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“We were driving back from the snowboarding hill in Oregon when we ran head first into a storm. Hundred-foot trees battled the elements against 70-mph winds.

I saw a tree begin to fall in front of us and slammed on my brakes. We stopped merely feet from where the tree fell in front of us.

Had we been in any other car, we would be dead. Realizing the gravity of the situation, I put my STI in reverse, intending to spin the car around and head back to the closest town for safety. It was then, outside my window, I saw the worst thing of my life. A tree was falling directly towards our roof. The next second was the longest second of my life. I did my best to gauge where the tree would land while slamming the car from reverse to first. The car shot forward, and I screamed "get down.” Without the acceleration of the STI, we would all be dead. The tree landed on the trunk, cutting the car in half - no more than two inches from where Heather was in the back seat. We were buried under five-inch branches, but alive. The roof had held. There was no way out. I put the STI in first, and it pulled us with two wheels out from under the tree. It saved our lives.“

-Brandon Pearse, Albany, OR

(Posted in DRIVE Magazine)