Gildardo Becerra left Island Market at 9 p.m.

At midnight, he was found trapped inside his crushed minivan off Crow Valley Road, conscious and alert, waiting to be saved.

“It’s quite possible he may have been trapped in the car for some time before someone found him,” said Sheriff Bill Cumming.

Orcas Fire and Rescue responded to the crash at three minutes to midnight on Wednesday, Dec. 28. What they discovered was unlike anything they had ever seen. The vehicle was off the road, upside down, and crushed by a tree. The top of the car was ripped off, Becerra was face down in the mud, and his body was trapped inside the vehicle.

“This is one of the most complex extrications I’ve ever been involved in,” said division chief Patrick Shepler. “We used every tool on the rescue truck to take the car apart around the driver. It was the most wild extrication.”

The process took 75 minutes, 16 responders, and a lot of faith in the tools of the trade: cutters, spreaders, air chisels, high-lift jacks, air bags, cribbing, hard and soft patient protection, and more.

“I am so proud of our rescue division,” Shepler said. “They train constantly on extrication techniques that we rarely use. We used every one that night.”

Becerra, 36, was conscious and alert while his car was dismantled. He was treated inside the vehicle and immediately flown off by helicopter as the last piece of the car was removed. The only hiccup was the phone lines. At the time of the accident, Eastsound phones were reportedly down. Someone in Skagit County heard about the emergency over the scanner, and called for airlift.

One reason he made it off the island that night is the existence of a little-known Orcas group of Ham radio operators, flying with the radar under the acronym ARES (amateur radio emergency services). When responders tried to phone Bellingham to arrange an Airlift Northwest flight for Becerra, they couldn’t get through. (CenturyLink had not returned a call to the Sounder as of press time about why the phone lines were down.) According to ARES, cell phone calls to locations outside of San Juan County must be routed through land lines, so when land lines are down it can make cell phones ineffective as well.

Fortunately for Becerra, just a few months prior, San Juan Island members of ARES had installed a radio in the San Juan County 911 Dispatch Center that is capable of operating on the statewide emergency radio network.

Cumming said the cause of the single car accident is unknown until he can talk to Becerra, but alcohol was not involved and the driver was wearing a seatbelt. Becerra sustained multiple injuries, and was flown to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was stabilized. He is currently at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Shepler said it is believed he will make a recovery.

“He is expected to have a long and costly recovery but he is lucky to be alive,” Shepler said.