A father and son duo are being recognized for their courage after helping a man who was trapped inside his vehicle following a crash.
Wayne and Evan Lambrecht were awarded a citation at the Police Services Board meeting on Tuesday morning for their efforts.
On the afternoon of January 21, the pair were eating lunch at Wayne's house in the area of Main Line and Zone Road 6 in Dawn-Euphemia Township, just outside of Bothwell, when they heard a large crash.
"I heard a big bang basically," said Evan. "I looked over across the road through the window and I could see a tree kind of swaying over and a bunch of snow dust falling, so I assumed it must have been a car crash."
While Wayne got a fire extinguisher, Evan ran over to the accident and was the first person on the scene.
"The truck was in rough shape for sure. The airbags were out so I couldn't tell how many people were in the vesicle until I got right up to it," explained Evan.
Inside the truck, he found a 45-year-old man, who was the only occupant. According to Evan, the man was conscious but out of it, and he may have been suffering from a concussion at the time.
Neither Evan or Wayve have a background in emergency service but Evan said the adrenaline kicked in and helped them make the right calls.
"At the time I never really thought much about it. I just did what I kind of thought should be done," said Evan. "I was seeing if I could get the door open, I asked him if he could feel his feet and his arms and his limbs."
The truck started smoking and caught fire before Wayne could arrive with the fire extinguisher and oil leaking from the truck made the flames grow larger. Evan said he threw snow on the vehicle to keep the fire down before Wayne arrived and extinguished it.
Evan said that keeping the man comfortable during the ordeal was important to them while they waited for police and ambulances to arrive.
"I just tried to keep him comfortable by talking to him," said Evan. "I cut his seatbelt off... He had his one leg hanging out with a pretty big gash in it so I wrapped it in a towel."
About an hour later, emergency services were able to extract the driver from his car. He was then airlifted to a London hospital with life-threatening injuries. Shortly after, following surgery, he was upgraded to stable condition.
According to Evan, the Bothwell man has since been released from the hospital and is doing well. He said the man's wife stopped by shortly after the crash to thank the two men and update them on his condition.
Evan said it felt great to be recognized for their efforts, but the best news of all is hearing that the man is in good health.