JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 47-year-old man had to be cut from his burning SUV on Wednesday morning after his vehicle struck a utility pole on Timuquana Road just east of Seaboard Avenue.
News4Jax was told several people rushed to help keep the flames from the driver until Jacksonville Fire-Rescue personnel arrived to pry the door open to rescue the victim, who was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
“Just couldn’t let someone burn to death like that,” said Mitchell Halliburton, who saw the burning Chevrolet Suburban and stopped to help. “Anybody would have done it.”
Other motorists and people from inside the Latin House Grill and Signature Style Hair Salon in the neighboring strip mall brought buckets of water and fire extinguishers to help fight the fire.
“I went through five (extinguishers),” Halliburton said. “Even if the car is going to explode, I can’t witness that and not do anything. You almost still feel helpless. you’re trying to open the car door and it won’t open and the fire is catching up to him.”
Halliburton said the hairs were burned off his arms and “the smoke was really bad.”
“The flames were so hot that we couldn’t even extinguish it out,” said Dexter Binder, who owns the salon.
There was no condition update on the driver Wednesday afternoon, but News4Jax was told he should survive.
“Once they got him out of the car, we saw him with his hand up,” Binder said. “You know everyone was happy to see that. It was a blessing, man.”
JEA personnel spent most of the day fixing damage to the concrete power pole.