ANNUAL BRAVERY AWARDS PRESENTATION
|
Three (3) residents of Western Australia will be presented with bravery awards of the Royal Humane Society of Australia: on Friday 30th March 2007 at Government House, Perth at 11.00 am |
The awards, three Silver Medals, will be presented by His Excellency Dr Ken Michael, AC, Governor of Western Australia at the investiture of awards within the Order of Australia and the Society.
The awards recognize:
Contact: Colin Bannister (Secretary) (03) 9650 3233
Note: The Royal Humane Society of Australasia, formed in 1874, is concerned with giving public recognition to acts of bravery by making awards to those who risk their own lives to save the lives of others.
Over 7,630 awards have been made in the Society’s 132 years’ history.
GARY HEARN, of Kingsley, WA.
ROY FERGUSON, Assistant Operations Officer - NSW Rural Fire Service, aged 59 years, of Orange NSW.
GEOFF CRUMBLIN, volunteer, Sydney Western Division, SES, of Baulkham Hills, NSW, aged 60 years, of NSW, and;
ROBERT PINTER, NSW Rural Fire Service Volunteer, of Bredbo, NSW, in going to the rescue of people trapped in two burning vechiles following a head-on collision, on the Monaro Highway, about 1 km south of the Old Cooma Road turn-off to Royalla, ACT on 31 July 2005.
At 4.15pm Messrs Hearn, Ferguson, Crumblin, and Pinter whilst driving came upon the head-on collision involving two 4WDs with one of the vehicles on its side on fire. Mr Crumblin took his fire extinguisher and played it on the flames of the overturned car while Mr Ferguson went to the upright vehicle which was starting to catch fire and entered the rear of the vehicle. Mr Hearn also went to the upright vehicle and the two cut the seat belts of two children and passed them to safety through a side window which had been smashed by Messrs Crumblin and Pinter to assist with the exit from the car.
Mr Pinter took his fire extinguisher to play on the flames and helped Mr Hearn cut the driver’s seat belt and pull him to safety.
NB: Messrs Ferguson, Crumblin and Pinter are to receive their awards in the ACT.
RICHARD WILLIAM POTTER, aged 40 years, of Cookernup, WA, in going to the rescue of a man trapped in a crashed and burning car at Wokalup on 13 November 2004.
At about 1.15pm a car started to fishtail and then hit an embankment, travelled through the air from some 20-25m, flipped onto its roof, slid 30m into a Western Power pole and caught fire near Mr Potter’s residence.
Mr Potter drove to the scene of the accident and saw the semi-conscious driver trapped between the driver’s seat and the steering wheel and flames were coming from the bonnet of the car.
Mr Potter tried to open the driver’s door but it was jammed. He went to the driver’s side passenger door, opened it and crawled into the vehicle. He untangled the injured man from his seat belt, wound the seat back, reclining it and told him to put his arms back. Mr Potter grabbed his arms and wrenched the trapped man free from the car. Once out of the car Mr Potter dragged the injured man about 10-15m from the now burning car. He then drove his car up beside the injured man to take him to safety and as they drove away the burning car exploded.
LISA CARMELA MENCHETTI, professional pilot and Australian Air Force Reservist, aged 31 years of Dianella, WA in going to the rescue of two people during a skydive at Pinjarra, WA on 10 September 2005.
Two tandem skydives were booked for a jump at 14,000 feet. Ms Menchetti was also going on the flight to observe how parachute operations work.
Once they reached 14,000 feet the first tandem pair exited the aircraft without any problems. When the second pair jumped out, the aircraft pulled to the right and Ms Menchetti noticed the two divers were dangling from the plane. They were still attached to the safety harness inside the plane. She tried to release the strap that had them pinned outside, to the side of and underneath the fuselage.
The weight on the strap was so tight that there was no way to get any slack to undo the clip. She searched the plane for a knife as there was always one in the glove box but on this occasion there was not one there.
Ms Menchetti tried to release the clip by using some keys to try and lever the small catch but nothing moved because it was too tight, with about 170kg of weight of the two skydivers attached to it.
Ms Menchettti ripped out the ashtray on the wall and tried to use the metal edge to saw through the strap. She then broke a pair of sunglasses to use the glass to cut through the strap but this did not work either.
She reached out of the plane, one hand holding on to the airframe, the other holding one of the skydiver’s hands and could see he was physically exhausted and badly hypothermic with blue lips. She then pulled herself back into the plane. They had by now descended about 4,000 feet. The pilot pulled the aircraft back to idle, extended the flaps and forced the nose down. Ms Menchetti used every bit of strength to pull the skydivers forward, while trying not to get pulled out of the aircraft. It seemed to be working as she could see the clasp moving slowly in her bruised and bleeding fingers and told the pilot to “Hold it”. She was then able to release the clip and the skydivers were set free of the aircraft.
As they fell away, Ms Menchetti reached out and closed the door and then the pilot landed the aircraft which ran out of fuel as they taxied to a halt.