For a change, definitely a good news story for the trade
And he obviously didn't follow Fife Council's advice, which would have been to use his fire extinguisher...
Or maybe his licensing authority don't mandate extinguishers
Weymouth man rescues disabled woman from burning carhttps://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/26481 ... fire-a354/
A Weymouth taxi driver dragged a disabled woman away from a burning car before it was destroyed within minutes.Paul Best was driving along the A354 between Weymouth and Dorchester in the early hours of Thursday morning when he saw the flames.
The 62-year-old, who runs Best Exec cars and works as a chauffeur for the Mayor of Weymouth, was working for Fleetline at the time, returning from a drop-off at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.
Mr Best said: "I saw flames coming out of the car. I pulled my taxi in, looked across at the car and could see that I needed to get the woman away from there."
Other motorists had just been passing by the burning car without stopping, he said.
He stopped near an entrance to a farm off the Ridgeway and found the woman on the ground beside the passenger side of a white Peugeot.
Mr Best said: "I went into reaction mode, I phoned emergency services."
He moved towards the vehicle, which was already burning, and pulled the woman away. He also told the two other occupants, a man and a younger man, to move back.
Mr Best said: "I grabbed hold of the woman and dragged her away from the car. I told the people with her to get away from the car."
He said the other occupants appeared to be panicking and wanted to collect their belongings. Mr Best said he kept them away from the car because of the danger.
He also tried to stop other vehicles travelling along the road while help was on its way. An ambulance returning to Weymouth depot stopped after he flagged it down.
Paramedics used a body board to move the woman to the ambulance. Mr Best said the emergency services arrived quickly and praised the ambulance service, police and fire service.
The car was completely destroyed within 10 to 15 minutes, leaving nothing behind after the fire.
Mr Best said he had been close to the flames and was concerned that the fire could spread into the dry grass near the road. He was reminded of the wildfire which led to the closure of the A31.
Mr Best said: "If the fire had spread to the grass, it would have gone up completely. The grass is so dry."
He escaped with a few scrapes and said the hairs on his arms were singed. However, he rejected the suggestion that his actions made him a hero.
Mr Best said: "I was just doing what I do," he said. "I'm not a hero, I'm just a normal person."
He said he wanted to be reunited with the people he helped and hoped they had recovered from the incident.
Mr Best said: "They were so grateful and thanked me a lot. i would just love to hear that they're all OK," he said.
He is now using the incident to warn people not to return to burning vehicles to collect possessions.
Mr Best said: "Stuff is stuff," he said. "It can be replaced. The whole thing could have been a lot worse if I hadn't got her away."
He also advised people to leave their belongings behind and get as far from a burning vehicle as possible.
Mr Best said: "I couldn’t believe how fast a car could burn so quickly. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt."
He said the incident showed how quickly a roadside fire could become dangerous, particularly in dry conditions.
A spokesman for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said a crew from Weymouth were called to the A354 at 12.37am on Thursday morning following reports of a vehicle fire.
They added: "On arrival, firefighters found a single vehicle well alight – two breathing apparatus wearers used two hose reel jets to extinguish the fire. "
The stop in at 1.27am, they said, meaning that no further resources were needed at the scene.
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We were called at 00:39hrs on Thursday 20 August to a road traffic collision near Dorchester. We sent one double-crewed land ambulance, and an operations officer to the scene.”
All images: Dorset Echo
Login
Register
FAQ
