CORNWALL — With seconds to spare as a life hung in the balance, a half-dozen people who either heard Sara Prentice's Subaru crash into a utility pole Saturday or were traveling along Route 7 at about 3 p.m. that day are credited with saving her life.
"Within 90 seconds of them pulling her out, the car was engulfed in flames," said Kent Fire Chief Alan Gawel, who lives just down the road from the crash site across from Kugeman Village on Kent Road and arrived as civilian rescuers were working to free the 62-year-old Prentice, who lives nearby.
It wasn't easy.
Those who gathered before first responders arrived included Jessica Brown, who heard the crash at home. Others stopped as they came upon the wreck.
The rear window of Prentice's Subaru wouldn't break despite repeated attempts with a rock, Gawel said. A neighbor then fetched a sledgehammer and broke through.
"The head rest behind her had to be removed," Gawel said. A fire that began in the car's engine compartment after the car struck the pole for unknown reasons and tipped to its side began spreading into the passenger compartment.
"My estimate is that she had 90 seconds left to get out," said Gawel, who was joined a short time later by Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Vanicky. They closed the road. "The heroism was amazing. They used every ounce of energy to get her out."
Prentice, who knew the neighbor who crawled in to pull her out through the back window as hands outstretched to help him, was semiconscious and badly bruised but not suffering from major trauma or broken bones, her sister-in-law Jane Prentice said.
"We are incredibly grateful," Jane Prentice said.
Gawel said that in his 40 years as a firefighter and fire officer, he had never seen anything like it.
Coordinating the emergency response, Gawel said it was important to allow the rescuers to continue in a dangerous situation assuring that they remained a close but safe distance from the wires.
"There were live wires so I directed them to move her one pole length away," he said.
Prentice was taken to Danbury Hospital by Kent Ambulance with a paramedic on board from Northern Dutchess Paramedic. A call for LifeStar helicopter was cancelled. Prentice suffered minor injuries. The man who pulled her out suffered some smoke inhalation and was taken to Sharon Hospital as a precaution, Gawel said.
Route 7, a busy north/south thoroughfare, was closed for an extended period of time.
Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway, also a longtime firefighter, said it all needed to happen very quickly and did. It was a "very hazardous situation and remarkable that all of these people were working together," he said.
"They saved her life. It was extraordinary," Ridgway said. "We will find out who they all are and honor them."
Ridgway said he's hoping to name the individuals at a Board of Selectmen meeting Tuesday night and at a pizza party at a later date.
Jane Prentice, as she was preparing to pick up her sister-in-law from the hospital Monday said the pizza will be on her.
"They're angels," she said.