A Tasmanian firefighter who saved the life of an elderly woman he found crashed in a rural bush has been awarded a Certificate of Commendation.
Tasmania Fire Service officer Brendon Burridge found a 73-year-old woman who had survived temperatures as low as -0.2°C and -4.8°C for two freezing nights in early May while driving to Ouse.
After the accident, the woman attempted to get out of her car, but she became disoriented and became stuck in the blackberry bushes.
Burridge said he initially drove past the scene, but after passing by a second time, he saw a car without the usual emergency markings and something made him stop.
“I saw a light on in the car, like a tail light, so I pulled up [on] this narrow piece of road, put the lights on in the truck and walked back up the road and towards the car,” he told the ABC in May.
He said he first thought the sound he could hear coming from the bushes was a cat, but as he got closer, he “realised it was someone calling out for help”.
“I busted my way down [into the bush] and came across a lady who was laying down in a drain amongst all the blackberries.”
“Because she’s an elderly lady she struggled with the blackberries, which are really unforgiving. Even I struggled to get down to her — it probably took 10 minutes to get down to her.”
Burridge stayed with the woman, who “appeared terribly cold and she didn’t look very well”, until emergency services arrived to take her to hospital.
The Seven Mile Beach woman was on her way to visit a friend in Hamilton, just 20 minutes from where she was found.
Police said initial investigations indicated the woman had swerved to avoid wildlife on the road and lost control of her car.
“It is such a great outcome that the woman was found, especially considering the weather conditions over the last two days,” Inspector Philippa Burk said at the time.
“We remind motorists that the best thing you can do to keep yourself, our furry friends, and other road users safe is to slow down at dusk and dawn.”
