Truck Hero Award
The Bridgestone/Firestone Canadian Truck Hero Award recognizes a
Canadian professional truck driver who demonstrates courage, quick
thinking and integrity in the face of emergency. This award has honoured
drivers for over forty years. It is presented with the support of the
Canadian Trucking Alliance and is presented at the annual convention of
the Ontario Trucking Association
Entry forms are available from www.truckhero.ca
The 2007 Bridgestone/Firestone Canadian Truck Hero Award was presented
to Tim Ferguson, Nearing an overpass, Ferguson reacted swiftly as a
pedestrian, in an attempted suicide (according to police reports),
suddenly ran out into the lane in which he was traveling. Ferguson
braked and brought his truck to a stop on the shoulder of the highway,
in front of the pedestrian. He then led the distraught individual to the
safety of his truck, but the person promptly jumped out and headed back
toward the highway.
As the pedestrian tried to jump in front of oncoming traffic, Ferguson
bravely gave chase across the lanes, tried to motion for cars to stop,
and finally caught and calmed down the individual before getting the
person back to the truck. According to the police report, Mr.
Ferguson’s actions and driving skills prevented this incident from
becoming a fatal motor vehicle accident.
Previous Recipients:
2006 - Shawn Berube of St. Paul. Alberta was named the 2006
Bridgestone/Firestone Canadian Truck Hero; his keen sense of smell and
his swift reaction to an imminent danger saved a life of a fellow truck
driver.
2005 - Kevin Harris, a Kamloops, B.C., trucker who fought off flames
and defied danger so that he could provide comfort to a dying fellow
driver he had met only 10 minutes earlier.
2004 - Phil Tarrant (Abbotsford, B.C.), who saved the life of a woman
in danger of drowning when her car flipped into a water-filled ditch.
Tarrant drove his truck as close as possible to the partially submerged
car and, with the help of a motorist who was also at the collision
scene, hooked the crane’s line to the car. He proceeded to deftly
guide the crane over the live power lines – an extremely delicate
and dangerous operation - and lifted the car about four feet out of the
water, so that the occupant could breathe until emergency personnel
arrived.
2003 - Clifford Ripley of Spruce Grove, Alberta and Paul Pelletier of
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, saved the life of a man trapped in a burning
vehicle. Unable to open the passenger door, Ripley grabbed a chain and
attached it from his truck to the van door, wrenching the door open.
Both Ripley and Pelletier then cut the man free from his seatbelt and
pulled him to safety only seconds before the vehicle burst into
flames.
2002 - Martin Baumber (Woodslee, Ontario), saved the lives of two
women at the site of a serious collision. After stopping and securing
his truck, Baumber proceeded to run, fire extinguisher in hand, to one
of the vehicles involved that had burst into flames. There were five
people trapped in the vehicle. Baumber was able to pull two women to
safety from the burning vehicle.
2001 - Corey Vaughan (Nestleton, Ontario) helped save the life of a
minivan passenger involved in the multi-vehicle collision which claimed
the lives of three other people.
1999 - Richard Nadeau (Fleurimont, Quebec) saved two people from a
burning minivan that had crashed into a light signal post. After he
pulled a woman out of the vehicle, he returned to cut an unconscious man
free of his seatbelt and rescued him. Hearing there was a third person
in the minivan, Nadeau went to the burning van a third time but was
driven back by the flames before he could locate the couple's son who
perished in the incident. Nadeau suffered second-degree burns to his
hands and face.
1998 - Mark Savarie and Mike Asselin (Sudbury, Ontario) helped rescue
the driver of a burning rig carrying explosives. With imminent danger of
a major explosion, Asselin evacuated the area while Savarie and others
pulled the driver from the rig. When the transport exploded it blew a
huge hole in the highway, causing some $5 million damage - but no
serious injuries to anyone involved.
1997 - Brian Cage (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario) saved the life of a
one-year-old child who was a passenger in a minivan that lost control on
the highway and was about to burst into flames.
1996 - Bob Dixon (Craik, Saskatchewan) was rear-ended by another rig
which burst into flames behind him. Dixon steered his truck to the side
of the road, ran to the rig with a fire extinguisher, put out the fire
and pulled the two occupants to safety.
1995 - Daniel Allard (Elliot Lake, Ontario) saved three people from a
car that had spun off the icy highway into a shallow river running
through a ditch at the side of the road.
1994 - David White (Edmonton, Alberta) rescued two people from a
partially submerged station wagon that had veered off the road in front
of him and hit a ditch at 85 mph, sending it over the highway into a
creek.
1993 - Doug Chappel (Saint John, New Brunswick) saved the lives of
two people trapped in a burning car that had been thrown into the ditch
following a head-on collision.
1992 - Grant Vincent (Wingham, Ontario) helped save five disabled
passengers from a van that caught fire following an accident. Vincent
doused the fire with his fire extinguisher and pried open the doors so
he and others could enter the van and remove the passengers.
1991 - Gary Hare (Hamilton, Ontario) reacted quickly to save three
people from a car that had landed on its roof in a ditch after rolling
several times when the driver lost control.
1990 - Randy Adamson saved the life of a crane operator in Langley,
BC when the vehicle became electrically charged as the boom hit a
14,400-volt power line and was engulfed in flames.
1989 - Brian Fiebig (Ottawa, Ontario) saved a 3-year old who had been
pinned in the rear seat of a car that had collided with a garbage truck.
With both vehicles in flames and the back half of the car crushed under
the truck, Fiebig used the loading forks of his truck to drag the car
away and allow the child to be pulled to safety.
1988 - Clifford Lammeren provided aid for two people trapped in a car
following an accident near Cold Lake, AB. When the first ambulance
arrived, he helped get a woman out of the car and then drove the
ambulance 35 miles to hospital.
1987 - Denis Portelance (Kenogami, Ontario) called for help on his CB
and then went to help the injured when a half-tone van lost control on
an icy road and crashed into a rock cut. Portelance stemmed the leak
from a broken propane tank and gave first aid to five trapped victims
while waiting for emergency crews to arrive.
1986 - Brian Shepley (Essex, Ontario) and Clarence George Bailie,
Blythe, ON were operating tractor trailers when a small passenger car
passed them, swerved off the road into two trees and burst into flames.
Shepley and Bailie put out the fire and got the unconscious, seriously
injured driver out of the car, thus saving her life.
1985 - Gordon Brinkman (Kenora, Ontario) reacted immediately to save
a fellow trucker from drowning when his rig went off the road into an
icy lake leaving the cab completely submerged under water.
1984 - John Kriticos (Acton, Ontario) showed total disregard for his
own safety when he rescued a 19-month old baby from the rear seat of a
burning car.
1983 - Allan Strank (British Columbia) found an overturned burning
car in a ditch with several people inside. He pulled a man, woman and
small baby from the car. Then he and one of the rescued accident victims
lifted the car to free two other children. All five survived the
crash.
Prior to 1983, the Truck Hero Award was presented by Dayton Tires,
now a division of Bridgestone/Firestone Canada.
1982 - Terry Kennedy, Barrie, ON
1981 - Gordon Rasmussen, Calgary, AB
1980 - Rolf Fischer, Calgary, AB
1979 - Leendert P. Viscer, Sardis, BC
1978 - Paul Kaiser, Burlington, ON
1977 - William Alton, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
1976 - Fred Reber, St. Catharines, ON
1975 - Frank Preis, Golden, BC
1974 - Ken Bishop, Lloydminster, BC
1973 - Gerry Smith, Richmond, BC
1972 - Ray Hamblin, Scarborough, ON
1971 - Ted Daubreville, Toronto, ON
1970 - Perry White, Brighton, ON
1969 - Donald Gordon Myers, Ottawa, ON (posthumously)
1968 - Raymond Merrill Day & Kenney John Bartlett, Maugerville,
NB
1967 - Ronald Stewart Young, Nanaimo, BC
1966 - Anthony Thornton, Willowdale, ON
1965 - Richard Laverdiere, Quebec City, QC
1964 - Arthur Hewson, Brockville, ON
1963 - Bill Pirlot, Regina, SK
1962 - Gerald Christie, Fort Erie, ON
1961 - James Hampton, West Hill, ON
1960 - David Walker, Brampton, ON
1959 - Glenn Austin, Dunnville, ON
1958 - Wilmer Nuhn, Gorrie, ON
1957 - Lonas Fraser, New Glasgow, NS
1956 - Richard Lanthier, Montreal, QC
Media Contact:
Rebecka Torn
rebecka.torn@ontruck.org
416-249-7401 , Ext. 224