Donald Costin

Life's Learnings

On Saturday afternoon August 20, 2001 I was driving on my way home to Chilliwack having helped my son move from Burnaby to Hope

Unfortunately, the gas line in my truck fractured, and raw gas spilled onto the hot engine, which stalled because it was not getting any gas. When I tried to restart the engine the usual sparks let out by the starter caused the vaporized gas to ignite, and then “boom”. In an instant the cab of my truck filled with fire and I was swallowing flames!

Struggling to exit the vehicle seemed impossible. Pulling on the release buckle on the seatbelt, which became stuck, was unbearable as it was red hot and eventually left severe scars from secondary burns on my right hand. I felt like I was a hostage in my own vehicle.

By now, I was drifting in and out of conscientiousness and found myself steering the truck into a cow pasture. Finally after many attempts the seat buckle released, I escaped from the vehicle with my body aflame and barrel rolled across Prest Road.

Coming to rest in the ditch on the opposite side of the road, my burning body set the tall, dry grass on fire. Surprisingly, I felt no pain.

At this point passers by began to gather, and as is often the case, they just stared at me in fear not knowing what to do.

My wife June, who had been following me in her vehicle, was understandably horrified, and immediately offered a hand to pull me from the ditch. Given I was now in shock I refused her help saying that “I was fine".

I was hardly all right! When I jumped from my truck I hit the ground at about 20 miles per hour, landing on my left shoulder. This caused the humorous to fracture into three pieces and to dislocate from the socket. Without my wife who was the only one who thought to pull me out of the burning ditch, I would have suffered a great deal more.

Paramedics arrived quickly and they too, like the onlookers were motionless. It seemed that the paramedics were afraid to douse the flames from my burning body with water as they were paralyzed by the myth that water spreads fires that are fed by gasoline. They were amazed as my wife peeled burning cloth (and skin) from my chest.

Eventually they loaded me into the ambulance and took me to Chilliwack General Hospital. There I was assessed, and because they felt they could not do the necessary tracheal dilation and skin grafting, I was transported to VGH Burn Unit. That’s all I remember until I woke up 21 days later.

While in the Burn Unit, my left wrist had no pulse; amputation was considered. Fortunately it was discovered that an artery near the shoulder had been severed. Vascular surgery was performed including migrating a section of a thigh blood vessel to rejoin the artery. The problem was solved; the left arm was spared. Next I was put into a morphine-induced coma to prevent my airway from collapsing from the burns it suffered.

Towards the end of 21 days in the coma, I contracted pneumonia and then Sepsis. As I emerged from the coma I discovered that my humorous was fastened together by 14 stainless screws, and my chest completely grafted with skin harvested from my thighs and calves.

I was not expected to live; and my beloved wife and advocate June suffered a stress breakdown as a result.

I developed claustrophobia as a result of being trapped in the burning vehicle, I still fear closed spaces, seat belts, elevators, locked car doors and even having the bedroom door closed at night. I can’t relax while someone is cooking and I’m in another room, and find the heat and flame of the gas fireplace to be worrisome.

I recommend to other survivors who face this challenge to find the courage to watch an open fire, like a campfire in a provincial park, or the natural gas fireplace at home. I had several visits to my Psychologist and talked about these fears, but think it is better to share this fear with other survivors on FACEBOOK where you can obtain real insights and support from those who know the intensity of this fear.

There were lessons to be learned from this accident, and I feel we need to continue to re-educate the public – as not all gasoline fires are propagated by water and most are extinguishable by water.

As an energetic person of 71 years, I am continually learning and volunteering. Present projects that I am involved with include:

Organizing and participating in campaigns to clean-up our rivers and to pick up garbage strewn alongside forestry access roads

Finally, I think it important to keep our sense of humor in spite of the trauma we have experienced. Certainly June and I have had a few laughs over a few moments that involved other well-meaning people. In the end, it is good to inject humor into the healing process.... as well as continue to be a vital member of the community. We never stop learning no matter what our age if we choose to move forward in our lives.

By: Donald Costin

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