Orland Park Woman Airlifted From Crash Aided By Ex-Firefighter

ORLAND PARK, IL — The family of an Orland Park woman who was rescued and airlifted from the scene of a serious crash last week on Interstate 294 in Northbrook is crediting a former volunteer firefighter with helping save her life.

Frank Visconti, 53, a lifelong Lake Forest resident and owner of Visconti Foods, was driving Thursday afternoon a few yards behind the scene of a violent traffic crash in the southbound lanes of the tollway.

The 30-year-old driver had just crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer parked on the side of the Tollway near the Willow Road exit with its hazard lights on, state police said at the time.

Visconti immediately pulled over and jumped out of his car and over to the mangled black Toyota SUV. His training kicked in from his experience as a paid on call firefighter more than two decades ago with the recently disbanded Knollwood Fire Department, he said.

"When I first came to the car, people were saying she was dead. I didn't believe it. She looked up at me with those eyes and just said, 'Please help me. Please help me.' I don't know where I got the strength to pull the hood off the vehicle and get into the car," Visconti told Patch. "She touched my heart. She really did, and I was not going to leave her. No frickin' way was I going to leave her."

Crushed by the impact, the driver had suffered a fractured skull and was bleeding heavily from her head. Visconti pulled apart pieces of the dashboard, put pressure on her wound and kept up a conversation with the critically injured woman until Northbrook Fire Department paramedics arrived to extricate her from the vehicle.

Rescuers determined she would need to be taken to hospital as quick as possible and arranged for a Flight for Life helicopter to land on the expressway. She was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in critical condition, where she underwent several surgeries and is expected to survive with a long road to recovery.

Visconti and the woman have remained in touch through daily phone calls and hospital visits since the crash, he said.

"There's always that one that touches your heart, and this girl touched my heart, and I'm going to be there for her," Visconti said. "We were talking in the hospital and I said, 'As soon as you learn how to walk again, we're going to have a disco party at my house, I promise you.'"

Visconti said he still remains in contact with some of his fellow former Knollwood firefighters, who drop by his Lake Forest restaurant, R & V Italian Market and Deli on Laurel Drive. He said he was extremely disappointed in the closing the 71-year-old volunteer department, which shuttered in a deal approved by a divided three-member Rockland Fire Protection District board prior to its conversion to an elected body this year.

"Because of some political stuff, they closed it down and put the residents at risk," Visconti said, describing the former department as a major asset to the area. "Having volunteers living in the same community and helping out the community, it was a family, and they broke up the family."

Family members of the who survived the crash with Visconti's help said his quick assistance that day helped save her life, telling WGN-TV they hoped to spotlight his quick actions.

Earlier: Serious Injury On I-294 As SUV Collides With Tractor-Trailer