Wildfire

 

How do I write about an automobile accident in which two cars are destroyed, but their six passengers all walk away?  Do I write about the decisions of the day that put us in that moment where the two cars met?  I chose to look for sunglasses after we stopped for lunch…delaying our leaving by about five minutes.  If I’d not bought the sunglasses, we would not have been in that place at that time.  We had a GPS with us and we made a wrong turn, but we had the sound down and didn’t hear her say “Recalculating”…a warning that we’d done something wrong.  So we missed a turn just ten short minutes before that moment…a turn that would have kept us from being in that place at that time.  But maybe the strangest decision is that we drove into a wildfire!   We saw it…we recognized that it was bigger than most of the fires we usually see here alongside the road.  I knew it was different enough that I actually photographed our approach, taking three pictures before we entered the fire.  Looking back at those pictures, I see why we didn’t decide to wait.  The last picture, just five seconds before our crash, shows a car on the other side emerging from what we thought was maybe six-ten feet of fire that we would drive through.  If he was coming out of it, how dangerous could it be?

But just as we reach the edge of the fire it flares into an inferno, flames high above the car.  I remember those two or three seconds of intense heat coming through the window and door…a heat that’s like opening a 400-degree oven door and getting blasted.  It was so intense that I leaned in toward the driver as if I could get away from the danger.  Lynda, trying to drive us through, also swerved away from the flame, into the oncoming traffic lane.  I remember saying, “You can’t see what’s coming” and she realized the truth and had just started to turn back into our lane.

I remember the look on the other driver’s face.  Cars aren’t supposed to meet that closely on the road.  The appearance of his vehicle sent Lynda into quick motion as she jerked the steering wheel, willing the car to just move more quickly into our lane.  But it couldn’t respond quickly enough.  I remember the explosion sound inside the car as metal hit metal.  We still couldn’t see much…the smoke was incredibly thick and the heat was still high.  Lynda somehow remained in control as much as one can do so in these circumstances.  I can see her fists gripping the steering wheel and holding it steady.  The car spun on impact and I realized we were traveling down the middle of the road sideways.  I do remember thinking, “We’re going to hit another vehicle.”  Tires were screeching!   Smoke was swirling!  No one was screaming – something I always thought would happen in a situation like this.  The car came to rest on the grassy side of the road about maybe 10 seconds later…the grass that was on fire. 

The rest of this story does not come totally from recall.  Because I was taking pictures as we drove into the fire, the impact apparently caused me to push the record button on our video feature of the camera.  I later discovered that I captured everything from the screeching tires and the next almost nine minutes of our drama.  I will listen to that video and share what happened…still amazed that it’s all caught on tape.  Mind you…there’s nothing to see except early on the tape when you can see the smoke and ashes swirling outside.  I didn’t know the camera was on.  I take it off at some point and set it on the seat but it continues recording.  I actually take two or three photos of the car about 10 minutes after the accident before the camera is turned off.

The first comment comes from Lynda who says, “You were absolutely right.  I needed to be back in my lane.”  Isn’t it amazing the truths we learn from experience?  I want to say right here that no one believes the accident was Lynda’s fault.  Decisions made earlier…flames…smoke…fear…those are the things that lead to the accident.  But I know if I’d been driving, I’d have felt responsible too.  Lynda later tried to apologize, but our hearts just wanted her to know we loved her and appreciated how well she had maintained control of the vehicle.  I believe her actions saved our lives.  She kept us from rolling into the fire.  She tried to move the car forward after we stopped sideways just off the pavement.  Pictures show that we only moved forward about 3 feet…but it was three feet out of burning grass onto the dirt shoulder…taking the car out of flames. 

The next comment is mine.  There’s a dry moan from the backseat and I say, “We’re next to the flames” and I realize that moan has come from my husband.  His side of the car had taken the impact of the crash.  I asked if he was okay and he said, “I think.”  When I asked if it “got him” (what did that mean) he said, “I hit my head.”

I would later realize the true impact…I was apparently the person cushioned in the best seat of the car.  The impact was so hard that both Dan and Marcie’s glasses were thrown from their faces in the backseat.  The next remark is Marcie saying, “Oh, I’ve got your glasses.”  As we listened to the video late last night, she told us that she had picked up the glasses and put them on thinking they were hers.  She couldn’t understand why everything was so blurry and thought the lens had been knocked out.  She reached up and touched them, realizing they were still whole and quickly deducted that they were Dan’s.  She was on the other side of the backseat…that’s how far his glasses flew when his head hit the window on impact. 

This is when Lynda decides that we need to move out of the fire.  The car starts immediately, but when she puts it in gear and tries to move forward, it appears we’re hung on something.  I should say at this point that we’re sitting in a car that looks completely normal.  There’s no damage inside the car…and the hood is still whole.  The engine (that she’d just received new this week in preparing the car for the trip) started right up.  So nothing “appears” wrong till the car won’t move forward more than three or four feet.  Dan announces at this point that he’s bleeding…from the head.

You can hear us unlatching our seatbelts, and Lynda says, “I can’t open the door.”  So I decide that I’m going to have to get out in the smoke and walk around the vehicle to see what the holdup is.  And here comes a “funny” thing on the video (well…I saw the “humor” in it…but also the comfort of God).  When Lynda turned the car on, the CD we’d been listening to came on.  And in the background…immediately after the crash…sitting in the smoke and flames…a piano starts playing “Savior, like a shepherd lead us…much we need they tender care.”  I would never have remembered that…or probably even realized it…if we didn’t have the video.  It actually delights me now…and comforts me…as I listen to it and remember that we have a God who does watch over us in the midst of the storms and crashes and wildfires of our lives.  You can then hear me outside the vehicle saying, “You’re not going anywhere.  Your back tire is completely messed up.”  I’m so good at describing things…not.  In retrospect, and with pictures in hand, the tire is turned sideways…pushed back into the trunk area…the car’s frame is lying on the ground…there’s a hole through the back side fender.  The door handle on Dan’s door is broken in half…no idea where the rest of that handle is.  The back of Lynda’s door is stretched open…the front of her door is peeled back like a sardine can, exposing the “innards” of the door.  The front tire is also turned sideways, and the metal frame of the car is lying exposed on the ground.

The pictures show the true impact.  But I want to point out again.  The inside of the car is unchanged! This CAR took the impact of the crash.  The only “damage” to the passengers is bleeding down Dan’s head.  Conversation will show that I handed him a bottle of water and he soaked part of his t-shirt and put pressure on the wound.  I remind him to calm his breathing and explain, after seeing the cut (and gasping a little), that it looks worse than it is because it’s in a bad place.  I learned a long time ago when my little brother was in an accident and his girlfriend took a knock to her forehead, that wounds that are close to bone bleed profusely.  Then another “funny” happens.  We’ve been in a crash…we’re sitting in flames…Dan’s head is cut…and he says, “I can’t find my shoes!”  I find that hilarious now that I listen back at it.  Maybe it was the shock of it all…but we worry about such strange things.  Later, Marcie will also comment that she’s lost one of her shoes (all shoes were found and put on the right feet before too long.)

Marcie is trying to call an emergency number and is getting a busy signal.  But she doesn’t give up.  I hear her talking to someone and tell her to let them know we have a head injury and we’re going to need two tow trucks.  Listening back, we all laughed a little when the woman asked if we needed an ambulance and Marcie said, “We have a head cut…and tow trucks.”  She, of course, was listening to me talking in one ear and the emergency phone person in the other.   I’ve not yet seen the other car and we’re not sure about the passengers.  The smoke is too thick.  I decide to go check on them.  Their car is about 30 yards down the road.  The young man driving had obviously tried to miss us…almost all the damage is on his driver’s side and front end.  He and the young woman with him are both out of the car.  She’s limping just slightly.  And I can now hear sirens approaching.   This is amazing to me because we’re at least 10-15 miles outside the last town and pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  The video tells the truth…the fire truck was there within six minutes of the crash!  We later found out from the very friendly Afrikaans fireman that they had seen the smoke and were on the way to the fire.  They didn’t even know about the accident till they got there!  I have a theory…God had already taken care of our emergency call for us!  The fireman tended to Dan.  They told him to remain seated in the backseat.  I had to get back in the vehicle for a short time to get away from the smoke…I can see why smoke inhalation can kill.  The fire is still crackling all around us…and it was just a wild grass fire.  I cannot imagine the rage of a forest fire…this one was scary enough. 

You know…thinking back…we talked last night about the split second decision both driver’s had to make.  It would have been difficult to make the decision to avoid the accident, because the choice was to drive into fire or stay in the middle and hit.  I am still amazed when I look at the pictures.  The wildfire we thought we’d drive “past” was almost 100 yards long!!!  Before we would leave by ambulance an hour later, the fire had spread out of sight to the south…spurred on by very high winds.  When we drove back by, five hours later, as we resumed our trip in a rental vehicle, the flames could still be seen. 

Our adventure continued with a very friendly fireman.  He bandaged Dan’s head and said we needed to go to the hospital so they could determine if it needed stitches and make sure he’d not had a concussion.  He shared with us that his fire truck had just come from Wisconsin last year and was one of the best in South Africa.  He told us we picked a good place to have an accident so we could be saved by an American vehicle.  He’s also the one that shared they were on the way before the call for the accident came in.  He explained that they spend most of their days from March-September fighting these grassfires.  The Farmer’s Association also responds to these fires because they know the fire department has to tend to emergencies first.  He said that all the farmer’s join in and start back fires to keep the fires from progressing, but that this was going to be a bad one because of the winds.  He later took me down behind the other vehicle to show me that the fire had already spread almost half a mile in the time we were there.  He seemed delighted to entertain American guests.  I wish I’d got his name or the name of the fire department so I could write them a thank you note. 

The ambulance was delayed in arriving because Marcie had said we were on Highway N-17…remember, we didn’t know we’d taken a wrong turn along the way.  (Actually N-17 turned…we stayed straight).  Two very nice African men arrived and looked Dan over.  They allowed me to ride with him in the back of the ambulance where the paramedic visited with us and questioned us about America.  He explained that we were the first “live” Americans he’d ever met…he only knew American people from television!  Oh, how we need to be careful what we’re putting on television and the impression we’re making on the world.  We had a delightful conversation with him for our 10-15 minute ride.  He could not have been nicer.  He kept apologizing and asking us not to remember what happened because it might make South Africa look bad.  We assured him that we did not hold South Africa responsible for the accident (smile).  There really aren’t enough words to describe how precious almost all of the people of South Africa have been.

That sweet spirit would continue at the hospital, where Dr. Pat Beda stitched Dan’s wound (six stitches).  He was wearing jeans, a polo shirt and windbreaker…very casual.  The nurses were very friendly.  After Dan was treated we moved out to the waiting area to relax till Marcie and Lynda “fetched” us.  And then the day got very sad.  A car pulled up and four men jumped out.  One of them was carrying a very limp child in his arms whose face was cut and bleeding.  I later found out the little boy was 7 years old and had been hit by the driver of the car.  The drive said he did CPR on the child and that there was a heartbeat.  The family would arrive…voices would be raised…security had to come down and remove people from the ER.  The best I could gather (from the occasional English word mixed in with lots of Zulu) was that the child had been in the care of a young teenage girl (I’m not sure if she was the mother or a teenage babysitter).  Apparently she fell asleep and the child got out unsupervised. 

One woman who came in was distraught and was left alone with us in the waiting area.  God impressed on my heart that he wanted me to pray with her, so I moved down and asked if I could pray for her.  I asked God to comfort her and give wisdom to the doctors and bring health back to the child.  I’m not sure we had to go through everything we’d been through to be there in that moment to pray with her.  And we’ll never know the outcome of that little guy’s injuries.  But I do know that God used us in that emergency area.  Shortly after, the staff realized we were still there and moved us to a private office where we could be seen.  The nurses plugged in a portable heater for us (it was getting chilly outside and blowing into the ER).  Marcie and Lynda arrived within the hour and we were back on the road between 6:00-7:00.  We arrived at our beautiful B&B shortly before 11:00 last night…only five hours later than originally planned.

I believe that the prayer that started our journey was part of our protection plan yesterday.  I believe God still works things to good and I look forward to hearing the good that comes from this event.  I believe I will never, ever, ever drive into a fire again for any reason whatsoever.  I thank Jesus for taking “the wheel” and driving us through that incident as He strengthened Lynda for the task.  We’ve thanked Him over and over for his protection of all of us, the people in the other vehicle and all the emergency personnel that tended to us.  It’s “the day after” and we’re all alive and well and looking forward to our evening safari in about 7 hours.  I hadn’t planned to blog till after our trips to the park…but this event seemed worth blogging.  Pictures will be posted on my Facebook page if you’d like to add a visual to these words. 

Marcie said she wanted to post something on FB yesterday, but didn’t want to worry our children.  In the end she posted that we’d been in an accident and everyone was okay.  Prayers and acknowledgements poured in for the next few hours.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for us.  We are praising God this morning for His goodness and His protection.  And we’re looking forward to seeing more of His miraculous creativity in Kruger Park later today.

Watch for that blog and those pictures to follow soon.