Five bystanders, including two Boy Scouts, were honored Tuesday for saving a woman trapped inside a rolled-over car that caught on fire in a crash on Route 14 near Harvard.
Harvard resident Jay Wolf and his sons, Shane and Joseph, were driving around 11:18 a.m. on October 30 near the Big Foot Inn, 11508 Route 14 in unincorporated Harvard.
The three came upon a two-vehicle crash that had just occurred.
Jay Wolf rushed to one of the vehicles, a sedan, which had rolled over onto its side and was on fire.
He got onto the top of the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door where he was able to pull the female driver out.
His two sons, who are members of the Boy Scouts of America, assisted in the rescue and also checked on the other driver involved.
Brian Busse, a McHenry County Division of Transportation employee, helped carry the young woman to safety after she was pulled from her car and consoled her until help arrived.
Busse’s wife, Hillary, consoled the driver of the other sedan involved.
The rescue and actions displayed by the five bystanders were captured on Wolf’s car dashcam.
All five bystanders were honored during a McHenry County Board meeting Tuesday. They were each given a copy of a proclamation for heroism.
Numerous fire departments, including Harvard, Woodstock, Hebron, and Walworth, responded to the crash scene.
Harvard Fire Protection District Spokesperson Alex Vucha said at the time that two medical helicopters were called to the scene.
By the time crews arrived, the sedan where the woman had been rescued from was fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters extinguished the fire while other crews simultaneously extricated the male driver from the other vehicle, Vucha said.
The man was airlifted to Javon Bea Hospital – Riverside in Rockford with critical, life-threatening injuries.
The woman was airlifted to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford with serious injuries.
Both victims were the drivers and sole occupants of their vehicles, Vucha said.
Route 14 was closed in both directions for nearly five hours while the sheriff’s office investigated.