Simon Hong

[opres]

BANG
I open my eyes in shock its 1-04am Sunday morning
In my mind I think not another accident, then confusion, I hear a car reving hard, other cars doing U turns , has a car droped its clutch and broken a axel, thats what I was hoping for. But I know better, a car has hit a tree and hit it hard, I know this sound, for this is not the first time Ive heard this. I live on the Old Pacific hwy Mt White.

A good number of cars where aroung maybe 20 or so, I wasted valuable seconds thinking that there was enough people to help, seconds that I now regret. People were yelling and crying out, so getting dressed now with some urgency I grabed our First Aid kit , Phone, headed out for the ute, up the driveway and onto the road.

I scan the road to make out whats going on. About 10 cars are stopped along the road , both sides, and driving up about 100 mts, a few people running aroung in a frenzy. Just as I approach the car smash, I see flames a small fire has started in the left hand side of the rear parcel shelf. This fire forced out some one who was trying to free the trapped driver. This person who ever it was and known to this blog, is a HERO. Trying to save the life of someone else. The horror of the situation was becoming a reality. Fire ,smoke , yelling and screaming, the car still reving as fast as it could. All in the dark.

FIRE what could I do. No one else could do anything, a small fire extinguisher .9 kg hade been used and was lying on the road emtpy. We had to get that fire out. Someone ran up and asked yelling do I have any fire extinguishers on me , No , but in my shed , so as fast as I could go I was reversing back down the road , heading to the shed. All this happened in about 40 seconds.

Down in the shed looking for as many extinguishers as I could find, how much time did I have, two 9kgs, I had more but scattered around the place, no time, two will do and come back if needed. I roared back up the driveway onto the road and back to the car. About 90 -120 seconds passed.

My heart sank, the car was will alight, I could not believe it , I did not want to believe what I saw. How could the fire spread so quick HOW WHY. In hope I jumped out of my ute one fire extingisher in hand , pin out and away , the first few seconds not much happened just a lot of power, then I remembered , sweep low at the base of the fire , so I did , the fire was abating to a small degree, no one else was near me except the hero, asking what to do , the second fire extinguisher , he grabed it out the ute, first extingisher empty, pin out of number two. I thougth we were getting this fire under control, the car was down off the side of the road and I was praying and hoping that the fire was only on one side of the car, that the driver was still safe. As I lifted up the second extinguisher and looked , the fire had regained all its fury , so into it again , knowing this was all I had, This was all I couid do, In close , I was thinking in desperation, the driver, the driver, the driver. Trying now for fire inside the car again some abatment of the flames was made until I seen a sight that I froze me on the spot , froze my hand on the trigger . A mental picture I wish I could forget.

Life drained from me and I cant remember how I moved away from the car, I think that the other hero bloke helped me. It was still reving and we stood back and watched it burn, knowing what just happened but still not believing it.

Some of the car group were crying , some were angry that they could do no more. The ambulance was first to arrive, fire still ablaze, it hit me that no more could be done, it was over. Fire arrived, then Police. After a short statment I went home.

Not that I could sleep, running the scene over and over in my head, those seconds I lost , no fire exttinguisher on my ute, we had a water truck but it was empty. I know it was not my fault but I feel responsable.

7am I am asked back up to the accident, The car has been pulled up from the roadside and the roof is being cut off. Simon was being removed from his car for the last time. Those forensic police used great care and with the upmost respect went about there job. Seeing the car in the daylight, you could see what happened, corner to fast , oversteered and off the road. The car was loaded on a tilt tray , everyone packed up and went, road reopen. The forensic police were going down to Gosford to debrief the parents.

9am Two 4wds do a u turn in our driveway, I assume it was Simons parents. From my house I could hear crying. May of you have been since, a lot of people must of loved Simon. I cant even imagine the grief, the sorrow, the loss, the waste of this young life.

Im sorry Simon that I failed you , Im sorry that I could do no more for you, Sorry Simon.

paul

[Dave R]

its not ur fault what happaned.... u did as much as u could...

what u did took alot of courage and same with the other ppl that where there...

nothing could have been done without risking the life of another person..

i apreciate u telling the story 2 us in such detail... i hope ppl will c the dangour of 'spitired' driving through the old pac!

thank you once again paul.... You Sir are a HERO aswell! aswell as all the other guyz that where there doing there best 2 help!!!

[josh2.5]

I gotta agree with SHIFTY 100% it took a lot of courage to do what you did and by the sound of things you did more than could ever be expected. Your definitely a hero in my eyes after reading that.

Thanks a lot for your recap of what happened. I cant even imagine what it was like and I bet it was very hard to sit down and type.

Cheers

Josh

[felixR]

that was very emotional..

u are also a hero paul!

[.::F[L]Y::.]

reading that made me reflect on some of the stupid things i have done in the past on road.

You did more than what most people would be willing to do in that type of situation, you had put your own life in danger to help a total stranger. Such an act is hard to come by these days...

[Babalouie]

You're a good man, Paul.

[nam]

You did all that you can do.. of course in retrospect, there were so many things you could've/should've done but it was out of your control.

[Jing]

[scathing]

I am really sorry to hear, Paul. I was the guy who asked you if you had any more extinguishers. It was my 1kg extinguisher lying on the road, empty.

Like you, I never knew Simon. My friends and I came upon them while making my own drive north, although we did know they were in the area since we saw them at Berowra. Like you, when we got there the accident didn't look that serious and enough of his friends were there so we thought it'd be OK...but we thought we'd check "just in case, because it could be us one day".


Like the other guys have said, you are as much of a hero as that unnamed guy by your side.

[[[d a n n y]]]

thanks for all u did mate.
simon was laid to rest on friday..
thanks especially fernando for coming.

[RyanP]

Condolences for your loss, thank you for sharing your story with us mate.

[Harves]

Paul you are a HERO!

Thank you for taking the time to type that, it must of been difficult but I am sure everyone here appreciates it.

[lovesil]

I never imagine reading a paragraph of description can be so emotional for me. You do what you can and you are truely a hero yourself.

Do you think i can Quote your description in my ralliart colt forum? I would definitely like my members to think before they act. Please get back to me.

[Deviliss]

Paul mate what you did was very courageous, you did the best you could. Thank you for sharing your story. You are a HERO mate!!

[Frogger]

Paul... thank you for sharing the story with us. I know it must've been terribly difficult for you to recount that experience. Its very moving to read and hits close to my heart... I went to high school with Simon. I wasn't there to see him on Friday but know many of my friends were to wish farewell.

You did everything you could in that situation, much more than any stranger could ask for. Thank you all that you gave, you are a hero.

[Justin Fox]

Thanks for taking the time out to give us your perspective Paul. I truly do hope this event wakes a few people up to the dangers of "spirited driving" on the OP at night, most of all I hope people realise that there is more to think about than just you. There's your family, your friends and the people, with families like Paul, who live on this road. It's their home and it's sad that they might not feel safe in their own homes due to groups of young people with performance cars at all strange hours of the night driving close to their limits.

[Gorilla]

rip Simon

[doofus]

RIP Simon

[MFN-MAN]

Hey Paul...thank you for coming on and telling your story. As hard as it may have been for us to read it, i'm sure it was twice as hard for you to re-live and write about it. I wish nothing more that you may one day find peace of mind in all this matter. You're actions say more than any words will ever mean!

Please guys, lets not turn this thread into another discussion thread. Whats needed to be said has already been said in TWO threads and everyone has contributed very good points!

Lets just recognise that Paul is one of those people in the world that are so selfless and hope that many people can learn from his actions!

[opres]

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragment , but Im no hero , I just did what all of you would do in the same circumstances. Lovesil, if you want to re-post, thats ok, just 2 things, 1. Respect who my be reading ie family/friends. 2. Bear in mind that everyone knows where I live and weight this up against who it my help.

Thank you all
Paul

[keungleung]

if u didnt care at all and ignored it, then you might not consider urself a hero

but you are a hero, because u did all that you could mate, regardness of it being what others might and might not have done at the time !!

everyone reacts differently, and as long as you did all that you could in that way of thinking, and seriously you did alot more then what most people could have done and reacted in that situation!

HERO ! at least to all of us.

RIP simon.

[denka]

Well done Paul, you cannot give what you cannot give.

RIP Simon.

[sw33tr]

3 cheer for paul

you did what you could and most importantly you didn't walk away thinking theres is more you can do. you chose to help instead of just standing there. well done

[sifoo]

Thank you for everything Paul

RIP Simon, you will never be forgotten.

[eug4emi]

First time i read this.

RIP Simon, and you are a hero Paul.