LANCASTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Good Samaritans pulled an elderly man from a crashed car in Lancaster Tuesday just moments before it burst into flames.
The car caught fire after it veered off Route 190 and crashed into a wooded section of the median. Video from the scene showed thick black smoke billowing into the air and flames shooting from a badly charred vehicle.
The driver, a 71-year-old Fitchburg man, was assisted out of the car before it went up in flames, state police said. Lancaster Fire Chief Michael Hanson says a pair of off-duty firefighters were among those to stop on the highway and rush to the man’s aide.
“He went off the road probably about 100 feet into the woods,” he said. “There were probably three or four trees on top the car. He was lucky that the bystanders did stop to help.”
Firefighter Ryan Aldrich was off-duty and happened to be driving by when he spotted the crash.
“There was a car in the trees and on fire,” he said. “People were pulling a victim out of the vehicle at the time when I was able to stop.”
Aldrich immediately threw his car in reverse and drove over to the scene to help.
“It’s humbling to see civilians running in to danger,” he said. “Usually they call us with that type of stuff. Risking their lives for a burning vehicle to pull a complete stranger out of it.”
Those who stopped to help did not stick around to be recognized for their good deed. Aldrich credited the Good Samaritans with saving the man’s life.
“The people that stopped on the highway were his guardian angels,” he said. “They saved his life today.”
The man was taken UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with non-life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
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