VIDEO: An off-duty St. Bernard Parish firefighter is being credited with saving a womanโs life following a fiery weekend crash on Interstate 10. Video released by St. Tammany Fire Protection District 1 shows firefighters responding Saturday night (Sept. 20) to a burning vehicle on the westbound shoulder of I-10, not far from the Mississippi state line. The districtโs crew put out the fire, but said saving the driver was in someone elseโs hands. Off-duty St. Bernard firefighter Andrew Nixon and his fiancรฉ were driving home from a wedding when they saw trouble after the car crashed into an 18-wheeler.
โAll I did see is her just veering off to the left, and I had seen that her tires were on fire,โ Nixon said. Nixon says the driver looked to be in danger. He stopped, ran toward the car and found her door slightly open. โI run up to the car. Iโm trying to ask her, โAre you all right? Is anyone else in the car?โ But sheโs not answering,โ he said. โSo, I run around to the other side — to the right passenger side — and honestly, I had tunnel vision. I started freaking out and I was like, โI got to get her out, some kind of way. โSo, I started slamming on the windshield. And I was actually able to bust through. By the time I busted through, and I started to try to peel it off, I realized it wasnโt any good.โ
With smoke and flames growing, time was running out. Nixon says he mentally flipped a switch. โI seen the flames coming into the car,โ he said. โSo, I knew I had to get her out right then and there ,or else. I grabbed her and somehow, by the grace of God, I literally lifted her up, pulled her out the top of the door, brought her to the side. And in the photo you can see that Iโm talking to her. Thatโs seconds after I pulled her out. But she literally had seconds before that car was fully engulfed.โ
Chris Kaufmann, chief of St. Tammany Fire Protection District No. 1, said itโs hard to see how the driver would have survived without Nixonโs quick actions. His crew arrived after the car fire was already raging. โHis instincts took over. His training took over,โ Kaufmann said. โHe went straight into her car and did whatever it took to get her out. Because he knew if he didnโt, she wasnโt going to make it. He was her last chance.โ
The rescue was a full-circle moment for Nixon. Rescuing the driver reminded him of another life dear to him. His niece Everleigh died in 2023. โShe drowned in a pool,โ Nixon said. โAnd I remember, every single day, saying I wish I could just grab her and pick her up. And I feel like in that moment (Saturday), God and Everleigh were with me and helped me lift the driver up out of that car.โ The driver was airlifted to New Orleans for hospital treatment and is said to be recovering. Nixon sustained cuts breaking through the windshield with his bare hands. But, in the most unexpected way, the accident delivered the kind of healing he needed. โIt helped me a lot. It definitely did. I needed that,โ he said. โIt just felt good to actually save somebody.โ
