The aftermath of a harrowing rescue was caught on camera Tuesday night, as New Brunswicker Troy Morten described dragging an injured man from a burning car that had crashed into a concrete median.
“We managed to get the driver out, he’s safe,” Morten is heard saying in the video, which shows a car fully engulfed in flames in the distance. Morten streamed the aftermath live on his Facebook page.
“I don’t know how we did it, but he’s right there, he’s fine. We drug him out at the very last second!”
Morten told Global News he was driving from his hometown of St. George, just west of Saint John, to Saint John when he happened upon the vehicle which had crashed and was on fire. Being a retired firefighter, he felt he had to get out and help.
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Shortly after running to the scene, his neighbour who is also a firefighter and an off-duty police officer arrived on the scene and immediately started helping rescue the injured driver.
Morten said the driver had a broken leg, and was obviously in a lot of pain. The off-duty police officer cut the man’s seatbelt and the men pulled him from the burning vehicle.
Within 30 seconds, Morten said, the entire car was engulfed in flames.
“We got him out, we got him out. I cannot believe we got the man out,” Morten is heard saying, with emotion and exhaustion in his voice. “Just in time.”
Within minutes, Morten said fire and ambulance were on scene to take the driver to hospital and deal with the vehicle.
“I don’t consider myself a hero,” Morten said. “I’m just a guy.”
Saint John Police Force spokesperson Sgt. Charles Breen did call the three men heroes, though, during a phone interview with Global News Thursday.
“They risked their own lives to get this fellow out of a burning vehicle, you never know at which point in time there’s gonna be an explosion,” Breen said.
Breen said that when Saint John police officers arrived at the scene, they were met by Kennebecasis police officer Const. Cory McAllister, the off-duty officer who had helped in the rescue.
“Thankfully, just because of the job that I do I always carry a knife on me for that exact reason,” McAllister said Thursday.
McAllister told the responding officers he’d cut the man’s seatbelt using the knife on his waist belt, freeing the driver so he and the two others could drag the man out of the car.
“The fact that [McAllister] could reach into a burning vehicle … and have the presence of mind to be able to cut the seatbelts and get the fellow out of the car, it’s pretty heroic on the part of all three gentlemen,” he said.
Morton said Thursday he’s grateful the men all arrived at the right place at the right time.
“I guess the outcome really puts a smile on my face, and know that this man could have been severely injured or you know, it could have been a fatality,” McAllister said.
Breen said the driver was treated by paramedics at the scene and then taken to hospital for treatment of serious, but not life-threatening injuries, which included a broken leg.
— With files from Andrew Cromwell, Global News.