a truck-wrecker. Arrived in Sheffield some seven miles away, a truck-wrecker was not immediately available and Helm proceeded to resume his interrupted journey to Barnes. Ewing decided to remain in Sheffield and asked Helm to place flares about the immobilized truck as he went by on his way to Barnes. With unabated Samaritanism Helm promised to do this.
Riding with Helm was a Reed McCoy. They arrived the second time at the scene of the wrecked truck about 2 or 3 a.m. McCoy planted a flare about 200 feet north of the truck and Helm prepared to set one close to the truck itself. He lighted the flare and in the immediate instant he was, as he himself described, "engulfed in a ball of fire." A terrific explosion rocked16 feet. M.A. Sauter, official caretaker of Route No. 666 in Sheffield Township, testified that the exposed gas pipe rested within the 50 foot right of way, and that it was part of his official duties *447 to maintain the ditch involved in the accident: "Q. Is it a part of your duties as caretaker of roads in Sheffield Township to take care of not only the paved portion but the drainage ditches on either side and the full right of way that you make use of? A. That is right."
In the Blassotti case, the Court made it very clear that: "The ditches alongside and draining the road, when worked on by the supervisors as part of the road, are just as much included in the public road