Bus driver recounts rescue of trapped driver from burning car

A quick-thinking Halifax Transit driver is being hailed as a hero for rescuing a motorist from a car that was overturned and on fire.

Talbot Boyer was just finishing up his last run before 1 a.m. last Friday when he noticed a car on its roof on the sidewalk on Valour Way near the city's downtown.

Boyer could already see the orange glow of a fire when he stopped his bus and went to investigate.

Hesaid that after calling out for about 30 seconds, he heard a voice from within the vehicle. He called 911 and started trying to extricate the trapped driver.

Tried kicking in the doors

"I tried kicking the doors in and kicking the windows in and that didn't work," Boyer said Friday, about a week after the incident.

"And then I saw there was a smashed piece of square tubing all over the ground, so I used that and I bashed in his driver's side window."

Boyer was unable to get him out through that window, but then the man stuck both hands out another window.

"So I got down on my hands and knees and drug him out the car through the glass," Boyer said.

"When I got him out onto the sidewalk his pant legs were on fire."

Boyer managed to douse the flames using snow.

Car exploded

Police soon arrived and Boyer stepped back to let them work.

"And then the cop made the decision, let's both grab him and we both drug him down the road, and then the car blew up," Boyer said.

He said he was relieved he didn't have to watch a man die and felt an adrenalinrush as the man was loaded into an ambulance and taken to hospital.

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