BELOIT TOWNSHIP-Some may call it morbid curiosity.
I prefer to call it empathy.
Whenever a firefighter tells me his or her department had to extricate a victim from a car accident, I always ask, "Was the person conscious while you worked on the car?"
The answer is usually "yes."
The Town of Beloit Fire Department invited me to get some first-hand experience by acting as the victim at an extrication practice last week.
I was thrilled, and thought it would be great fun.
It was certainly more exciting than some stories I've reported on, but there was nothing fun about it.
It was, frankly, really scary.
Rescuers were dispatched to find me behind the fire station trapped with a neck injury in a Chevrolet Celebrity that had been shoved around with an endloader until it was crumpled.
One window had been smashed in, and firefighters used the hole to cover me with a wool blanket before smashing the rest of the windows. Then firefighter and EMT Pam Kindschi crawled in behind me and held my head still.
Meanwhile, the passenger door groaned and pushed up against my hip while other firefighters peeled away sheet metal and attempted to cut the hinges and bolts. It reminded me of getting my wisdom teeth pulled-the pressure grew and grew until I was sure something was going to slip and I was going to get stabbed. Then suddenly … BANG!
I can't imagine how scary it must be having strangers wrestle you out of a car while you're in pain and shock. The smashing glass, the shouting and the rip of Velcro combined with having about five strangers poking and prodding you is really disorienting.
"You think this is bad, imagine if it were 95 and humid or below zero and blowing," said Capt. Wayne Endthoff, who was the other victim in the car.
The practice rescue was scary enough that I honestly couldn't remember what day it was when Kindschi asked.
And I was never so glad to see my seat belt when it was time to go home.
