‘Luckiest man alive’ thanks rescue helicopter
Allan Innes-Walker reckons he’s the luckiest man alive.
Six months after an accident that saw his body engulfed in flames, his scars are fading: the wounds to his arms were superficial, while skin grafts on his legs have sped up the healing process.
Things could’ve been very different, Innes-Walker said.
The Nelson man was on the remote Arapaoa Island in the Marlborough Sounds for an Easter break. It was the end of a day’s fishing, and Innes-Walker was prepping mussels.
He was standing near a portable smoker when one of his companions topped it up with methylated spirits, not realising it was still alight.
The liquid spirit “blew up” over Innes-Walker, flames spreading rapidly over his arms and stomach.
“All of a sudden, I was on fire,” he said.
As his friends watched in shock — unable to see the flames, they weren’t sure what was happening — Innes-Walker went into “adrenaline mode”. He patted his arms, before dropping to the ground, trying to extinguish the fire.
But the stony ground would not smother the flames, and Innes-Walker felt the heat spread to his upper thigh.
“[I thought], ‘Oh shit, my pants are on fire, I’d better take them off’.”
He leapt up and pulled off his pants, and then his blazing shirt. The whole episode had taken less than a minute.
“I was standing there naked. I looked down and skin was hanging off my arms. I knew this wasn’t great.”
The water pressure in the bach’s shower was too low to provide meaningful relief, so Innes-Walker ran 300m to the beach and “flopped into the water”.
His girlfriend Zinnia Foster, who had been on a first aid course a fortnight earlier, swung into action, wrapping his burns in plastic wrap and transferring him to a bath outside the bach.
Innes-Walker’s friends called the Coastguard, who summoned the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.
As luck would have it, the chopper was a few minutes away; it was returning from Wellington Hospital to Nelson, a route that took it almost over the island.
“The chopper pulled a big U-ey and landed about 40 feet away, it was a magical moment,” Innes-Walker said.
Just an hour after the accident, Innes-Walker was wheeled into Hutt Hospital’s burns unit.
Six months later, Innes-Walker said he was feeling good. He attributed his recovery to the speed of the rescue: the decision to summon the chopper meant he avoided the trauma of shock, and his burns were treated faster.
“I swear to God, I’m the luckiest man alive.”
He was telling his story to encourage people to support the NBS Rescue Helicopter Appeal, the annual fundraiser every October that topped up the coffers of the vital service.
“You just never know when you’re going to need [the rescue helicopter],” Innes-Walker said. ”But you know damn well if you do, that you want them to be there, and as soon as they can be.”
By Amy Ridout, Nelson Mail
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