Henderson resident helps woman out of burning vehicle

Henderson resident Russell Taylor was driving down Wigwam Avenue on the way to get his passport renewed Thursday afternoon when he spied something unusual about a minivan heading the opposite way — flames coming from under the vehicle.

Alarmed, Taylor said he made a quick u-turn and sped to catch up with the van, which was driven by a woman.

When the woman stopped the vehicle, Taylor hopped out of his car and ran to alert her that her minivan was on fire. Taylor said he then pulled the lady out of her car.

“It was crazy,” he said. “She had no idea her car was on fire. If she had kept driving, who knows what would have happened.”

When he went to move her car, Taylor said he saw things dripping and melting from beneath her car and then heard a loud explosion. Taylor thought better of the idea, and instead, he and the woman called 911 while they waited along the sidewalk, he said.

“She was pretty scared,” Taylor said of the woman in the van. “She just kept saying, ‘Thank you.’”

The cause of the fire is unknown. Henderson Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Richards confirmed the 2:30 p.m. time of the vehicle fire and and its location, and said that no one was injured.

Taylor ended up being late to his appointment to renew his passport at the Henderson Courthouse, but he was able to move to the front of the line after he showed the front desk clerk a photo of what had just happened.

Contact Jessica Terrones at jterrones@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @JessATerrones on Twitter.