Heroes from a fiery rescue near Flaxcombe, SK are being awarded for their bravery in saving the life of a trapped victim of a vehicle fire on December 12, 2015.
Yesterday, Jody and Daniel Deiana received the Royal Humane Association’s bronze medal in Regina. Jonathan Coralde, who was unable to attend the event, will be receiving the same medal for his part in the rescue in Edmonton on November 4th.
Jody Deiana was driving home from a catering event on the evening of December 12, along with Bridget MacMillan and Jillian MacArthur. They were on Highway 7, only a few miles from Flaxcombe when they noticed a vehicle on fire in the opposite lane. “You could see the flames,” said Jody. She stopped her vehicle and ran up to the flaming car, seeing that the driver, an 82-year-old man, was still inside.
“Sir, you gotta get out of the vehicle,” Jody says she told the man. The driver, Art Wells, informed her that his doors were locked and he was unable to crawl through the open driver’s window. After dialing 9-1-1, Jody, and the others were unable to help him; but Jody’s husband, Daniel Deiana, was traveling in a vehicle with Jonathan Coralde not far behind. Jody says they felt helpless while waiting for them to arrive. “At one point I was like, we gotta keep driving, we can’t watch this man burn.”
Jody spotted a semi-truck stopped a distance away. She ran over to the truck, which was hauling fuel, and borrowed the driver’s fire extinguisher. By the time she got back to the burning vehicle, the men had arrived. They used the fire extinguisher to smash the passenger window, enabling them to push and pull Wells out of the car.
Once Wells was out, the rescuers realized he was disabled and unable to walk. They dragged him up the ditch, a safe distance from the burning vehicle. Only minutes later, the vehicle was destroyed in an explosion. Fortunately, the fire department was able to extinguish the flaming wreck.
“Everything had to fall into place, it could have been so different,” said Jody. It is not unusual for Daniel to accompany her on catering nights, but on this particular night it was a last-minute decision for him to go. Jody says that without his physical strength, they would have been unable to rescue Wells. “He’s my hero already,” she said, but she credits him for saving the man’s life.
Jody says that the whole operation was a group effort. In addition to MacMillan and MacArthur being present, an East Indian couple also stopped. Although Jody was unable to determine their names, she says “they were really sweet” and were also part of the rescue process. “[It was] a neat situation, to watch a bunch of people work together to save a stranger’s life.”
Jody and Daniel Deiana were given their medals by Lt.-Gov. Vaughn Solomon Schofield at the Government House in Regina, along with 20 others. Jody says they felt very honored, receiving medals at the same time as the paramedics involved with the La Loche shootings in January. As stated previously, Coralde will receive his medal on November 4th.
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Photo Credit: Maria Deiana
