May 2, 2026 4p; Updated 5-3 11:30a with rescuer comments
(WGTD)--- In Kenosha County Saturday, a passerby sprung into action and pulled a young woman from her burning car just moments before it burst into flames.
57-year-old Tom Nevala and his wife were on their way to Burlington to check out a camper that was for sale when he turned off of Hwy. 50 and onto Hwy. 83 and came across a serious traffic accident that obviously had just occurred.
Nevala pulled over, ran up to a crumpled vehicle that was smoking and discovered a badly-injured driver wedged under the dashboard with her head dangling over the seat pleading for help. Nevala got in through a back door--the only one that would open--and started talking to the driver while holding her head up.
Because the woman appeared to have multiple broken bones and was in pain, Nevala was reluctant to immediately move her. But then the smoke grew into flames. "We can't wait," Nevala said he told the woman. "She said, 'My legs are burning.' And I said 'We got to go' and she said 'Ok.'"
Nevala pulled her over the back seat and then carried her to safety. "It wasn't hard--I just didn't want to hurt her," Nevala said in a WGTD phone interview.
The woman was one of three people injured--two critically--in what was a head-on crash. According to a release from Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue, one woman was trapped in the wreckage of another vehicle for nearly an hour.
Two medical helicopters were summoned to transport patients to Froedtert in suburban Milwaukee. A third patient--in stable condition--was driven to Aurora Medical Center in Kenosha.
Fire departments from Wheatland and Randall were also on scene.
Nevala--an electrician by trade--doesn't consider himself a hero, but says he always leaves his house prepared and admits to having given thought to the prospect of running across a serous traffic accident. "I told myself long before this happened if I ever come across a scene like that I'm going to make sure I don't sit around thinking to myself wait do I help or do I not help. Just make sure you get in there and help because there's a human life waiting."
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