A woman trapped in a burning car was rescued by an off-duty firefighter in Brookfield, Connecticut.
Nick Perri was driving home when he saw the car pulled over with its hazards on.
“There was a woman kind of frantically waving me down and as I went to pull over, I looked to my right and saw the car off the ravine into the woods,” Perri said. “Training instinct kicked in. I pulled over and ran down there.”
With no safety gear on, Perri broke the passenger side window and climbed through. He then freed the woman’s pinned legs and pulled her out, all while the flames spread.
“If Nick was not there and they were relying on the Brookfield Fire Department, me, as the first person to be there, she would not have made it,” Chief Andrew Ellis said.
Ellis said the woman is 21 years old and remains in the hospital with injuries to one of her arms and legs and a third degree burn. She has a long road ahead of her, but is expected to be OK.
“I don’t think I’m a hero,” Perri said. “If asked to do it again, I would do it all over again.”
Perri has minor injuries and his jacket was burned, but he didn’t have to go to the hospital.
The woman’s family now wants to meet Perri and all the first responders that helped save her life.