Fire Chief Husman knelt down beside the unconscious Mac Davenport
and felt for a pulse. There was a pulse, much to his relief.
Two other firefighters came running toward the chief to assist. Husman
turned toward the sound of the firefighters coming to him and called to
one of them.
"You, Dietz," Husman called out to the one closest to him, "Get a
backboard and let's get Davenport out of here!"
Husman then called to the other firefighter that came with Dietz,
"Morris, go check on the other victim!"
"Yes, sir," Morris replied and immediately ran over to the man
that Mac Davenport pulled from the burning car as Dietz ran
back to get a backboard.
Another firefighter came as soon as Dietz left to assist with
the crash victim. Morris checked the man's vitals and checked
for a pulse and noticed right away that the victim had gone into
cardiac arrest.
"Sir?" Morris called to the chief, "This man had gone into cardiac
arrest and I think Davenport was administering CPR to him after
pulling him away from the wreck!"
"Yea, that's my thought, too," Chief Husman replied then asked,
"Does it look like he responded to it?"
"Yes, sir," Morris replied, "I got a beat!"
Just then there was a high-pitched whoop! followed by an electronic
sounding horn blast as an ambulance drove off the road and onto the
wide open area toward where the chief, the firefighters and the victims
were. Dietz also came back with the backboard.
"Okay," Husman replied, "Get him on that ambulance while Dietz and
I move Davenport!"
"Yes sir," Morris answered as he and another firefighter prepared the
crash victim for transport. The ambulance crew was already coming
over with the stretcher as Morris and the other firefighter got the
victim ready.
Another siren could be heard in the distance as another ambulance
sped to the accident scene and toward where the victims had lain.
"That one's for Davenport," Husman said of the second ambulance.
As the chief and firefighter Dietz lifted Mac with the backboard and
started toward the arriving ambulance, Chief Husman looked toward
the flaming car which was still burning fiercely.
After the ambulance crews loaded Davenport into the second rig,
Chief Husman ran back toward his vehicle and radioed dispatch
if they had contacted the power company. Husman knew he couldn't
fight the fire if power was still going through those downed wires.
At a restaurant on the corner of Main and Wyatt Avenue called
the Corner Diner, eighteen-year-old server Jenny Garrett was
outside on break when the power went out. She noticed a
black cloud of smoke rising from the west and wondered if
that had anything to do with the power failure.
Jenny was another one of the greeters at Newberry Community
Church along with Mac Davenport and Wilfred Templar. She
had been planing on heading to Glick's Pharmacy just down the
street to purchase small candies for the children of the church to
hand out when they came. Mac, Wilfred and Jenny each took
turns in buying candy for the church welcome ministry which
Mac headed.
Jenny looked once again at the rising smoke cloud and thought,
Must be some fire.
Jenny then tied her long, blond hair back with a bow
and went back to work.
At the house of Neva and Karen Williams Neva was in the process
of putting a pie in the oven when the power went out.
"Oh dear," Neva had exclaimed, "At least the stove is gas so baking will
not be delayed."
Karen had gone over to the kitchen window and pulled the curtains
back. It was still early afternoon.
"At least its early in the day," Karen had said as she pulled them back.
"How true," Neva had said.
"I could have swore I heard sirens not long after the power went out,"
Karen had said.
Yes, I heard them, too," Neva had replied, "They might have something
to do with this power failure."
"A car could have struck a utility pole, is my guess."
This concludes Chapter 7.
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