'Heroic actions' of ex-firefighter and father saved lives after fiery crash in Hamilton

Wednesday, 22 April 2020

A father of three and an ex-firefighter are among those praised for rescuing three seriously injured people from a burning car in Hamilton.  

The trio had been travelling along Kahikatea Dr in Melville just after daybreak on Wednesday morning when the driver lost control, hit a kerb and became airborne before smashing head-first into a power pole. 

At home with his three children after dropping his wife off to work at nearby Waikato Hospital, resident Shamim, 37, was scrolling through his phone in his bedroom when he heard a bang. 

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'It was five past six and I heard the crash … it was huge,' he said as he looked at the pieces of car left strewn across the tarmac outside his home. 

'I quickly came out and the passengers were still stuck inside.'

Flames had just started to flicker in the smashed engine bay. Inside were three people. Shamim went to help the driver. The man was conscious but could barely talk, he said.

'He was scared. I think he was bleeding from his nose.

'The door wouldn't open properly. There were two other ladies who came from the other side. We just dragged them out on the other side.'

'We checked if there were any other babies or any small kids in there but no-one was there.'

By then fire had taken hold.

'The fire got bigger and bigger. I was scared.'

Shamim stayed with the driver, trying to provide comfort, and two other injured passengers one of whom appeared to have back injuries and was struggling to breathe.

'We were trying to talk but he couldn't talk properly. They were too scared and in pain as well. I was asking them if they were okay. I hope they are okay.'

His three children, aged 14, 11 and six, slept through the commotion. 

'We want to be safe. Drive carefully, don't get into a situation like this, you can kill yourself.'

As Shamim was reacting, Paul Gerritsen was heading to work in the fog when he noticed a smoking car. 

The former Hamilton City firefighter, who left his job last July to invest in his waste business, then saw flames coming from the bonnet and inside the vehicle and people trapped inside.

He went to help a woman in the front passenger seat. She'd been badly injured by the impact with a suspected broken hip and femur. She was unconscious and appeared to be trapped, he said.

'There were flames and smoke so I couldn't see very well. Usually you assess their injuries and you don't want to move them but the car was on fire. 

'It was a case of grab onto her, pull her and get her to safety.'

Flames were engulfing the car. Gerritsen put his arms under hers and 'went for it'. 

'I pulled the lady from the car and dragged her across the road.

'She was covered in blood, when I started moving her she was making noises. Struggling to breathe.'

He returned to find the driver lying facedown a few metres from the burning car. He and Shamim carried him across the road to safety.

Another younger woman in the back seat was also out of the car with pelvic, hip and rib injuries. 

'Instinct takes over and you just help those people. They were in a bad situation and I was just happy to be there.'

Gerritsen's efforts were nothing less than heroic, Hamilton Fire Brigade Station Officer Matt Leonard said. 

'If Paul hadn't been able to pull her out, she'd still be sitting in the car I'd say.'

Firefighters could see the flames from 200 metres away, Leonard said. 

'You're instinct when seeing that amount of flame in the car is that nobody would have survived that.

'To risk your own health and possibly life with things like exploding tyres for a woman he didn't know is nothing less than heroic. 

'He saved her life.'

Parts of the vehicle were left strewn across the road with a trail of 30 metres up to the scene. 

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno said the car was travelling towards the hospital when the driver lost control rounding a minor left-hand bend at the intersection of Tawa St. 

It struck the kerb and became airborne for some distance before hitting a power pole at force, causing significant intrusion into the engine bay.

The driver was travelling above the posted 60kmh speed limit, by how much was unclear. 

'It then caught fire and it had the potential to be extremely serious.

'We're extremely lucky members of the public heard the crash and came out and removed some of the occupants of the vehicle,' Penno said. 

He commended the actions of members of the public who left their own bubbles during a pandemic. 

'Members of the public first on the scene have done a great job in removing people from the vehicle before it caught fire.

'This shows the best of human nature. Those people have come out and put themselves at risk to help other members of the community.' 

Police were still determining where the trio were coming from and travelling to at 6am but initial indications showed they were travelling some distance. 

'We now have three people in hospital and we need all our emergency services to be free and available for the Covid response not looking after people from a preventable car crash.'​