‘I am only alive because he pulled me away from the fire’: Heroic acts, kindness shine through Hwy. 401 wreckage in Quinte West

With whiteout conditions, transports and SUVs bursting into flames and some 50 vehicles involved in crashes – which prompted a complete shutdown of the highway from just outside Belleville into Brighton – Hwy. 401 was an absolute nightmare Tuesday.

The worst and bulk of the collisions were in the Quint West area, including one 17-car pileup alone. (And there were even more crashes towards Napanee this same day.)

And yet, by some miracle, no one died. And it was kindness and heroic acts that shone through the wreckage.

Everyone walked away – only minor injuries were reported.

Trenton resident Theresa Rozendaal was in the thick of it on Tuesday. Her SUV burst into flames in a collision involving at least two transports, according to initial accounts and reports.

Rozendaal said she slid into a jackknifed semi-truck due to road conditions and snow squalls and was hit a second time from behind by another semi-truck, which broke her window and ended with her vehicle being engulfed in flames.

“I saw it coming. It was very scary …” she told MBC. “I’ll be honest, I’m a Christian, and I heard this voice in my head saying no one’s going to get to you in time.

“There’s a fire. Get out. I’m not done with you yet.”

After the second hit, she recalled unbuckling, climbing out the window, and “standing on a running board” next to her “and I basically got to the back of my truck and fell off – I blacked out.”

Then, a stranger came to her rescue: A man she is hoping she’ll have a chance to thank one day soon.

“I’m so grateful to him, and if anybody can find him, I just want to give him a hug and tell him thank you.”

Rozendaal said she walked away with a sprained ankle, a couple of stitches, and a concussion.

“There is no earthly reason why I should be alive …” she said, noting there’s nothing left of her Dodge Durango, while also recalling the shock she felt that day.

Her recollection, she shared, was it sounded like this man was smashing out the back window to get to her while she was climbing out the side.

“And he basically caught me as I fell off the back of the vehicle. He was trying to get to me, and I didn’t know, right.

“I was focused on getting out. I didn’t see him, but a lot of other people saw him trying to get to me.”

“It’s very emotional and I’m just so grateful. Clearly, there’s someone who thinks I still need to be here …”

“I just really want the focus to be thank you so much for the people who helped me, who were there, who went above and beyond to make sure I was OK.”

And Rozendaal wasn’t alone.

There were reports the same man was “triaging” multiple people at the scene before the full contingent of emergency crews arrived.

“I don’t remember seeing him again, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t come back. I was pretty out of it … I just want to shake his hand and give him a hug.”

Well-known Northumberland realtor Jacqueline Pennington was also on the highway Tuesday taking her son to a doctor’s appointment in Belleville, she told MBC.

She also recalled approaching a jackknifed transport initially and was among some of the first approaching this area. Pennington said she was able to slow her vehicle down and was about to come to a stop before realizing several other trucks and vehicles behind weren’t going to be able to stop due to the wicked weather.

She said she made the choice to drive the car off to the side to get out of harm’s way and was able to come to a complete stop.

“We – myself and my son – did get rear-ended but we were actually quite safe, with minimal impact as a result of where we were off to the shoulder at that time.”

Pennington said she witnessed the big crash. As she was calling 911, she said the man came towards her and she hopped out of her vehicle to help.

He handed Rozendaal off to her and disappeared again, back into the fire.

“As I was helping her in my vehicle, I noticed him running from one vehicle to another and back-and-forth among the people who had gotten out of their cars,” Pennington wrote online, noting at this point, transports were engulfed in flames and explosions could be heard.

“In a very methodical way, as you’d expect from a first-responder, he took control of the situation. Once the first-responders arrived on scene, he found a shovel and was trying to dig my vehicle out of the snowbank …”

At this point, Pennington said she noticed he was bleeding and offered him gloves and suspected he was possibly shovelling with a broken hand and/or fingers.

“And despite that, he was still actively trying to shovel my vehicle out,” she continued, adding throughout all of this, he still took time to show incredible care and concern for her son.

As the situation settled some, Pennington said they spoke, and all the pieces started coming together.

Pennington – as well as Quinte West Fire and Emergency Services Chief John Whelan – told MBC that the man smashed the back window with his bare hands trying to get into Rozendaal’s Durango.

He put his life on the line to help a stranger and countless others Tuesday, added Pennington.

“I kind of said to him, ‘Wow, like, you’re a hero. How did you even think or know (how) to react in that moment so quickly?’”

Pennington said the man later shared he was a new Canadian who had a medical background but makes his living today as a truck driver based out of the Mississauga area. Pennington also said he offered last Tuesday to take over from a colleague worried about road conditions that day for the drive to Ottawa.

Looking back, she said she couldn’t believe everything he did, and she told him that.

“He was very humble and just said, ‘Oh, it’s just what anybody would do.’”

At press deadline, MBC had not 100 per cent confirmed the man’s full name. However, several online and initial reports point to Isik. (Nicolas was also previously  cited online.)

Pennington also noted another online post about the same man and a story about a woman scared in her car during the wreckage.

“And this individual said that he just took her hand and he held her hand and said: ‘You’re going to be OK, just stay in your vehicle, stay warm and stay safe ….’”

Pennington hopes the man can be found and given some recognition. She also said everyone at the scene that day stepped up and out of their way to care for others, from truckers handing out hand warmers, to people involved in car wrecks shovelling, and more.

Whalen was one of two first-responders on the scene Tuesday just after 8 a.m. when the first call about a multi-vehicle crash in the westbound lanes near Aikens Road came in.

It was a whiteout but the initial crash – involving three tractor-trailers and car – wasn’t too bad, said Whalen, adding paramedics were on their way on that time and a young woman was shaken but not severely hurt.

But from there, things turned quickly, and more than 35 firefighters alone would end up spending close to 12 hours on the highway that day juggling multiple fire and collision scenes in wretched conditions.

Whalen recalled waiting on backup one second and then the next he sees about 500 metres into the eastbound lanes a vehicle spinning out “and I could hear the crunching of metal.”

With one unit right behind him, onwards he went to check out this additional incident, and he had dispatch call out another unit for the eastbound 401. As he approached, he described “carnage.”

From there on out, it quickly became “a very chaotic scene” as tractor-trailers started catching fire – becoming fully involved – and you can hear cars sliding and hitting, recounted Whalen.

In addition to firefighters, police and paramedics flooded the highway. The majority of Quinte West’s fire stations were tied up on the 401 Tuesday, which meant Brighton, Belleville and Stirling were called in on standby.

Meanwhile, OPP also escorted a Quinte Access bus in Trenton that day onto the highway to shuttle stranded motorists to the arena, which was set up as a temporary warming site.

Whalen, too, credited the citizen who sprang into action at the scene. It gives you hope when somebody from the public does a heroic act like this gentleman did, he said.

“We’ve got his name, and we’ll work with OPP and see if we can’t recognize him for his role,” added Whalen.

However, again, at press deadline, no senior officials could officially release the man’s name.

As previously reported, OPP said about 50 vehicles were involved in crashes stretching from the Shannonville to Brighton area Tuesday. Not all of these crashes were connected or were in the Trenton area, and OPP’s investigations into the collisions are still ongoing.

However, the one major incident involving about 17 vehicles was in the Trenton area, and then there were vehicles that had hit rails or gone off the road, noted Whalen. A report about a 10-car pileup in the Brighton area with three fatalities amid the chaos turned out to be unfounded, he added.

Whalen also tipped his hat to emergency crews who gave it their all Tuesday – to do what they always do and that means repeatedly running into danger to save others.

There were also no injuries among firefighters.

For those like Rozendaal, instead of focusing on the wreckage Tuesday, she’s focusing on the people who didn’t hesitate to put themselves second.

“I’m just grateful that people treated me like a human being … it gave me some hope. I’m really proud of my community … (this) gives me hope that there’s still good people out there (who) continue to do good.”

(Written by: Sarah Hyatt, with files from Joseph Goden.)