NORTH ANDOVER — At 6 feet 8 inches tall and about 320 pounds it would not be all that inappropriate to compare Christopher Spanks to Paul Bunyan, who in American folklore performed feats of superhuman strength as a lumberjack.
Spanks, 48, towers over other public works employees at the North Andover depot where he works.
He's the department's heavy equipment operator, having spent 23 years driving front-end loaders and plows around town.
But even Spanks surprised himself with his strength when he and another man lifted a 25-30 foot maple tree off the hood of a burning vehicle that crashed off a road in Oxford, Maine last month.
"We did it because we had to," Spanks said matter-of-factly in an interview this week.
Spanks then extinguished the car fire and administered first aid to the woman and her 8-year-old son in the wrecked Jeep Cherokee.
Spanks said he never found out who the other Samaritan was but described him as much smaller than he.
"I'm not sure the two could do it again if you just went out and asked them to do it," Oxford Fire Chief Scott Hunter said yesterday, also marveling at the strength needed to lift the tree.
Spanks and his wife, Gail DeLucia, both of Methuen, were heading up Route 26 to their cabin in Bethel, Maine, on the morning of Aug. 12 when they watched as an oncoming Jeep Cherokee crested the hill and hit a telephone pole.
"The car never came back on to the road," Spanks said.
Authorities said the vehicle, driven by Jessica Thurston, 28, of Bethel, traveled 600 feet through front yards along the route after the initial collision.
"I just figured, well someone's having a heart attack and they just pegged the gas pedal," Spanks said.
Spanks said the Jeep then crashed into a maple tree, splitting it in half, and coming to a stop in a great cloud of dust.
"(Then there was) all of a sudden a burst of flame," Spanks said.
The car caught fire and lit the tree on fire. Spanks rushed over and worked with another man to move the burning tree. Another person showed up with a fire extinguisher, handing it to Spanks.
"I never put out fires except when I go camping," Spanks said.
Spanks said he turned his attention to the backseat where 8-year-old Matthew Thurston was seriously injured.
Spanks, who took a 12-week emergency medical technician course about two years ago, said he had never before been in a situation like that.
Spanks said his training took over and he felt like he had tunnel vision. He started applying first aid to the boy while talking to his mother, who was trapped in the front seat.
Paramedics arrived in no more than 10 minutes, Spanks said.
Chief Hunter said yesterday the boy remains in serious condition with brain trauma at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. His mother sustained minor injuries.
Spanks yesterday asked that people keep Matthew Thurston in their "thoughts and prayers."
Spanks, who is also a high school baseball umpire, said he's "no Superman," and doesn't mind the comparison to Paul Bunyan, but is just glad he could help.
Spanks said if he and his wife had departed a little earlier or a little later, he might not have been at the scene of the accident.
"Thank God everything happened the way it did," Spanks said. "So many things could have happened differently."
North Andover DPW Director Bruce Thibodeau called Spanks a conscientious worker and a caring guy.
Earlier this month, the North Andover Board of Selectmen gave Spanks a Certificate of Commendation.
"Your immediate response, knowledge and willingness to assist people in distress brings great credit upon yourself, the Division of Public Works and the Town of North Andover," the commendation says.
Up until yesterday, Chief Hunter in Oxford said he did not know Spanks was one of the two men who came to the rescue, and that he intends to send his own letter of thanks.
"He potentially saved a couple lives there," Hunter said.
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