Driver pulled from multi-vehicle Whitemud Drive crash by passersby

Passersby likely saved a driver who was involved in a multi-vehicle crash Thursday morning from serious injuries or worse.

Three vehicles were involved in the crash on eastbound Whitemud Drive between Quesnell Bridge and 53 Avenue around 7:30 a.m., according to Edmonton Police Service.

Micaela Kovacs was driving behind one of the vehicles when the collision happened and initially stopped to offer a witness account.

"I thought it was just a fender bender," Kovacs, still shaking, later told CTV News Edmonton while standing beside the scene.

"Then I quickly realized she was trapped and the vehicle was starting on fire. It started small. But then it quickly spread and took over the front of the vehicle."

She flagged other passersby to help her get the woman out of the burning vehicle. The trapped driver was saying, "Help me. Get me out," Kovacs recalled.

"I didn't know if she was going to make it. Me and the other guy that got her out didn't think it was going to be OK," Kovacs said.

Stephen Repetowski is one of the people who stopped to help. He says he and another man dragged the injured woman to safety just as firefighters and paramedics arrived.

"I kind of just said 'The car is on fire, we gotta get you out.' So me and the other man just grabbed her, pulled her out of the car, put her on the ground and then drug her about 20 feet from the car," he said in an afternoon interview.

"They said if we didn't get her out of the vehicle, they don't know if she would have made it," Kovacs told CTV News Edmonton, wishing the woman well.

A fire official said when his crews arrived, there were flames four feet tall coming from the hood of the car. He explained that damage to the dash is what pinned the driver's legs.

"Two bystanders, very heroic actions, very commendable, definitely put themselves in harms way," said acting district chief Dave Marcinyshyn.

"[It's] something we don't recommend the public do on a daily basis but they did an amazing job and they should be fully commended."

EPS confirmed one driver was hospitalized with what were described as non-life-threatening injuries.

Marcinyshyn said the fire was quickly doused and no one else was injured.

Repetowski said he doesn't think of his actions as heroic, rather just the right thing to do.

"It happened so fast. There was a lot of smoke," he said. "I would just like to think of us as decent humans…we were the closest ones, so we had to do it."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Cam Wiebe and Amanda Anderson