Early Sunday morning in Falmouth, Massachusetts, a single-vehicle crash occurred that led to one individual being seriously injured and taken to a trauma center. According to the Falmouth Fire Department, the accident was first reported around 3:30 a.m. on Route 151 near Ashumet Road, where the car was found entirely engulfed in flames after striking a tree.
The driver, who has not been identified, was the sole occupant of the vehicle and sustained multiple trauma injuries. They were quickly transported to Saint Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, as reported by NBC10 Boston. In a critical turn of events, the injured party was rescued from the fiery wreck by David Panora, a nearby resident, who daringly decided to run out and assist them.
"I woke up, I heard a big bang and a car horn laying on like steady and I came running out, my roommate was like, 'What are you gonna go save a life?' We were joking, because I live at this house over here. I ran outside, saw a car that was on fire, the backseat was on fire, and I saw somebody in the car and the door was already open thank god so I picked him up and then I have a bad shoulder so i dropped him and dragged him 15-20 yards away from the car...I called 911...I thought the car was going to explode," Panora recounted in an interview obtained by NBC10 Boston. His bravery was pivotal in the moments that followed, as he managed to safely pull the driver from the car and drag them away from the immediate danger.
Cell phone footage captured by Panora showed the severity of the situation, as the entire car was ablaze. After their valiant efforts, responders from the fire department arrived to find that the Good Samaritan had already assisted the driver out of the vehicle. The fire crews were able to successfully put out the flames within 10 minutes. The intervention by Panora was indeed life-saving, as the victim's injuries were reported by Boston 25 News to be non-life-threatening.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, with local authorities not yet providing clarity on what may have led to the accident. Both the Falmouth Fire Department and the police have been reached out to for comments, but have yet to respond at the time of this writing. More details will be shared as the story develops.
