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Today the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a young boy is alive because of two local heroes who stopped to assist a burning vehicle on Interstate 295 in South Jersey.
Both of the rescuers had been in their cars on their way home from work Monday evening when they spotted the fiery scene: a Honda sedan had crashed into the media and then a tree and was engulfed in flames.
When the first rescuer ran to the burning car he remembers a bystander screaming that there was a boy trapped in the car. His wife quickly dialed 911. The second rescuer grabbed the fire extinguisher he keeps in his truck and ran to help.
As the second rescuer sprayed the hood of the vehicle, the first rescuer, who had worked eight years as an emergency medical technician and a volunteer firefighter many years before, yelled to the people trapped in the car to try to get a response.
A 9-year-old boy replied from the back seat and told the rescuer that he was hurt. The rescuer then saw that the boy’s leg, likely broken, was trapped between the seats of the crunched car. The rescuer felt for the boy’s seatbelt through the thick smoke and after grabbing the lower part of the boy’s leg, freed him.
By this time the second rescuer’s fire extinguisher was not enough to keep up with the intense flames. He tried to scream to the others trapped inside of the car and reached into the window to grab the driver, but it was too late.
As the first rescuer sat with the boy talking with him to keep him conscious, he covered the boy’s ears when emergency workers revealed that the boy’s mother, uncle and mother’s boyfriend were all dead.
Following the accident, the rescuers were shaken up and, although relieved that they saved the boy, feel regret that they could not do more for the others. The first rescuer hopes to meet the boy he saved again someday.
This story serves as a reminder of the good that exists in humanity. While tragedies are inevitable, it is the good that helps us persevere.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, “Boy rescued from burning car in New Jersey highway median,” Joelle Farrell, 7/13/2011.