"They (Firefighters) Saved My Wife's Life"

A pair of off-duty Kingston firefighters are being credited with saving a woman's life after a car wreck in a northern Ontario snowstorm last weekend.

The man driving the minivan involved in the accident with a loaded tractor-trailer says Craig Rundle and Tim Restoule, who work on the same crew at the Brock Street fire hall, saved his wife's life after the crash near Ignace last Saturday afternoon.

The two firefighters were returning from their annual elk-hunting trip in Alberta when they happened upon an accident between a jackknifed transport truck and a minivan on a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada near Ignace, Ontario, just minutes after it occurred.

Dunk's wife was trapped in the car with injuries including a large gash on her leg and was going into shock.

Dunk wasn't seriously hurt, but says the two firefighters calmed him down at the scene.

"One of the biggest things they did was stop me from pulling my wife out of the car and making her injuries worse," he said.

The two firefighters carried a first aid kit in their truck-"a little bigger kit than most people would carry" Restoule acknowledged -- and treated Dunk's wife while still trapped in the car, covering her with jackets and blankets to stop her going further into shock and stopping her bleeding.

They did the same to Dunk when they noticed him starting to shake as the adrenaline from the accident wore off.

It took nearly an hour for help to reach the scene, owing to the worsening weather and confusion about where the accident occurred, and the two kept the trapped woman stable.

The firefighters play down their contribution, saying any other first responder would have done the same, and didn't make a big deal out of the incident. It was Dunk who contacted the media to publicly express his thanks.

"These two guys were totally professional and I can't say how grateful I am that they were there, because there's no question in my mind that they saved my wife's life."

Story courtesay of The Kingston Whig Standard. Click here to read the full article.


Becky Harmata
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