BIG LAKE — As car accidents go, it was horrific, but what made it noteworthy for this Mat-Su Borough community is the response.

In the late afternoon July 1, Big Lake medics and rescue responders were called to Mile 1 Big Lake Road where a car had skidded and rolled several hundred feet. Six people were in the car, Big Lake Fire Chief Bill Gamble said. Five were ejected from the car — in Gamble’s words, “strewn along the ditch” — and one was trapped inside.

In describing the accident, Gamble makes it clear this wasn’t an average accident, or even an average rollover. The chief described the scene as “horrific,” listing off a host of injuries dealt to the various victims, including broken bones, lacerations and head injuries, including one he described as akin to a scalping. Some of the victims lost fingers. Gamble was the first emergency responder to arrive on scene, but that doesn’t mean he was alone.

“Upon my arrival the citizen caregivers were controlling bleeding, trying to manage the injuries, calming the patients and caring for the person still trapped in the car,” Gamble says in an e-mail about the event.

In a follow-up interview, Gamble expanded on his thoughts.

“To see ordinary citizens in a situation where there was that much blood and that much carnage step up and do what they did, ... it was pretty remarkable,” he said.

That sort of help from competent passersby is unusual, not just in the Borough but pretty much everywhere, said the Borough’s deputy director of emergency services, Clint Vardeman.

“I would say it sounds like it is unlike the majority of emergency scenes, which are quite often very chaotic and people aren’t sure what they should or should not be doing,” Vardeman said.

Gamble also heaped praise on the emergency responders. “We treated, loaded and transported all six patients within 38 minutes from the 911 page for help,” he said.

Alaska State Troopers and Houston Police also did an outstanding job, Gamble said. At some point a group of intoxicated people showed up, worried they might know one of the accident victims. They started getting loud, then hostile, when they weren’t allowed close to the scene. Gamble said he started inching over toward the cops.

“I thought it was going to take several of us to subdue at least one of the individuals,” he said.

But troopers and Houston police handled it with aplomb.

“They kept the crowd cool and they kept it controlled and they helped us get our work done,” Gamble said.

That night, Gamble wrote the e-mail quoted above and sent it to Borough officials and assembly members, including Cindy Bettine, Big Lake’s representative on the Borough Assembly. Bettine added her take and passed it along to area residents. Since then, the community has been buzzing about how Big Lake residents responded in an emergency situation.

“My e-mail has generated many comments from Big Lake residents wanting to know more about the accident,” Bettine said. “I’ve received e-mails from people that helped direct traffic or knew someone that assisted.”

Bettine said that Big Lake is a tight-knit community. Folks understand the medics coming to help are volunteers, paid only when responding to calls. That willingness to lend a hand, she said, seems to be contagious.

“Our emergency services system is operated on volunteerism, which create[s] a willingness to also contribute to public safety,” Bettine said.

All six of the car’s occupants were taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the Houston Police Department reports.

“The exact cause for the accident is still under investigation, but alcohol is believed to be involved,” the report says.

Calls to the department were not returned as of press time and the released report does not include names of those involved in the accident.

“I have never been as impressed and proud of our citizens and what an incredible bunch of professional responders we have,” Gamble said in the e-mail.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.