Three area first responders are being hailed as heroes after they worked together to save a driver from a fiery crash in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Monday afternoon.
The Anne Arundel County Police Department said an officer responding to a crash at about 12:40 p.m. on eastbound Route 50, near Route 97, found a truck in flames, and those flames inching closer to the driver.
At first, it appeared the officer was on his own, but as luck would have it, two Prince George’s County firefighters who were transporting a patient to a hospital saw the crash and stopped to help.
“Without hesitation, our two firefighters from Station 806 positioned their ambulance, jumped and immediately assisted with forcing entry into that vehicle,” said Alan Doubleday, with Prince George’s County Fire and EMS.
Dashcam video of the response shows the police officer, who is only identified as Cpl. Ranck, using his baton to break the glass on the driver’s side window. Then firefighters Jarid Badger and Mitchell Owen cleared the glass with their bare hands and got the door open. All three got the driver out to safety just in time.
“A matter of seconds after the patient was extricated from the vehicle, that vehicle was fully involved,” Doubleday said.
Doubleday added that for the firefighters it was a “gut decision” to stop, because they did have a patient in the ambulance. Fortunately, he said, the person they were transporting was not in critical condition so they were able to help.
The two firefighters are humble and said they were just doing their jobs, Doubleday said. They’ll most likely be up for valor awards within the department, he added.
“It was just an incredible story of being at the right place at the right time, and we’re so proud of our firefighters as well as the Anne Arundel County police officer,” Doubleday said.
The driver was taken to the hospital; their condition is not known.
