A Port au Choix line worker has received recognition for saving the life of a woman on the Northern Peninsula last summer.
Andrew Toope, a Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro employee, is one of the most recent recipients of the Canadian Red Cross Rescuer Award.
Per the Canadian Red Cross website, the award “acknowledges the efforts of non-professional rescuers and off-duty first responders who go out of their way to save a life, prevent further injury and/or provide comfort to the injured.”
Toope was awarded for his actions after coming upon the scene of a car accident in July 2020 and helping to rescue a woman from an overturned and inflamed vehicle.
He was presented the award late last year.
“It was a case of somebody who went out of their way and, really, he went above and beyond to help and do what he could to help this woman who had the accident,” Sandy McGruer, the Canada Red Cross’s first aid program representative for Newfoundland and Labrador, told SaltWire Network. “We would just like to thank Andrew again for stepping in and making a difference when it counted.”
Toope recalls he was heading south, just past Rocky Harbour, when he saw two women on the side of the road desperately trying to wave down passing traffic.
When he got closer, he saw they were trying to call attention to a car upside down in a ditch.
A fire had started from the bottom of the vehicle, and a woman was still trapped inside.
Toope and another man, Scott Samms, both pulled over to help.
They had to act fast, knowing that without a fire extinguisher on hand there was only a short amount of time before the fire would spread.
Toope said they managed to get the car door open, remove the woman’s seatbelt, remove her from the vehicle and, with the help of a third man, Jeff Walsh, carry her up the embankment and onto the other side of the road.
The extraction occurred without difficulty or incident, and Toope estimates a mere two minutes later the car was engulfed in flames.
In the moment, Toope recalled his adrenaline kicked in and he recognized what needed to be done.
“I never really thought much about it until it was all said and done,” he told SaltWire.
Toope was nominated for the award by Jim Peyton, the safety, health and environment manager at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.
He said it felt good to be recognized, but the most important thing is that a life was saved.
“The best feeling is knowing we got her out of the car and knowing she’s still here today,” Toope said. “That’s the main thing.”
Stephen Roberts is a reporter covering the west coast of Newfoundland.
