surgery.
Ivan had been crushed by a fallen tree while dousing spotfires in the immediate aftermath of a fierce inferno that tore across his family’s south coast property.
The small hospital at Milton does not have the diagnostic machinery doctors needed to find Ivan’s internal bleeding — and thick smoke covering the town made it impossible for a helicopter to land.
Paramedics bundled Ivan and his mother, Svetlana Kovalevskiy, 42, into an ambulance and raced north along the Princes Hwy to Nowra behind a NSW Rural Fire Service truck.
“Those ambulance guys were really brave and I would say they saved Ivan’s life,” Ivan’s dad, Val Kovalevskiy, 43, said.
“There were walls of fire on both side of the (Princes) Highway while they drove to Nowra where the helicopter was waiting.”
Earlier that morning, the Kovalevskiy family was prepared to face down bushfires roaring their way from the west but a sudden wind change and complete darkness put paid to their carefully thought-out plans.
When thick smoke began blocking out the sun, Val and Svetlana sheltered their children Ivan and Oleg, 6, in a cabin, before they dressed in fire-resistant woollen clothes, donned face masks and armed themselves with hoses.
Two cars screeched to a halt outside the property — one driven by a mother with her two young sons and the other driven by a man with his dog — all of them petrified and pleading for shelter.
All were ushered into the cabin to wait out the blaze with Ivan and Oleg.
When the inferno hit, Mr Kovalevskiy quickly lost confidence in his ability to keep the flames at bay and worried his whole family would perish.
“I tried to hose the fire but it was so hot, I started drenching myself in water instead and my clothes would dry immediately,” Mr Kovalevskiy said.
“The sound was like a war zone, there were explosions everywhere.
“It was so dark, the smoke was just so thick, I couldn’t see the cabin 30 metres away and that’s when I was really scared for my family.”
Ivan reassured his younger brother and all four strangers they would not die because his parents would save them, before he too joined the firefighting effort.
Ivan held his father’s hose onto a pump to keep water flowing after a fitting buckled, while his parents made the most of brief glimpses of sunshine to extinguish spotfires licking at the cabin.
Once the fire front had passed, Mr Kovalevskiy urged his family to sit tight while he inspected the property for more fires.
“Ivan was so enthusiastic, not scared of anything, and he came after me even though I told him to stay put,” Mr Kovalevskiy said.
“When I head my wife scream, I turned around to see Ivan’s whole body underneath a fallen tree.”
Ivan heard the tree crack above him and tried to bolt, but only managed two steps before he was crushed.
Mr Kovalevskiy hauled the tree off his son, scooped him up and sped to Milton hospital.
Six hours later, the heavily sedated boy woke as the ambulance helicopter descended over hundreds of thousands of revellers ringing in the new year.
“Happy New Year,” the pilot told him.
Ivan’s life is nearly back to normal and he has settled into Year 7 at Smiths Hill High School, and, despite the long and at times scary road to recovery, he would not have done anything differently.
“I helped save the farm and I saved my little brother’s life, as well as the lives of those strangers who depended on us for safety,” Ivan said.
“If I failed, the farm would have been overrun with flames and that would have been it for us.
“I am just lucky I had such kind and supportive doctors.”
To help sick and injured kids like Ivan, donate at goldappeal.org.au
Channel 9 will broadcast a two hour Gold Telethon special on June 8 between 3pm and 5pm, in a bid to raise $1 million for the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.
Originally published as Miraculous survival of boy, 12, crushed by a falling tree in bushfires