ANSWERING CALL
ASTON FIREFIGHTER LAUDED FOR RESPONDING. SAVING CRASH VICTIMS WHILE OFF-DUTY IN DEL.
“Knowing a car was flipping, I yelled that while running out of the house. I ran to the corner to see smoke and something laying in the roadway. Not knowing the accident was at least a quarter of a mile away, I ran as fast as I could while trying to dial 911. As I got closer I determined that thing lying in the roadway was a bumper that ended up getting hit by a car as I ran toward the accident.”
— Tom Benson, an Aston Township Fire Department volunteer firefighter
Firefighters often jump into action, even when they are off-duty and without access to tools and equipment.
Tom Benson, an Aston Township Fire Department volunteer firefighter, was getting ready to leave his friend’s house in Prince County when he heard skidding sounds followed by the impact of a crash and continuous banging noises.
“Knowing a car was flipping, I yelled that while running out of the house. I ran to the corner to see smoke and something laying in the roadway,” Benson said. “Not knowing the accident was at least a quarter of a mile away, I ran as fast as I could while trying to dial 911. As I got closer I determined that thing lying in the roadway was a bumper that ended up getting hit by a car as I ran toward the accident.”
The crash involved two vehicles and a motorcycle. He found the first crash victim, wearing a motorcycle helmet, lying on the median strip and not moving. He checked for a pulse and the motorcyclist asked for his girlfriend.
“What I’ve learned from training was to ask questions instead of assuming,” Benson said, adding that he thought the girlfriend
may have been on the motorcycle at the time of the crash.
When asked, the motorcyclist responded that she was in the Jeep. Benson looked up and saw the Jeep in the woods and two people began to self-extricate.
“I promised I would find his girlfriend for him,” Benson said.
He ran to the Jeep and assessed the situation. He told another crash victim, a man with a huge gash in his hand to sit down, take off his T-shirt and use it to apply pressure because he was bleeding uncontrollably. Benson then asked about the whereabouts of the motorcyclist’s girlfriend, which was answered by unknown. He checked another car for potential patients, but no one was in the vehicle.
“Then I saw a body of a young lady lying in the field 150 yards away from the Jeep,” Benson said. Fearing the worst, he ran to the woman and found her unconscious and barely breathing.
The other driver remained onscene with the Delaware State Police. Identifying himself as a firefighter, Benson told the trooper that there were four crash victims accounted for, and one missing. Believing that she too may have been ejected, Benson used the flashlight on his cellphone to search the wooded area for the girlfriend.
At this point other Good Samaritans came up to the crash site and Benson asked two of them to stay with the woman in the woods as he searched for the fifth victim with help from his friend’s mom, Julie Wesley, an off-duty police officer. Another Good Samaritan yelled to them that there was a woman trapped in the jeep.
The three of them began removing the mangled parts of the Jeep that covered and pinned the motorcyclist’s girlfriend under the seat. As Benson checked for her pulse, she regained consciousness. To keep her calm, Wesley stayed with her through the extrication process when the local fire department arrived. Benson returned to the woman in the field and initially held her hand until she became responsive. He then held her C-spine to protect her spinal cord until the first ambulance arrived to continue caring for her. The whole time he talked her through what was happening.
“I tried my best to keep this woman conscious and alert, talking to her about herself and who I was,” Benson said. “I held C-spine and talked to her until both helicopters landed and the victims were transported.”
Benson said everything happened so fast and it was a frantic incident with so many people injured.
“All of my training kicked in to where I was triaging people, trying to figure out who needed the immediate attention,” said Benson, adding that in situations like that, firefighters immediately react to help those in need of the most care.
The crash occurred back in July and Benson said he kept what he did “low-key,” but his fellow firefighters found out about it after he attended a fundraiser Saturday that raised money to help the victims with medical costs. He wanted to meet them and support their benefit. Some of those involved in the crash are still doing physical therapy. During the fundraiser they acknowledged his actions and posted about it on social media.
“To the man who tirelessly searched and never gave up until he was able to find me, check for my pulse, and made sure I was taken out of the vehicle with someone by my side,” the motorcyclist’s girlfriend said on Facebook. She posed in a photo with Benson and continued, “To the man who all five of us will forever be grateful for.”
The Aston Township Fire Department also acknowledged his actions with a Facebook post, crediting him for keeping the patients calm during a chaotic and traumatic event.
“Thank you, Tom, for not only volunteering with us but using your training and knowledge when not in turnout gear. Way to make a huge difference !!!! ” Visit Daily Local News staff writer Ginger Rae Dunbar’s blog about journalism and volunteering as a firefighter at FirefighterGinger.blogspot.com.