By the time Hilde Kohl got to work that Thursday morning, she had already been labelled a hero. Not a bad way to start a day.

She was walking to her office when…

(Hilde picks up the story:) "It’s not an especially nice area of town, (at Esquimalt and Tyee in Victoria) so when I heard some guy across the street whistle, I didn’t look. But when he began yelling and screaming, I paid attention.

He was at a loading dock, pinned between his truck and a forklift.

"I ran over, pulled out my cell phone to call 911 and tried to flag down someone to help. No one stopped.

"The trapped man kept yelling. He was in so much pain.

"A freight truck was coming down the road, so I stepped out, stopped him and told him to help. He got another forklift to push the first one away from the man who was trapped. I helped move barrels and other thing out of the way.

"Finally, a fire rescue vehicle, fire truck and ambulance arrived and took over. I resumed my walk to work.

"At the end of the day I returned to the warehouse to find out how the fellow was. His injuries turned out to be minor and he had been released from hospital.

"It sure made my day to be able to help him."

Hilde is a GIS technician with Resources Inventory Branch. She works on forest cover maps to keep our forest inventory up to date.