Governor General awards Castlegar man for heroic rescue
By Kyra Hoggan
Castlegar has it’s own bonafide hero, this according to Canada’s Governor General, the Right Honourable David Johnston.
On behalf of Johnston, Mayor Lawrence Chernoff presented Castlegar’s Ron Anderson (of Yule Anderson Chartered Accountants), with a Certificate of Commendation award at Sept. 19’s regular council meeting.
The award stemmed from an event that occurred May 23, 2007, in which Anderson was instrumental in saving a stranger’s life.
“It was about 6:30 a.m. I was coming through Manning Park on Highway 3 between Hope and Princeton, when all-of-a-sudden, the pick-up truck ahead of me pulled over and flagged me down. He said the car ahead of him had just gone off the road and into the river,” Anderson recalled.
The two Good Samaritans scrambled down the embankment to discover a man, about 60-years-old, in great jeopardy.
“The car was about half-submerged, and I could see this guy starting to pull himself up onto the doorjamb of the car,” he said, explaining the temperature was about one degree Celsuis, and the spring runoff in the Similkamene River must have been viciously cold. “The car was wedged against a rock, so we were hoping it wasn’t going anywhere, at least for the time being.
Anderson stayed and communicated with the man (who had a cut on his head but seemed largely unhurt) via hand gestures (the rapids were too loud to allow for even shouted conversation), while the driver of the truck went back to the highway to flag down help.
“We knew we couldn’t wait for emergency crews to arrive – the nearest town was 45 minutes down the road, and we could tell the guy was slowly going into shock,” he said. “I was able to keep him aware and calm until the guys returned.”
Meanwhile, another truck came along, driven by a guy who knew the area and said there was a construction site down the road, where the two men managed to borrow a bunch of fire hoses. A small crowd of people had by now gathered at the scene.
“We tied a few of the hoses together, and tied them onto one of the drivers who had stopped (I think he had some Search & Rescue experience, but I’m not sure). A couple of guys held the one end of the hoses on shore, and the guy tied to the other end entered the river upstream, so the rushing water wouldn’t carry him back to the car.”
Anderson went downstream to where he hoped the current would take either of the two men, should they slip and get carried down the river.
The rescuer was able to reach the man in the car, with the crowd waiting breathlessly, hoping the car wouldn’t be swept loose during the rescue. The senior was retrieved without incident, and the two men pulled back to shore by the men holding the hoses.
“We were able to hoist him up the embankment and flag down a passing motorhome to get blankets to keep him warm until emergency crews showed up, which was well over half-an-hour later,” Anderson said.
The entire rescue, he said, took about 45 minutes.
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking,” he said. “I thought about it all day, and the RCMP called about a week later, confirming that the gentleman was okay. I actually got to meet him about two years ago, which was a really neat experience.”
This meeting took place when Anderson was given the Honorary Testimonial, awarded by the Royal Canadian Humane Association (Canada’s Bravery Awards Association) for courageous and meritorious efforts in saving, or attempting to save a life.
“I got to meet all the people who helped with the rescue, and it gave us a chance to talk to the guy a little and get to know him – he’s a neat guy, and very appreciative.”
Anderson said he didn’t see the whole thing as particularly brave or heroic.
“You do what needs to be done. If we didn’t do something … if we hadn’t seen him go off the road, he probably would have died.”
Anderson said the award was a happy surprise, and summed up the ordeal in simple terms, “It was an eventful morning, that’s for sure”.
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