Arizona Man Pulls Two Toddlers From Burning Car Just Seconds Before It Explodes

A brave Arizona man rescued two young girls from the back of a burning vehicle on the side of a highway just before it exploded.

30-year-old Sam Heiler told Fox News that he was driving with his wife on a remote highway in Navajo County to a Memorial Day Weekend destination when the engine in the car ahead of them caught fire.

The parents of the two girls, according to Sam, got out of the front seats of the car and shut their doors, instantly locking their two daughters in the backseat.

“The parents were freaking out, screaming and punching the windows with their bare hands, both the back windows in front of the babies,” Heiler said.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Heiler grabbed a rock from the side of the road and hurled it at the front window, breaking the glass and allowing the doors to be opened from the inside.

Melissa stated that once the doors were opened, her husband unbuckled the girls and assisted their parents in getting them out of the car. They all retreated to the car of Heiler, which was parked about 30 feet away.

“They had about 20 seconds before the fire spread from the engine block to the cab,” Sam added. It was bad because the girls were screaming, the parents were screaming, and my wife was screaming. When the fire hit the fuel tank it made a legitimate fireball explosion.”

Following the explosion, dramatic video shows the vehicle roasting on the roadside, completely engulfed in flames.

Sam told Fox News that there was no cell phone service in the area, but he eventually flagged down another driver using a glow stick he keeps in his car and instructed them to dial 911 once they had cell service again, which would have been about 25 miles further down the road.

Police and firefighters arrived on the scene, but the fire continued to burn until an hour later, when it was safely extinguished.

As a result of Sam Heiler’s bravery, the two girls and their parents are doing well.