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Farmer pulls woman and her three children out of a burning minivan

WESTFALL -- Steve Errebo was hot, tired and satisfied Wednesday, heading to the grain elevator with his last load of wheat, when something hit the back of his antique truck.

"I was just idling along, about 20 mile an hour, getting ready for this 90-degree turn up ahead. I felt this impact and it shoved me into the steering wheel," he said. "I thought maybe the axles had fallen off."

He stopped the truck on Grain Drive and hopped out. After the dust cleared on the hot, still day, he noticed a minivan in the ditch.

"I heard a gal screaming for help, 'Save my babies.' She really had a set of vocal cords on her," Errebo said.

Over the next few minutes, the farmer and Lincoln County commissioner pulled three small children and their mother, Michele Pasley, 31, of Tescott, from the burning van. The wheat stubble field, two miles north of Westfall, also was on fire.

Two of the children, 3-year-old twins Danika and Justin Pasley, ended up at Via Christi Regional Medical Center, St. Francis Campus, in Wichita. Thursday, the hospital listed Danika in critical condition and Justin in fair condition. Justin had been taken to Ellsworth and flown to Wichita from there. Their father, Lonnie Pasley, said Danika was taken to Salina Regional Health Center and later flown to Wichita.

Late Thursday afternoon, Lonnie Pasley said Justin was due to be released. He said Danika's condition was "improving, but she's not out of the woods yet." She suffered head and lung injuries.

Loni Pasley, a 1-year-old girl, and Michele Pasley were listed by the patrol as having possible injuries and were taken to Salina Regional Health Center, but Lonnie Pasley said neither was treated. Errebo was not injured.

The Pasleys said they had visited with Errebo's wife, Marilyn, and intended to call Steve and thank him.

"She hit him, but he turned around and saved my wife and kids," Lonnie Pasley said.

The couple, and Errebo, commended the emergency workers.

Lincoln County Undersheriff Les Richards hailed Errebo as a "hero" for saving four lives.

"For a common citizen, he went way above the call of duty to help," Richards said.

The rescue took about three minutes, but in recounting the ordeal, Errebo said, "It seemed like it was in slow motion."

He scoffed at any mention of heroism.

"You're just glad they're all alive," he said. "I'm glad it worked out."

Started pulling out kids

After hopping from his truck, Errebo said it took a few seconds for the cloud of dust on the gravel road to dissipate. From about 200 feet away, he noticed the front end of the minivan was destroyed, steaming. Michele Pasley was hollering at him.

"I went around to the passenger side and there was a bunch of kids in the front seat," Errebo said. "I cleared off the busted glass around the window and started pulling kids out."

He sat the first child on the edge of a wheat stubble field, but then realized the stubble was on fire.

"I figured the catalytic converter (on the van) is what started it, maybe some dripping gas, too. Everything was happening so fast," Errebo said. "I ran the kids to the other side of the road, so they'd have a fire break."

Then he heard the mother say she had seven children.

"I said, 'You've got four more in here?' She said 'No, four are at home.' I was relieved," Errebo said.

'I can't get you out'

Only Michele Pasley remained in the van, but none of the doors would open.

"The fire really got to going. She was left in there," Errebo said.

He snapped the driver's side window off flush with the top of the door and told the woman, "I can't get you out. You're gonna have to help."

Working together, they found a way.

"I backed up, squatted down, and put my butt against the door. I told her to put her arms around my neck and lock her fingers. I walked forward and she hung on really tight," Errebo said. "When I pulled her out, the front end was in flames."

As they gathered on the road, he said, the van's tires began to explode.

"We ran back toward my wheat truck. We didn't have any communication. The only thing I knew was to go to Westfall. ... We loaded up in the truck," Errebo said.

Making the kids laugh

He was able to joke with the children, and was able to make one of them laugh.

"They were all really super kids," Errebo said.

Undersheriff Richards said farmer Don Little was in a tractor in a nearby field. Little noticed the truck parked a short distance from the minivan and saw the fire.

After visiting with Errebo, Little used his phone to call 911, Richards said. Then Little and his wife, who was in another tractor, used their discs to till a fire break into the stubble field.

Errebo took the Pasleys to the fire department in Westfall and stayed with them until EMS arrived.

After dispatchers broadcast the 911 call, Richards said he went straight to the scene, where he saw "a minivan with extensive front-end damage, fully engulfed in flames."

Richards said the crash should serve as a reminder to those traveling rural roads this time of the year.

The seashell necklace

"During harvest time, there's going to be all kinds of trucks, vehicles and farm equipment moving at all different speeds," Richards said. "Some equipment will take up the entire road. We need you to constantly be vigilant. Be a defensive driver. Be prepared."

After leaving the Pasleys in the hands of paramedics, Errebo said he delivered the last load of "the best wheat I ever cut."

And there, on the back of the truck, near the grain gates, was a seashell necklace, which he said probably came from the mini-van.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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