Acknowledging a life-saver

O'LEARY - If a tree falls in a forest, even if someone's around, Alvin Yeo is pretty sure it doesn't make a sound.
"I never knew what hit me; never seen it, never heard it," the Knutsford farmer commented Sunday about the tree that crashed down on him in August 2007.
He rhymed off the injuries he sustained in the accident - a gash in his head, five or six broken ribs, two crushed vertebrae, broken leg, three broken toes - and declared, "I'm still here."
Still here, he acknowledges, because of the quick actions of his longtime farmhand, Wayne Arsenault.
Arsenault, who lives in Howlan, has worked for the Yeo family for 40 years.
On Sunday, when Arsenault came off the ice at the Maple Leaf Curling Club, members of the Yeo and Arsenault families were waiting to shower him with a surprise reception.
Ronnie Phillips, chief of the O'Leary volunteer fire department, presented him with a special commendation signed by the Governor General of Canada in recognition of his efforts in saving Alvin Yeo's life. The Yeo family had recommended him for the recognition.
Phillips was part of the rescue team more than 16 months ago.
Firemen, he said, had to cut a trail before they could transport Yeo out of the woods on their rescue sled, but he stressed Arsenault's initial response was critical.
"If he had just tore out of the woods and gotten help I think the outcome
would have been different," Phillips acknowledged.
After doing all he could for his boss, Arsenault called 911 and drove two kilometres out to the road to direct rescuers.
"It was cut down earlier and it was a hanger," said Arsenault, explaining the downed tree was caught up in another tree. He didn't see it fall, but discovered his boss under it.
"I had to make two cuts," said Arsenault, describing how he went about moving the downed tree off of Yeo. "I shoved the short chunk off of him and he kind of peeled over."
"According to Wayne, it hit me on the shoulder and it just dropped me straight down," said Yeo, relaying what he has been told about the accident. During the reception messages from Yeo's children were read thanking Arsenault for quick response.
"Time is very important, especially when there's a tree laying on your chest," added Yeo's wife, Fairley.