The Ordinary Heroes

LONDON, July 2, 2007 — -- In the aftermath of the attempts to bomb London and Glasgow, much attention is being paid to the villains -- the suspects behind the terror plots. But we're also learning about the heroes -- the ordinary citizens and first responders whose vigilance, quick thinking and courage helped thwart the attacks and save many lives.

Early last Friday, a passing ambulance crew discovered the first car bomb. Responding to a routine call, the two-man crew, one age 27 and the other 37, spotted fumes coming from a car parked outside the busy Tiger Tiger nightclub in central London. They immediately alerted police.

"As we pulled up outside Tiger Tiger, we came to a stop behind a Mercedes car which was parked rather badly, about three feet from the curb," the 37-year-old, who wasn't named, said in a statement released by the London Ambulance Service. "We can't have been inside for more than a few minutes, and as soon as we got outside, we smelt gas again. Then we saw the jet of smoke was still there, so we got straight on the radio to our control room and asked them to call the police and the fire brigade."

All in a day's work, he said. "We just did what any ambulance crew would have done -- we noticed something we thought was odd and we acted on it. I am just glad that we managed to do that before it was too late."

When a camera-equipped police robot couldn't see through the fumes inside the car, an explosives ordinance disposal officer went in at enormous personal risk. What he found inside the car was a sophisticated and potentially devastating explosive device. The Mercedes sedan was loaded with a lethal cargo of fuel, gas canisters and nails. All these materials were rigged to detonate remotely by a cell phone planted on the dashboard.

The officer reached into the car and disabled the bomb by hand, averting what may have been a massive casualty attack.

"It is obvious that if the device had detonated, there could have been significant injury or loss of life," said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit.