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ASM Student Saves 16-Year-Old from Fiery Crash
We received this message from Joe Amato, who took Basic and Advanced classes at Penmerryl—Ride the Farm in Virginia in April 2024. Just four months later, he used the information he learned to save a 16-year-old. Here is Joe’s accounting of what happened.
While driving home from Smith Mountain Lake with my daughter on a Sunday evening, we saw a bad accident from the southbound lane as we were traveling north on Route 29. Two full-size pickup trucks ended up in the median, with one of them having rolled completely over. 
I quickly and safely pulled off the road and then dialed 911. I gave my daughter directions on what to say on the call so I could continue to assess what was going on. She communicated with 911 dispatch for the next 6 minutes. I immediately went to the closest truck. I asked another Samaritan who had stopped to check the second truck.
What I found was that I had a responsive teen scared out of her mind with a broken wrist and an open fracture to her left lower leg. I performed a rapid Head-to-toe assessment. It did not appear that she had head, neck, body, or other trauma to the legs. The plan was to stay put until EMTs arrived. I determined she was stable and quickly ran to ask for information on the other truck to relay to dispatch.
I returned to the teen and attempted to keep her calm. A young boy, not involved in the accident, came around from the other side of the vehicle and told me the truck was on fire. I looked at the frightened girl in the truck and quickly said, “Your truck is on fire, and I’m going to have to get you out of the truck. Are you okay with that?” I’ve seen a car quickly go from smoking to fire before and knew I had very little time to act.
She was on board with my suggestion, but the door would not open. I took a breath to keep myself calm, got back on the truck step, and said, “Your door will not open, and I’m going to have to pull you through the window.”
Leaning in, I put my arms under hers and tugged her out, trying to be careful with her wrist and leg. Although I heard some painful yells in the process, the girl was a trooper. As her torso cleared the window, I yelled for help to stabilize her legs, and a couple of people were there within seconds. We moved her to an area that seemed safe, but when the truck erupted into flames, we moved her behind a car.
After ensuring she was okay and leaving her with other helpers, I went to move my truck as it was immediately downwind of the truck that was on fire. In my haste, I had left my door open, and somehow, my dog knew to stay put. He is a GOOD BOY!
The Sheriff, EMTs, and Fire Department arrived and took control of the scene. The second truck had a non-responsive man bleeding from his head and a responsive woman with a broken hip and dislocated shoulder. The woman was transported to a hospital. They had to cut the man out and take him to the ambulance near us. They did chest compressions, but unfortunately, that poor fellow did not make it.
My daughter helped with the victims in the other truck after finishing the 911 call and got blood on her hands. Lessons learned: I forgot the gloves. I also could have written down the victim’s name and folks to contact. Things I did well: I delegated tasks to people calmly and effectively and relayed information to dispatch so they could send proper help. 911 was called immediately. From the time I dialed 911 to the time the victim was removed from the burning truck and moved to a safe location, my truck moved, and I texted my wife to let her know we were okay and snapped this picture was 8 minutes.
I knew what to do. I stayed calm. EMTs arrived as soon as possible. I saved a life.
Thank you, Spitfire!
Joe Amato
News article found here (Joe says there were some inconsistencies):
