Nelson, B.C., man pulls unconscious driver from burning car

Nelson RCMP say a 20-year-old man was pulled from a burning car and attended to by passersby after his vehicle crashed early Thursday morning on a highway in Taghum, west of Nelson, B.C. 

Police arrived at the scene around 6 a.m. to find the driver's Mazda 3, which officials believe veered off the road, had struck a large rock, flipped onto its roof, and caught fire near the CPKC rail track.

"A passerby who came across the vehicle, which caught on fire, managed to pull the unconscious driver to safety, surely saving the man's life," said Cpl. Derek Pitt of the Nelson RCMP Detachment.

RCMP confirm Nelson resident Colby Weinrauch pulled the unconscious driver from the wreckage. The driver, a Castlegar resident, was transported to hospital with serious injuries.

Weinrauch says he was on his way to work early Thursday morning when smoke near the rail tracks caught his attention. As he approached the scene, he saw flames rising more than four metres, the same height as the surrounding trees. 

"The driver's door was pinned up against a tree," he recalled.

Weinrauch grabbed a rock and smashed the back window of the overturned vehicle, where he found the driver unconscious in the backseat. 

"Must have crawled into the backseat somehow or got thrown into the backseat somehow. I started immediately trying to talk to him like, 'Hey man, getting pretty hot in here.'"

With the flames still spreading, Weinrauch pulled the 20-year-old out through the broken window.

"I think I grabbed his hoodie. I might have grabbed a fistful of hair," he said. "Unfortunately, [I] wasn't very nice about it, but he had to get out of the car."

Once the driver was out and on the ground, Weinrauch saw him gasp for air, providing a moment of relief. Soon after, the vehicle began "popping and blowing up."

Weinrauch's quick response has been praised on social media, alongside recognition of another local, John Guillemette, who also assisted at the scene. According to a post on the Nelson, B.C., public Facebook group, Guillemette helped pull the driver from the car and administered first aid.

The post quotes Guillemette recounting the effort. 

"Colby was getting him out as I was running down the bank. We both pulled him away from the burning car to safety, and I performed first aid, checking vitals until medics arrived. The victim was unconscious, eyes rolling, gasping for air every four seconds, burned head to toe," it reads, adding that Guillemette sustained burns while rescuing the unconscious driver.