TEMPLE — A local man’s quick action saved the life of his father who was pinned, upside down, in the crushed cab of a loader that caught fire Friday afternoon.

Peter Childs, 52, was trapped beneath the loader when his son, Matt, arrived and ripped open the door, pulling his father out before emergency crews arrived.

Childs was using the loader on Maple Street near the site where Matt is building a house, Peter’s wife, Kathy, said at the scene.

Although the cab was crushed, Peter had just enough room to reach into his pocket for his cell phone and call his son for help, Kathy said.

When the son arrived, the loader had caught fire with Peter pinned inside. Adrenalin must have helped him with the door, Kathy said. He then threw dirt on the fire.

While she was calling for help on their Maple Street home phone, the son called her on her cell phone to tell her Peter was pinned beneath and he needed a fire extinguisher. 

“The 911 operator was so good,” Kathy Childs said. He talked to her and kept her calm as she drove up Maple Street beyond her own home to a hilly portion where the pavement turns to dirt, she said.

“If (Peter) didn’t have his cell phone or was knocked unconscious, we wouldn’t have even known,” she said.

The engine was on fire and gas was pouring from the carburetor, creating the potential for a really bad fire, one of the firefighters said as he cleaned fuel from the dirt.

Childs was checked by a NorthStar Ambulance crew. He was up and standing when firefighters arrived.

Peter’s wife was warned that he’d be sore once his adrenalin calmed down, but he appeared to be fine. The son was checked for burns on his hands.

“The father was trying to help the son,” Temple Fire Chief David True said. 

A skidder was used to pull the loader upright.

“He’s very fortunate,” neighbor Steven Zeh said. “I can’t see how he got out.”

[email protected]