Into the Flames

On a hot,still day in july two years ago, Steve Errrebo,54, was headed down a road outside the farming community of Westfall, Kansas. on his way to grain elevator to drop off the last 20-tonne load of the largest wheat crop he'd ever produced,he was feeling especially good.

As he drove,the air was thick with dust kicked up by combines collecting wheat crops on farms along the road. Approaching a turn, he couldn't see more than a few metres in any direction. He slowed his flatbed to 32kph.

Suddenly, the truck lurched forward, slamming Errebo into the steering wheel. Dazed, he pulled over, thinking he had a mechanical problem. But as he stepped out of the rig, he saw a steaming minivan in a field in front of him, its hood smashed in. He realised the van had collided with his truck.

Then he heard someone yell: "save my babies!"

Michele Pasley's husband, Lonnie, was working so the 31 yaers old decided to head to a nearby town to pick up a pizza. She brought along three of her seven children-three-year-old tmins Danika and Justin and one-year-old Loni Marie. On the way back, after strapping the kids into their car seats, she pulled onto the road. Sudeenly a truck's red rear gate loomed up out of the dust and filled the windshield. It was too late to stop.

If the undercarriage of the wheat truck had been just 5 centimetres higher, Pasley would later recount with a shudder, she and her children would have been killed instantly. Instead, it demolished the van's hood and pushed Pasley against the steering wheel.

Through the smoke and dust, Errebo tried to get inside the van. He tugged on the doors, but they were locked. Finally, he saw an opening in the broken glass on the passenger side and picked it loose from the frame. Within seconds he'd cleared enough of it to reach inside. The driver unhooked a little girl from her car seat and handed her to Errebo. H e pulled her through the window, carried her a few metres away, and set her down. Her head was drenched in blood. He made his way back to get another child he'd seen through the window. He pulled out a small boy, also covered in blood.

"Wake up!" he shouted at the boy, scared that he might have a concussion. "Wake up!"

The little boy opened his eyes. At the sama moment, 1.8 metre flames shot out from under the hood, igniting the wheat stubble around the car. Errebo clasped the boy in one arm and ran to the girl on the ground, scooping her up in his other arm. He set them down across the road and ran back to the van.

He had seen at least two other people inside-the mother and an infant girl. Reaching inside one more time, Errebo pulled out the baby and carried her across the road. Left alone in the van now, Pasley heard the crackle of the fire drawing nearer. "Help!" she