An off-duty firefighter heroically saved the life of a woman who was injured in a car accident and would have ‘burned to death’ if not for the man’s actions.
Nicholas Perry Jr., a New York firefighter, pulled the woman from her car over the weekend Saturday without the help of protective equipment or a hose line, officials said.
The incident happened at around 3.15 a.m. in Brookfield, Connecticut, when Perry was driving home from his own shift with the White Plains Fire Department.
Perry stumbles upon the wreckage of a single-vehicle car and finds the woman incapacitated inside.
‘Instinct, training started and ran and I did the best I could to get him out,’ Parry said in an interview after the save.
This is a woman’s car after the fire department extinguished a blaze caused by a single vehicle wreck
Nicholas Perry Jr. is a firefighter with the White Plains Fire Department. He was on his way home from work when he was hit by a car
Dashcam footage from the night of the incident shows the moments when the man pulled the woman to safety
Off-duty firefighter pulled woman from car as flames reach passenger side of vehicle
A statement from the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Company said the man had come dangerously close to the fire as his clothing had also been burned.
The jacket he was wearing was burnt by the fire. If not for the courageous actions of Mr Perry, the operator would have been burnt to death in her vehicle,’ the statement read.
Perry didn’t hesitate to jump into action and save the woman, sustaining minor injuries in the process.
‘I assessed how she was there, and then I broke the front passenger window. I managed to free one of his legs; The other was very damaged – it was giving me a hard time,’ said the firefighter.
According to officials, as the flames were reaching the passenger side of the car, the man approached the woman.
‘I was just shouting,’ you should work with me because we’re running out of time,’ he told the victim.
Perry said his training as a firefighter began when he saw a vehicle crash.
Perry had his jacket burned during the incident, officials said after rescuing him.
Volunteer firefighters arrived at the scene and found the woman’s vehicle engulfed in flames
Dashcam footage from the night of the incident shows Parry dragging the woman to safety as soon as he arrives at the scene.
As EMS and firefighters arrived on the scene, the car could be seen engulfed in flames.
The man’s response is now being heralded as heroic, both on the scene and in the field.
‘Her actions are a testament to her, the White Plains FD and the fire service,’ the Brookfield volunteer organization said.
Authorities said the woman would have died if not for Perry’s actions.
The woman, who was not initially identified, was taken to a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, after the incident. A report indicated that he is in the ICU.
No one else was injured in this incident.
BVFC chief Andrew Ellis said, ‘I was the first firefighter to arrive at the scene from Brookfield, and there was no way the victim would have survived if he hadn’t done what he did.’
It is unknown what caused the single-vehicle wreck.
