Braving Intense Flames Tollway Maintenance Worker Rescues Woman from Burning Vehicle
When Illinois Tollway road worker Keith Olson reached the crash on the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), he faced a chaotic scene that included an SUV flipped on its side and a crumpled convertible with flames six feet high shooting from its hood. A third heavily damaged vehicle sat nearby.
“It was a bad one,” said Olson, who was the first emergency responder to reach the July 22 crash near Roosevelt Road. “I had a car on fire on the right shoulder, and it was spun around so it was pointing northbound in the southbound lanes.”
He quickly radioed for assistance, then jumped out of his truck to ensure no one was still inside the burning convertible, which had its top down and appeared to be empty as he approached.
But when he reached the car he saw a woman sprawled unconscious across the front seats, just feet from the intense flames charring the front of the vehicle.
Olson, a Tollway equipment operator/laborer for the past 11 years, reacted instantly, reaching into the car to try to grab the woman.
He was unsuccessful, though, quickly driven back by the intensity of the fire.
“I got kicked out by the flames,” Olson recounted. “The car was going, it was getting hotter.”
Olson tried again, briefly managing to grab one of the woman’s arms before she slipped from his grasp as heat from the fire radiated toward him over the windshield.
He didn’t quit, knowing he had little time left to rescue the woman before the car was completely engulfed by the fire.
“I said it was either now or she was going to die from it,” Olson said, recalling that as he made his third attempt to reach her he leaned so far into the car he was almost balanced on the doorframe with his feet barely touching the pavement.
That may have been the difference.
“I was able to grab her arm and I started pulling on her and all of a sudden her other arm came up and I grabbed both of her arms,” Olson said. “I pulled her over the top of the door and pulled her out of the car.”
He managed to move her about 10 feet from the blazing vehicle, then two motorists helped him carry her a safer distance away. The first ambulance arrived on the scene just as they finished moving the woman.
But his work still wasn’t done.
Olson moved to check the other two damaged vehicles and discovered two people injured in the front seat of one of them.
As Olson updated dispatchers on the hectic situation, fire trucks, Illinois State Police District 15 vehicles and additional Tollway maintenance trucks continued arriving to extinguish the fire and assist with the injured.
The convertible was destroyed by the flames, providing a chilling reminder to Olson of what likely would’ve happened if he hadn’t arrived at the crash scene when he did.
“If I would’ve been maybe 5 minutes later, this all would’ve went negative. That’s how close it was,” he said.
Thanks to his rapid response, the woman survived the crash, as did both occupants in the second damaged vehicle. Olson sustained no injuries.
Though he acknowledged being scared, it never occurred to him to stop trying to rescue her, despite the danger he faced.
“To me, it was trying to handle the situation at the time,” he recalled. “It’s something that you’re either going to get involved in or you’re going to stand back on. I got involved.”
Looking back, he said he’s satisfied that he simply reacted in the way he’d been trained to handle a stressful, dangerous situation.
Tollway leaders see it differently, saying Olson displayed outstanding courage and dedication in a life-threatening situation.
“Our team understands that our mission is to do everything we can to keep our roads and customers safe, but we don’t expect our workers to risk their lives rescuing drivers from burning vehicles,” said Darrion Robinson, Chief of Maintenance and Traffic. “The bravery and determination Keith displayed in this situation go far above and beyond what we expect. We’re so proud to have him on our team.”