Bystanders save woman from fiery, head-on car crash

One person was killed in a high-speed, fiery, head-on car crash in South Phoenix and a woman was saved when bystanders pulled her from one of the vehicles moments before it burst into flames.

It happened at about midnight Sunday at 7th Avenue and Elwood Street. There were two vehicles involved in the collision.

A woman in her mid-thirties, who was in the vehicle that burned, would have died if she was not rescued by the civilians, according to Capt. Aaron Ernsberger with the Phoenix Fire Department.

“Without a doubt they saved their life. We’d like to find them and thank them and shake their hand and tell them how much we appreciate them,” said Capt. Ernsberger. “I walked by the vehicle and it was completely burned out on the inside to point to where the steering wheel is missing so it was a very hot fire obviously unsurvivable.”

The person who was killed was a man in his forties who was driving the vehicle that did not catch on fire. A woman and ten-year-old boy, who were in the vehicle with the man, were taken to a hospital in serious condition.

They were trapped in the vehicle and Phoenix Fire crews had to use extrication tools to rescue them.

The woman, who was in the car that burned, was also taken to a hospital. She is also in serious condition.

Investigators from the Phoenix Police Department are working to determine the cause of the crash.

The names of those involved have not been released.