Sylvia's Journal

Yesterday was a very moving day as we went to shake the hands of our rescuers at the Gardner Fire Department. We brought a bushel of coastal (Ipswich) apples, pears and cider donuts to this inland apple territory. We also made a donation to the Gardner Firefighters Benefits Association as a token of our gratitude that does not translate itself well into cash.

Sita and Jim drove us to Gardner, a long but beautiful drive that tested the limits of Axel’s endurance sitting in a car (one and a half hours). When we entered the Fire Station Lieutenant Ares who had led the rescue team was waiting for us with a few of his man. They had invited others, including the chaplain and the firefighters from the neighboring town Templeton. Soon there were about 25 people, including the blueberry pickers who had made the 911 call and tied a shirt around Axel’s bleeding head, a critical first step that may have saved him if not all of us.

We added our apples, pears and donuts to the brownies they had prepared and the coffee and drinks. And then the story telling began; sometimes in small groups and sometimes all of us standing in a big circle; the small and the big stories; the fright; the reaction of the children. One couple brought their children to show them what mom (EMT) and Dad (firefighter) do for a living. The Chief showed us pictures of the wreck after we had been extricated and we finally understood how the plane came down and probably how we were saved as the left wing folded under the fuselage at the very end. It was eerie to see pictures of the right wing, dangling high up in a tree and the path that the plane had cut through the trees.

And then we finally got the straight story on how long it took our rescuers to get to us; how long it took to saw us out and why Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Dartmouth got involved; Axel never went there as we had concluded from the hospital bill. It was the helicopter that was sent from Dartmouth because at first none were available from UMass in Worcester and there were three needed. We found out that it took 55 minutes from when the 911 call was made to Axel’s extrication; we also learned why it had been so difficult to get Joan out and how easy it was to get me out after that (2 minutes). As it turned out, my sense of timing had been quite correct; I was extricated about half an hour after Axel. We received a copy of the handwritten log and other papers that the Fire Department had to fill out. They also showed us their file of paper clippings and we made copies of the ones we did not have; for our scrapbook, for later.

We hugged and thanked everyone at the end. It was an emotional event. Our visit was rather unusual. “Usually the people in a plane crash do not survive,” they told us, “and with other accidents, we rarely hear what happens afterwards.” It was like another opportunity for a debriefing and the Chief thanked us for that.

Before we left we were given a tour of the trucks and equipment, especially the extrication equipment that saved our lives. We promised that we would never vote down equipment requests from our own Fire Department if such ever came up in Town Meeting. As it turned out our rescue was the first time they used brand new and very powerful extrication equipment that turned out to be critical. I tried to hold one of those humongous power cutters and could not. We understood the purpose of the exercise/weight room upstairs. These tools require enormous strength. We left with a bag of Gardner FD shirts and an invitation to come back. We also left with great awe and gratitude for what all these people had done for us.

You can see pictures of the event by clicking on the links section and then on the second flickr link (the one with the word vriesneus in it).