Jan 06, 2025
A Good Samaritan is being credited with rescuing a driver from a burning car after a Connecticut crash. It happened when two cars smashed into each other on Purdy Hill Road in Monroe, about 17 miles west of New Haven, on Saturday night. When first responders arrived, one of the two vehicles was “engulfed in fire,” the Monroe Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement on social media accompanied by dramatic photos that showed a nearby bush also ablaze. “We are very grateful that a Good Samaritan neighbor helped remove the driver away from the burning vehicle prior to first responders arriving,” the fire department acknowledged. That Good Samaritan was Sean Wollenberg, who lived nearby and ran outside with his wife after she heard the collision, he told The Monroe Sun. They saw a Subaru Forester and a sedan, the latter wedged against a bush and a stone wall, he said. Another person already on scene was trying to yank open the sedan’s driver-side door, but the impact had jammed both side doors shut. “As we got closer, we could see the flames starting underneath the car in the front, and the driver was screaming for help,” Wollenberg told The Monroe Sun. “He had managed to get the top half of his body out of the rear passenger side door and I was able to assist in getting him the rest of the way out and off of the ground — right before the flames overtook the rest of the car. It was a scary sight, but I’m glad both drivers are okay.” The cars’ occupants were not injured, though the sedan’s driver was taken to the hospital for evaluation, the first responders said. The cause of the crash is still being investigated, police said, noting that it could have been much, much worse. “Anytime we receive a report of a vehicle crash involving fire with an occupant still inside, we expect the worst,” Monroe Fire Chief Kevin Catalano told The Monroe Sun on Sunday. “But in this case it was a very fortunate outcome thanks to the quick-thinking and heroic actions of Mr. Wollenberg.”
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