Renfrew, Ont. paramedic chief jumps into action during Toronto plane crash

Mike Nolan, the chief paramedic in Renfrew County, was at Pearson Airport to meet a friend when he found himself helping passengers injured in a major crash.

What should have been a routine pickup at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Monday, became a harrowing day of action and bravery for Renfrew County paramedic chief Mike Nolan.

Nolan, who has an over 30-year career as a paramedic and also serves as the vice president of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs, was at Pearson airport picking up Minnesota-based friend Pete Carlson arriving on Endeavor Flight 4819, who was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a conference in Toronto.

The flight crash landed on arrival at the airport just before 2:15 p.m., injuring 18 people and causing no fatalities.

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Nolan recalled waiting in the airport for Carlson as flights arrived late because of the weather.

“As the flight inbound was late, I spent some time toward the end of the runway watching planes come and go, trying to figure out what was going on,” he said in an interview with CTV News Ottawa.

Nolan then saw Carlson’s flight arriving and later saw a plume of black smoke coming from the runway, but didn’t know that it was his plane at first.

“As a result, I reached out, almost in disbelief, to Pete via text to say, ‘heads up there’s a plane that’s crashed and just want to make sure that you’re okay.’ A few minutes later, he got back to me and said, ‘no that’s my plane that crashed and I’m standing in the middle of the runway.’”

He said his first reaction was to reassure Carlson, who had suffered a head injury from the crash. He then decided to see what he could do to help.

“Through reassurance and over the next couple of minutes, I spoke with the local paramedics chief, to let him know what I saw and reassured him that I would be able to assist and that I had a personal friend on that flight,” he said.

Nolan moved to the staging area being set up to care for the passengers onboard, where he, along with Peel region paramedics, helped care for people with less serious injuries.

Nolan praised the work of the Peel paramedics, noting they did an “exceptional job” in managing the situation.

“Having 18 complex patients requiring hospitalizing is a herculean effort unto itself,” Nolan said.

“By being able to take some of the pressure off of that and being able to support lower acuity patients, Pete included, I feel like I was able to contribute in a positive way without getting in the way.”

Nolan noted similarities to major incidents he dealt with in his career as a paramedic, including the tornadoes in Dunrobin and Calabogie in 2018 and major car accidents on Highway 417.

“The emotional toll that something like this has on everyone can’t be understated,” he said. “Not everybody shows the true extent of their injuries both emotional or physical right away.”

Nolan says the absence of fatalities in the incident is due largely to the first responders that came to the scene and assisted passengers within minutes.

“Big thanks to all the paramedics and all the services that pitched in, they did an incredible job,” he said. “I really believe they can be really credited with the fact that nobody did die from this crash.”