By Bonny Burrows
An Upper Beaconsfield resident who made national headlines after becoming trapped under a 1.5 tonne power pole has “no idea” why people are so interested in his story.
Odie Barwick, 42, was awaiting a delivery of garden mulch when he became trapped under the eight-metre hardwood pole he was trying to clear from his Norbury Road driveway shortly before 9am on 23 September.
Speaking to the Gazette from his Dandenong Hospital bed on 25 September, Mr Barwick said he was setting up some braces so that he could move the pole off the driveway with an excavator when things went wrong.
“When moving one of the props, the pole moved unexpectedly and rolled down hill into my leg – only a metre or so – but that was enough to snap my shin bone,” Mr Barwick said.
“The pole carried on rolling, coming to rest against the props/braces, with my foot crushed underneath.”
Luckily, Mr Barwick, who is an engineering manager, had his mobile phone in his pocket.
“I always carry my mobile with me – on our 20-acre block when working with machinery, chainsaws, livestock, anything can happen,” Mr Barwick said.
“I rang my wife who was in the house, told her I’d broken my leg and to call an ambulance.”
Initially, Mr Barwick thought he could get his neighbour Rod to use the nearby excavator to move the pole off his leg “but the triple zero operator said to do no such thing, so Rod moved the machine out the way”.
Despite the pain and weight crushing his leg, Mr Barwick’s mind then turned to the impending mulch delivery.
Looking back at it now, he sees the humour in an otherwise serious situation.
“I then thought I’d better cancel the delivery of mulch as there were going to be a couple of emergency vehicles around,” Mr Barwick said.
“I rang him, and tried to explain, but I guess I wasn’t very coherent.
“He is local to Upper Beac, and soon worked out what was going on based on what was happening on social media.”
It took an army of emergency service crews in a multi-agency joint effort about 30 minutes to free Mr Barwick’s leg from under the pole.
A CFA spokesperson said seven fire trucks from Pakenham, Nar Nar Goon, Dandenong and Upper Beaconsfield attended the scene.
Mr Barwick’s neighbour also counted two police vehicles, three ambulances, one SES and a handful of other marked vehicles.
Mr Barwick said there were 45 emergency service personnel on site in what he described as a “phenomenal” team effort.
He praised the work of all those involved, from the triple zero call taker to the ambulance crew which took him to hospital.
In particular he highlighted the work of one firefighter as exceptional.
“They were rightfully concerned about making the site safe for them to work in first, as this pole could possibly carry on rolling.
“Despite this risk, one CFA bloke called Rob Irving knelt beside me to support me as I was lying in a very awkward position,” Mr Barwick said.
The incident left Mr Barwick with a fractured tibia and heavy bruising to his foot.
He underwent surgery on Sunday at Dandenong Hospital and now has a titanium rod in his bone.
Mr Barwick is now learning to walk with crutches, which he will need for the next four to six weeks.
He said it could have been a lot worse.
“Very luckily, there was a small branch on the ground next to my foot taking a lot of the weight of the pole, plus I was wearing safety boots, otherwise I could well have a broken foot too,” Mr Barwick said.
Despite the media storm following the incident, Mr Barwick said he didn’t think too much of the accident.
“I’ve still really no idea why everyone was so interested – I guess it was a much worse accident than I thought, Mr Barwick said.
“The emergency response teams were the real heroes – potentially putting themselves in danger to help me.
“They were all calm and professional, and at no point did I feel unsafe.
“I’ve been able to thank the Upper Beaconsfield CFA through their Facebook page already, but I’d like to pass on my thanks to the paramedics too, whoever they were.”
