What’s it like to...save a life: Northlander pulls man to safety after truck crash in Waioeka Gorge

Paul Speedy has spoken of the night he saved a truck driver's life while out on a hunting trip. Photo / Supplied

What’s it like is a series capturing the accounts of everyday Northlanders who have done not-so-ordinary things. Today Karina Cooper talks to Paul Speedy about how he saved a man from a burning truck.

A Whangārei man’s plan for a hunting trip near his new hometown in Whakatāne was originally nothing out of the ordinary.

But Paul Speedy’s outing in 2018 became extraordinary when he saved the life of a complete stranger.

It was last light when the 34-year-old and his friend reached their car on the outer edges of Te Urewera forest.

The pair had decided to head home after successfully bagging a stag 4.5km into the hunt.

While they had been traipsing through the forest a truck with a trailer unit full of oranges destined for Auckland careened around a corner on State Highway 2 in the Waioeka Gorge, near Opotiki.

The out-of-control truck collided with a concrete barrier before ploughing into a cliff. It eventually came to rest on its side, crates of oranges spilling over the remote road.

“I was told if it hadn’t been for me he would’ve either burned and bled to death,” Speedy said.

His mate was behind the wheel as the tired pair ventured home through the narrow, windy gorge.

As they rounded a sharp corner in the dark, the car’s headlights illuminated the stranded truck.

“As soon as I jumped out I heard a guy screaming for help,” Speedy said.

“The cab of the truck was a mess and the windscreen had smashed onto the road and he was lying on it, shouting that he needed a tourniquet.”

The truck on fire the day after it first caught alight on SH2 in the Waioeka Gorge. Photo / Justin Martin

The driver’s right leg had been severed above in the knee during the crash. The calf muscle on his left leg barely hung on, same with the sole of that foot.

Speedy rushed back to the car and set off his personal locator beacon.

When activated the small, lightweight device transmits a signal via satellites to raise the alarm with rescuers who are then able to hone in on the beacon’s location.

It was a Christmas present he had been reluctant to receive from his parents as he thought he would never use it.

Once back at the driver’s side, Speedy fashioned two makeshift tourniquets out of the spare set of bootlaces and a rope he always carries on his hunting belt and a branch snapped off from the cliffside.

With no cellphone signal and the nearest houses “few and far between”, Speedy instructed his friend to go for help.

She left him with an emergency blanket, warm gear, and a couple of spotlights.

While all of this was happening, fuel had been leaking from the wreckage and a fire had started to burn behind the cab of the truck.

“I picked [the driver] up and carried him down the road, over the barrier to get him off the road,” Speedy said.

However, he realised the escaping fuel was flowing in the pair’s direction.

A photo taken the day after the truck crashed in Waioeka Gorge (SH2) near Opotiki in 2018. Photo / Justin Martin

Fearing the fuel would catch alight, Speedy again scooped the driver up and moved him a far way down the road.

There he lay the driver on the ground and held his legs up to slow the blood flow.

As he did, the truck became engulfed in flames - the nearby trees crackling as they caught alight.

Speedy used his spotlight to catch the attention of a nearing vehicle. He instructed the group of roadworkers inside to manage traffic while they waited for emergency services to arrive.

“Then the wheels on the truck exploded,” he said.

“It’s not like in the movies. You just hear them hiss as the tyres swell up, then a boom.”

He lay on top of the driver to protect him from falling shrapnel.

“I just remember thinking this is where I might die because everything was going nuts. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

But in his mind, he could hear his mum Rose saying: “You’ve done a duty to the family by bringing their dad, father, son home”.

Her message was a throwback to when a 13-year-old Speedy, his dad, Gordon, and a family friend helped recover the body of a drowned fisherman from the Kaipara Harbour after a wave capsized his boat.

Despite Speedy’s fear, he stayed focused on keeping the man conscious. He asked him about where he was from, his family, and his work.

“I wasn’t freaking out the whole time. I knew had to help and help him the best way I could.”

Twenty-five minutes later an Ōpotiki police officer arrived. He told Speedy to stay with the man as he was doing everything right.

Two fire trucks and an ambulance turned up. Paramedics eventually took over.

Speedy took a moment to clean as much of the driver’s blood off himself as he could before getting back in his friend’s car and finishing the journey home.

Later, he was able to track the driver’s family down to see how he was doing. He learned the man’s injuries were so severe his left leg had to be amputated.

The driver’s brother and son had phoned Speedy to say how thankful he and they were for his lifesaving actions that night.

Speedy said the biggest message was for people to prepare themselves for what could happen.

“Have the right equipment with you, do a first aid course to learn the basics.”

While it is about keeping yourself safe, you could save someone else’s life too.