Off-duty FDNY Chief pulls man out of burning car on Belt Parkway while on the way to vacation
BROOKLYN (WABC) -- A near-fatal crash on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn is what off-duty FDNY Deputy Fire Chief George Healy encountered early Monday morning.
"I stopped the car and kind of looked up and could tell that there was something significant had happened in front of us," Healy said.
The Malverne, Long Island husband and father of four was traveling with his family at the beginning of their annual 18-hour drive to Disney World when he witnessed the aftermath of a two-vehicle crash.
"I could already see the smoke," Healy said.
A two-door coupe caught fire. Driving with his shoes off, Healy says he ran up the highway towards the crash - 150 feet - in his socks.
As he approached, he saw no one in the front, but a man tangled in a seatbelt, in the back, unconscious.
"I almost kind of think he may have been in the front seat and the force of the accident, he got driven to the back seat of the car. I think he was unconscious from the impact," Healy added.
He flagged an NYPD officer, who quickly helped.
"Took a little bit of time to get him out of that seatbelt that was kind of confining him, and now it was the fact of trying to drag this person that was lifeless out of the back of the car," said Healy.
They got the man out of the car before it became fully engulfed in flames.
"If there wasn't divine intervention on his behalf, it would have been a bad evening for him," adds Healy, "It felt nice to be in the right place at the right time, and any time you can help somebody, it makes you feel good."
The man that Healy saved is expected to be okay.
There is no word on what caused the crash.
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