On May 17, 2026, an electric vehicle rolled onto its side in the breakdown lane of Interstate 495 North in Plainville, Massachusetts, and burst into flames, trapping a Cape Cod couple inside. Off-duty Ashland Fire Lt. Dave Iarussi and his wife, Sandy, were driving by when they spotted the wreck, and together with two other off-duty firefighters they broke through the windshield to pull Judi and Elmer Hirshfield-Baker to safety. Nearly three months later, the two couples reunited to revisit the rescue that bound their lives together.
According to WCVB-TV, Sandy Iarussi recorded video of the chaotic rescue as it unfolded on the highway, capturing her husband and two fellow off-duty firefighters working to free the trapped couple. Judi Hirshfield-Baker told reporter Todd Kazakiewich that she remembers watching David Iarussi try to break through the windshield as smoke and flames poured from the vehicle.
State Troopers and Local Fire Crews Rushed In
Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the Foxboro Barracks responded to the crash alongside the Foxboro and Wrentham fire departments, according to the Massachusetts State Police. One trooper sustained minor cuts from broken glass while helping pull the victims through the windshield, the agency said. Rescuers on scene lacked specialized hydraulic cutting tools and were forced to improvise with what was on hand.
David Iarussi is a 32-year veteran firefighter and EMT-B with the Ashland Fire Department who was honored in 2020 by the Massachusetts Fire Service Commission with a 40-year Firefighter Service Award recognizing his total years in public safety service, per Ashland Town News. That experience was on display the moment he and Sandy came upon the burning vehicle in Plainville.
Modern Windshields Wouldn't Break
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 226 has required laminated safety glass in vehicle side windows since September 2018, making the glass far more resistant to standard spring-loaded window punches, according to Rescue42. That left rescuers needing heavy impacts or cutting tools just to get through, which is why Iarussi ultimately grabbed a rock from the side of the road to break the glass, the WCVB report states.
An off-duty nurse and several bystanders joined the effort, including a passerby who used a portable fire extinguisher on the vehicle's undercarriage to briefly knock down flames while rescuers cleared the broken glass, according to CBS News. Smoke poured from beneath the car throughout the extrication.
Why Every Second Mattered With an EV on Fire
Lithium-ion battery fires in electric vehicles can exceed 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with 800 to 1,000 degrees for a typical gasoline engine fire, and carry a risk of rapid thermal runaway and toxic gas release, according to National Fire Protection Association guidance. That heightened danger is part of why rescuers worked so urgently to pull Judi and Elmer free before the fire could spread further.
A National Transportation Safety Board report found that emergency response guides provided by vehicle manufacturers often lack detailed, vehicle-specific extrication instructions for high-voltage battery fires, creating hazards for responders, according to the NTSB. In August 2026, the UL Research Institutes' Fire Safety Research Institute issued new guidance advising fire departments to aim sustained, high-volume water streams directly at EV battery enclosures to control thermal runaway and reduce re-ignition risk, per the Fire Safety Research Institute.
Shattered Bones and Months of Recovery
Judi Hirshfield-Baker suffered a fractured fibula, a fractured tibia, a crushed ankle, a crushed shoulder, a fractured humerus, broken ribs, and fractures to the L1 and L4 vertebrae in her spine, the WCVB report details. Elmer Hirshfield-Baker's pelvis was shattered into multiple pieces and later repaired with glue and screws. Wrentham Fire and EMS took the couple to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, the region's only American College of Surgeons-verified Level 1 Trauma Center, according to Boston 25 News.
About a week after the crash, Dave and Sandy Iarussi visited Judi and Elmer at Massachusetts General Hospital, the next stop in a lengthy hospital stay and rehabilitation that stretched for months before the couple returned home to Cape Cod. Sandy said seeing Judi well again made her happy, and Judi has said people should be kind and willing to act when someone else needs help. The two couples say they remain forever connected by what happened on I-495 that afternoon.
A Highway With a Painful History
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has put more than $6.7 million into pavement maintenance along the I-495 northbound corridor running through Foxborough, Plainville, Wrentham, and Franklin, according to MassDOT records, underscoring how heavily traveled the outer-loop corridor is for commuters and commercial traffic. The stretch has seen tragedy before: Hoodline previously reported on a fatal rollover and vehicle fire on the same highway in Plainville in 2023, in which a Rhode Island man did not survive despite rescue attempts by state troopers and bystanders. Massachusetts State Police have not publicly detailed what caused May's rollover, and the cause remains unclear.
