STANWOOD Steve Winter was grateful for the course in hazardous work operations and emergency response he took at Fremont Maritime Nov. 14, because he was able to apply what hed learned that same day.
Winter, who earned his mates license last spring, has been with Foss five years and normally works as a deckhand on the Iver Foss. He was on his way home from work at Foss when he came upon a serious accident on a rural road near Stanwood.
On my way home, the weather was typical Pacific Northwest, rainy and dark, Winter said. When I turned onto Kuhnhausen Road, just half a mile from my house, there was a truck in the road with a smashed-up front end and a flat tire.
Two men had plowed into each other while riding dirt bikes in the dark, according to North County Fire and EMS Battalion Chief Christian Davis.
I asked the driver if he needed help, Winter said. He didnt say anything and just stared at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look.
Winter soon noticed a person in the ditch, bleeding from the head and other places on his body, and laid him down to assess the full extent of his injuries, as he called 9-1-1. Winter found another person under his dirt bike, unconscious and not breathing.
After getting the bike off of him and starting the look, listen and feel first-aid process that I had just been taught, I detected a faint pulse and prepared to start rescue breathing, Winter said. Winter described both men as in bad shape, bleeding profusely with multiple injuries.
When other people pulled over after seeing the accident, he used his training to direct them to apply pressure to the wounds, to slow the bleeding on both victims. He estimated it took approximately half an hour for EMTs to arrive on scene and take over.
Davis reported the two men were taken to an Everett hospital with serious injuries, after which one of the two was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for additional treatment, according to Snohomish County Sheriffs spokesperson Rebecca Hover.
The collision happened at approximately 6 p.m. Nov. 14 on Third Avenue NW.
I wish to thank everyone involved with our training and refresher courses, Winter said. A medic said that without the prompt first aid these men received, at least one of them would be dead.