Fire Chief Rescues Driver Minutes Before Car Bursts Into Flames

A Melville Fire Department chief discovered a trapped driver in an overturned vehicle, and rescued him minutes before the vehicle went up in flames on Monday morning, fire officials say.

Third Assistant Chief Jason Bernfeld was on his way to work as an NYPD officer when he noticed taillights in the woods near the westbound Round Swamp Road exit on the Northern State Parkway at 6:20 a.m.

He stopped and discovered that an overturned car was on its side down an embankment, and the driver was injured and hanging from his seatbelt, officials say. Bernfeld notified the fire department, grabbed a fire extinguisher and a seatbelt cutter from his car and quickly extinguished the flames emitting from underneath the dashboard.

The driver was freed and removed from the rear window of the car. Officials say the car became engulfed in flames minutes later.

Firefighters responded and quickly extinguished the blaze.

The driver was taken by EMS crews to Nassau University Medical Center to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Melville firefighters and rescue personnel arrived on the scene with two engines, a heavy rescue truck, two ambulances and paramedics. Units were under the command of Chief Chris Nolan, according to PIO Steve Silverman.

Photos courtesy Melville Fire Department