Story and photos by Ron Jeffers
Exactly one month to the day that Hackensack (NJ) firefighters rescued two young woman from their mangled SUV, they paid an emotional visit on March 13 to fire headquarters to thank their new friends and heroes.
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Around 7 a.m. on February 13, 2015, Becca Winslow, 25, and Liz Wolthoff, 23, were headed to work at a daycare center, traveling on very busy Route 80. The driver, Wolthoff, said she saw a tractor trailer in front of them veer toward their car as they approached the Bogota exit. She swerved to avoid the truck, but her wheel jerked the wrong way as she hit a patch of ice. The car veered out of control and she steered to the right, away from traffic, but struck a snow bank that catapulted the vehicle over a guardrail and off the Route 80 bridge near the Hackensack River. The SUV landed on all four wheels some 60 feet below the bridge at the river bank and on the trunk of a tree .
Wolthoff thought, “Did I kill my best friend?” After some silence, Winslow, who had the wind knocked out of her said, “I can’t breathe.” Wolthoff called 911. She tried to explain where she was. “I fell off Route 80,” she said on the phone. “I heard them,” she said to the dispatcher. “We’re underneath them.”
The Hackensack Fire Department (HFD) had dispatched Engine Companies 1 and 2, Ladder 1, Rescue 1, and Deputy Chief Charles Grieco. Not knowing what they were about to face, Engine Co. 4 was preparing a boat and ice sled and the nearby Oradell Fire Department was notified for their dive team.
Firefighters reached the mangled vehicle and began looking for victims. There were two women and a baby seat. Firefighters reached into the car to check the victims for a pulse, and one of the women remembered hearing a firefighter yell, “It’s a rescue, not a recovery!” They also learned that the women were not traveling with an infant.
Members of the HFD delicately took the car apart, working on snow and ice, in the cold with high winds off the water. Within 20 minutes, the two women were removed and taken to the hospital.
Winlsow and Wollthoff came to fire headquarters a month after their accident with family members and a six-foot-long hero sandwich and crumb cake to thank their heroes. They were first greeted by Chief of Department Thomas Freeman and Lt. Justin Derevyanik, the department’s PIO. The women entered they day room, where they were greeted by the firefighters who saved their lives, all lined up for individual greetings and best wishes.
Both women, nervous to talk to the line of newspaper and TV reporters, warmed up as they began to speak about their ordeal, injuries and future plans. They were both wearing back braces, and both have two rods in their backs and numerous screws. Their doctor doesn’t want them to return to work until September. “No more bar fights, one joked.”
Winslow’s young nephews received red plastic fire helmets, and firefighters presented the two best friends with HFD T-shirts and shoulder patches, which they proudly accepted.
As one firefighter said at the end of the ceremony, “We witness a walking miracle today.”
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