Off-duty St. Bernard, LA, Firefighter Saves Woman from Burning Car

Instincts kicked in when a St. Bernard firefighter came up on a fiery crash while off-duty.

"I run up to the car. I’m trying to ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is anyone else in the car?’ But she's not answering. So, I run around to the other side -- to the right passenger side -- and honestly, I had tunnel vision. I started freaking out and I was like, ‘I got to get her out, some kind of way," Firefighter Andrew Nixon told WVUE. 

“So, I started slamming on the windshield. And I was actually able to bust through. By the time I busted through, and I started to try to peel it off, I realized it wasn’t any good.”

As the fire was intensifying, he knew time was short for a successful outcome.

“I seen the flames coming into the car. So, I knew I had to get her out right then and there or else. I grabbed her and somehow, by the grace of God, I literally lifted her up, pulled her out the top of the door, brought her to the side. And in the photo you can see that I’m talking to her. That’s seconds after I pulled her out. But she literally had seconds before that car was fully engulfed.”

St. Tammany Fire Protection Chief Chris Kaufmann praised Nixon for his actions.

“His instincts took over. His training took over. He went straight into her car and did whatever it took to get her out. Because he knew if he didn’t, she wasn’t going to make it. He was her last chance," he said.

The woman was flown to a trauma center after the collision with the tractor-trailer while Nixon sustained lacerations during the rescue.

Reflecting on the incident, the firefighter of two years added: “It just felt good to actually save somebody."