I was riding down one of our expressways yesterday. I noticed a car smash into the wall and go spinning across the road directly in front of me. It's funny how you notice the little things if you pay attention. You've all seen the Nascar type crashes like that one on a busy expressway or interstate. BAM! Car parts of all description go flying everywhere and the biggest piece of the car lands somewhere inconvient.

It dawned on me that Mr. Prepared, Christopher Drake, didn't know where the hazzard lights were on my car. I found the button, slammed it home and jumped out of my car (New Hyundai Tiburon, V6---old habits die hard). The driver of the car comes staggering out of the car and starts wandering into traffic before I could even get to him. I finally caught up to him and led him over to the wall opposite the one he slammed into.

I didn't see anyone else in the car but with all the smoke, maybe there could have been someone slumped over. It was likely an electrical fire but you couldn't open the hood to disconnect the battery since the front end of the car was so smashed. The first thing was to get this injured man out of the way of fast moving cars who didn't even see his car most likely, much less him. I asked him if there was anyone else riding with him.

"Uhhh...my baby...my baby is in there..."

Keep in mind that my little one has just turned six months old (Crybaby, as she's called, even though she rarely crys). I made a run for the car. I just knew I'd find a poor hurt baby inside or worse, but you don't dwell on horrors like that when you are trying to fix something fast. The smoke was thick and the front of the car had caught on fire. It was the worst kind of smoke too. It's the plastic kind that burns the hell out of your lungs. Twice in a year I've been lung-burned by that exact kind of smoke!

I pull out my CSAR tool I carry with me and get ready to cut my way to the baby, smash windows, etc. The door could be opened with a few good snatches and through the smoke, I could see a car seat. No baby. I looked in the front seat thinking the baby might have been thrown out of the chair. "Come on, baby, where are you?" I expected the worst since I didn't hear any sounds a baby might make. Maybe the smoke had overtaken it?

I even looked under the seats, no baby. Frustraited, I started to evac and recomfirm with the half unconscious man that his baby was actually in the car. Just then, for some reason, the thought of how much car seats cost came to mind. So I ducked back in the car to wrestle out the car seat and run across the road to the guy who was by now trying to hold himself with the concrete wall. By then plenty of others had stopped to help or just gawk.

"There's no baby in that vehicle," I told him as I sat his car seat next to him.

"He...must be at home then..." the man said shaking the cobwebs from his head.

I told him that at least he got his car seat and that his woman would be glad it didn't burn up in the fire or get carried off by a wrecker. He gave a weak smile and I wished him good luck as I left the scene, headed back to work.

Getting there, I was late seeing someone so I relayed the story to them. You have to guzzle cold water after something like that to at least relieve some of the soarness in your throat. The guy laughed, "you accomplished nothing. You can't use a carseat after it's been in an accident! Insurance would have covered it anyway."

That was a huge let down.