| 'First Aid Training helped to save my life...' Doctors gave Tim Attwater a 20 per cent chance of surviving after an exploding can of paint thinners turned him into a human fireball. The freak accident happened when a can of thinners exploded in his shed leaving him with about 85 per cent burns to his body. He was in a medically induced coma for seven weeks. Tim said: ‘I went into the shed to check on a secure fire and was about four metres away from the thinners can, which was less than half full. The heat from the fire caused the container to explode. The liquid hit me and I turned into a fireball. I got out of the shed and I stopped, dropped and rolled and used my hands to shield my face from the flames. I shed my clothes as I was going, and then got into the shower with warm running water whilst Sharon called the Ambulance’. Tim undertook his Ambulance Victoria First Aid course in Bendigo. He said: ‘It was a very successful course with lots of useful information. I did it because I felt I should know what to do in case something happened to my boys. I found the sessions about slings and bandages especially interesting – the section on burns also came in useful!” Fiancee Sharon said; ‘It is a really good idea to gain a First Aid qualification and if you already have one, make sure you do a refresher from time to time.’ It has been a slow road to recovery for Tim. He has had skin grafts and requires further surgery to his hands and burns. H also has to wear a protective body suit 23 hours a day. But without the professional expertise of the Bendigo paramedics, the hospital staff and Tim’s First Aid course, it all could have been so much worse.
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