Editorial

Few West Australians could forget the horrific crash that claimed the life of Hannah Fraser and the imagery of her six children trapped inside her upturned car.

Fewer of us could confidently say we could cope with being there to help in the aftermath.

The fact there are people in our community willing to take on that responsibility, should not be lost on us.

Neither should the fact that we rarely ever see or hear of their heroics — a detail that speaks volumes about them as people.

One such case is Ian MacGregor.

Mr MacGregor was first on scene to that crash some 12 months ago, a wreckage he described as “absolute carnage.”

Neither he or anyone from the rescue team that day has spoken publicly since and people like Mr MacGregor would no doubt say they were just doing their job.

But when your “job” is voluntary and you’ve been doing it for 30 years, it’s definitely more than that.

Mr MacGregor fought back tears as he described how the team worked to free the children from the wreckage and have four of them safely airlifted to hospital.

To cope with responding to scenes like this Mr MacGregor said he has to remind himself that he has not put them in the situation.