‘Heroic Efforts’: Ontario Police Credit 5 Men With Saving Life of Driver in Burning Car

An Ontario Provincial Police cruiser sits outside of a press conference in Vaughan, Ont., on June 20, 2019. The Canadian Press/Andrew Lahodynskyj

Ontario police are hailing five men as heroes for risking their lives to save a man from a burning vehicle on a GTA highway earlier this week.

On July 4, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Highway Safety Division responded to reports of a vehicle fire on the Queen Elizabeth Highway (QEW) in Mississauga.

OPP posted a video of the incident on Twitter on July 6, showing a white car swerving along the highway surrounded by a cloud of smoke. The vehicle then crashed into a ditch.

https://twitter.com/OPP_HSD/status/1544883508153389058

Five men pulled over and sprang into action after noticing the car was beginning to burn while the 36-year-old driver was still trapped inside.

The men were heard yelling “get out of the car” while banging on the driver’s side window. One man tried using a hammer to smash the window while another attempted to get the driver out through the back door.

The men eventually managed to get the driver’s door open and pulled him to safety. The video then cuts to show the car engulfed in flames.

The police commended the men’s effort in saving the driver.

“A 36 year old man from Toronto who experienced a medical episode is alive because of the heroic efforts of five men who risked their lives as the vehicle began to burn with the driver still inside. They got the driver’s door open to save the driver. You are my #HERO. July 4, ‘22,” the OPP said in the tweet.