NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — FDNY Deputy Chief George Healy had taken off his shoes and settled in for the 18-hour drive to Disney World early Monday morning when, on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, he intervened in a fiery accident and saved a man’s life.
Traffic had come to a complete stop when Healy, a 34-year FDNY veteran, saw a significant accident ahead with fire involved. He immediately jumped out of his car and ran up the highway.
“There were two cars involved and debris across the entire highway,” Healy said in a statement released by the FDNY. “The engine compartment of one car was on fire. I went over to that car, the passenger door was caved in and no longer openable, and the fire was spreading up the windshield.”
At this point, Healy pushed aside the airbag and realized that there was an unconscious man in the back seat. A nearby police officer smashed out the driver’s window, and, together, Healy said they were able to get the door open.
The deputy chief had to get inside the car to untangle the limp man from the seatbelt in which he was caught up.
“We had to pull him forward, get him towards the front of the car before he could be removed,” Healy told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880. “So, you know, during that, the front windshield's breaking out, and the fire and the smoke is starting to fill the passenger compartment of the car.”
He was able to move the man toward the police officer outside who helped pull him out of the car, even with the growing fire. The rescue was completed in the nick of time, “Probably within about 30 seconds of the entire car being involved in fire,” Healy told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880.
The FDNY said that the victim was taken to NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn in stable condition by department paramedics Abigail Poit and Jill Eby, and he is doing well.
Healy, who works out of Division 13 in Queens, said that he rushed onto the scene because if action was not taken quickly, the man was not going to get out alive.
“When I went back to my car, a couple of other drivers approached me and said ‘Man, you ran into that, what’s wrong with you?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m a New York City firefighter; that’s what New York City firefighters do,’” Healy said in his statement.
After the rescue, there was only one thing for Healy to do: hit the road.
“My kids aren't going to let me get away with not taking them to Disney,” Healy told 1010 WINS/WCBS 880.