Grant Wooding
On 23rd January 2016, Grant Wooding witnessed the immediate aftermath of a serious road crash at Peel Forest, Geraldine. Mr Wooding, who at his mother’s house, suddenly heard a loud bang.
Mr Wooding told his mother to call 111 and ask for all emergency services. He then drove to the accident site, where he discovered a seriously injured and unconscious driver inside a burning motor vehicle. Despite the flames and obvious danger, Mr Wooding rescued the driver, using his bare hands to suppress the flames around the driver’s feet. Once the driver was extricated, Mr Wooding commenced advanced first aid.
A few minutes later, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames. Medical student Thomas Martin, who stopped to help, stated that he witnessed the vehicle exploding and saw flames reaching as high as the tops of large trees nearby. Mr Wooding continued to carry out first aid on the victim, who was in shock and had suffered extreme burns and trauma.
Mr Wooding responded immediately, without assistance, to extract a severely injured and unconscious driver from a badly damaged, burning vehicle. Although trained as a nurse and paramedic, the circumstances as presented to Mr Wooding put him at a high risk of injury or death. The driver of the vehicle would almost certainly have died had Mr Wooding not responded in the timely, brave way that he did.