Smith rushes to aid neighbor

Like many other Vandalia residents, Christopher Smith was watching the onset of Sunday evening’s thunderstorm. He knew that it was going to be a big storm when he saw lightning strike just a short distance from his home.

Instead of running for cover, however, Smith ran to help a neighbor.

Smith said that he and a friend were at his house in the 1400 block of North Seventh Street, listening to a scanner to get information about the weather.

After going outside, Smith saw lightning hit a large tree just a few feet north of his house. The tree landed on his neighbor’s house.

Smith, who said he has experience as a firefighter and emergency medical responder in two counties in Maryland, said, “My first instinct was to run next door and go inside, to see if anybody was in the house.”

He quickly found Brenda Nichols, who was in a bedroom in the southwest corner of the home, just below where the large tree had landed.

“I got her outside, then took her to my house,” Smith said, adding that he had already placed a 911 call for assistance from medical personnel.

“I couldn’t tell at first if she was physically hurt or just emotionally shaken,” he said. “I checked her vitals and explained to her that  help was on the way.

“She didn’t appear to be physically injured, but I’ve been involved in a lot of situations where a person doesn’t appear to have injuries, but has internal bleeding or some type of injury that isn’t visible.

Nichols was taken to Fayette County Hospital for observation, and her brother said on Monday morning that she was doing well.

“She wasn’t injured,” said Roy Nichols. “She was just scared to death when it happened.

“Thank goodness for the young man who ran over and took care of her,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t reacted so quickly.”