An Anchorage man narrowly escaped death in a car fire on Middlerock Road on Sunday afternoon as citizens and an Anchorage Police Officer freed him from the wreck in the nick of time.

Officer Veenstra was the first officer on the scene after a report was called in to Anchorage Police at 4 pm on Sunday afternoon. When the officer arrived, the vehicle was laying on its side and the engine was on fire on the 9600 block of Middlerock Road.

A citizen had already broke out the sunroof to enable the driver of the vehicle, who was not identified, to get air. The driver had not been wearing a seatbelt and had been tossed to the passenger’s side and had their arm pinned under the vehicle.

Officer Veenstra and two citizens attempted to rock the vehicle in order to free the driver’s arm from the wreckage, but were unsuccessful. 

As the three stopped to catch their breath, “Officer Veenstra yelled up towards the road asking for more help.  Another citizen joined in the effort, and the four of them began attempting to rock the car again,” the Anchorage Police Department stated. Another citizen responded, and with the extra hand, the four were able to rock the vehicle just enough for the driver to free his arm and escape to safety through the sun roof.

Within a minute of escaping the wreckage, the vehicle became fully engulfed in flames.

The Anchorage Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire. The driver was transported to the hospital for evaluation, he suffered no life-threatening injuries according to the police report.

The Anchorage Police Department thanked the responding citizens for their assistance in what could have been a fatal incident.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  Alaska, Anchorage, crash, driver, escape, fire, officer, pinned, police, rescue, veenstra