Introduction
Some stories begin with a scoreboard. This one begins with a crackle of electricity, the orange roar of fire, and a college athlete who refused to watch from the shoulder. On a damp stretch of Route 9W in Fort Montgomery, New York, a car struck a utility pole. Power lines sparked. Flames leapt. In the middle of the chaos, Army Black Knights safety Larry Pickett Jr., 20 years old and heading home from dinner with his family, ran toward danger and pulled a trapped driver to safety.
In the minutes that followed, there were no TV timeouts or rehearsed speeches. There was quick judgment, simple courage, and a set of decisions that made the difference between tragedy and survival. This account pulls together what is known about the incident and uses it to offer practical, expert-informed guidance on what bystanders should do when seconds count: how to assess a burning vehicle, when to move a victim, and how to protect yourself without hesitating to help. It also looks at why cadet-athletes like Pickett often rise to the occasion in high-stress moments, and what the rest of us can learn from a night that could have ended very differently.
What Happened On Route 9W
The basic facts are straightforward. Early Sunday morning, a vehicle crashed along Route 9W in Fort Montgomery and caught fire. The collision downed a utility pole, leaving charged lines and active sparks near the wreck. As smoke thickened, Pickett and his family came upon the scene. He moved in, found the driver, and pulled the man out as flames threatened to overrun the car. The rescue was captured on video.
What matters just as much is what those facts imply. Burning vehicles escalate fast. The temperature inside a car fire can double in moments. Plastics off-gas, tires explode, and compromised batteries introduce volatile chemicals and electrical risk. Add downed lines and you have a complex, high-hazard scene. In other words: this was not a simple extraction. It was the kind of situation where hesitation is understandable and action is rare. He acted anyway.
The Mindset That Moves You Forward
Heroic moments often look effortless from the outside, but they are usually the result of preparation meeting circumstance. Three mental habits tend to show up in rescues like this:
- Task focus over outcome panic: Rather than freezing on the big picture—flames, noise, risk—effective rescuers narrow their attention to one solvable problem at a time. Find the door. Undo the belt.
- Pre-commitment to action: Military training, sport, and emergency drills all build a quiet promise to self: if I’m the first one there, I do something smart and safe. That pre-commitment shortens the gap between recognition and response.
Pickett’s calm presence in the video suggests all three habits were at work.
A Playbook For Bystanders: What To Do Around a Burning Car
You may never face a scene like Route 9W, but if you do, having a simple checklist can save lives. The following guidance blends firefighter best practices with real-world bystander constraints. It is not a replacement for training, but it can help you think clearly under stress.
1. Stop, scan, and secure the scene
- Park at least 30 to 50 feet away, uphill and upwind if possible. Set your hazards. Do not block emergency access.
- Take three seconds to scan for threats: flames under the hood or cabin, leaking fuel, popping tires, drifting smoke, and especially downed lines. With any line down, assume it is live. Keep people well away from the wire and anything it touches, including fences and puddles.
2. Call emergency services immediately
- Ask a specific person to call. Point and say: “You in the blue shirt: call 911.” Clear assignments reduce the chance that everyone assumes someone else already called.
- Give concise details: location, number of vehicles, whether anyone is trapped, presence of fire, and mention of downed lines.
3. Approach low and from the upwind side
- Heat and smoke rise and drift. Approaching low and upwind improves visibility and reduces inhalation.
- Before touching metal, test with the back of your hand. Vehicle surfaces can be extremely hot.
4. Access points and quick releases
- Try doors first: many unlock automatically in crashes; others may require a firm pull.
- Seatbelts can jam. If you carry a belt cutter or rescue tool, this is its moment. Aim for the belt near the buckle. Avoid cutting near the victim’s torso or neck.
- If airbags deployed, be aware of hot surfaces and dust. If not, remember that undeployed airbags can still fire.
5. The extraction
- Speak to the victim: “I’m here to help. We’re getting you out.” Simple words reduce panic and resistance.
- Support the head and neck if possible, but do not waste time if fire encroaches. Your priority is distance: get the person out of the car and away from the hazard line.
- Drag technique: from behind, slide your arms under the armpits, grip crossed over the chest, and move straight back, hips low, using your legs. If others are available, have them lift the legs and clear obstacles.
6. Move to a safe zone and reassess
- Create distance from the vehicle: at least the length of a semi trailer. Tires and struts can explode without warning.
- Keep the victim flat and still. Monitor breathing. If trained in CPR and the victim becomes unresponsive without breathing, begin compressions until help arrives.
- Do not return to the vehicle for possessions. Avoid moral injury by remembering: lives first, objects never.
7. After the rescue
- Expect delayed stress responses: shaking, nausea, tears, or a sudden need for quiet are normal. Breathe, hydrate, and debrief with responders if asked.
- Share your contact information with police. Your observations can help reconstruct the crash.
The Layer You Don’t See: Why Cadet-Athletes Often Excel Under Stress
At first glance, football and emergency rescue have little in common. Look closer and the overlap is obvious.
- Repetition under fatigue: Athletes rehearse specific movements until they hold under pressure. That same patterning helps under stress: find the latch, move the body, control your footing.
- Communication in noise: Stadiums teach you to make your voice count in chaos. A calm, direct tone carries when engines roar and sparks pop.
- Team instinct: Cadet-athletes are trained to lead and to follow. In a crisis, that often means stepping forward without waiting for permission and coordinating strangers into a makeshift team: you call, you clear space, you watch the wires.
- Service ethos: At West Point and across service academies, the values of duty and selfless service are not slogans. They are reinforced daily. When a bystander must become a protector, those values show up in decisive ways.
None of this makes what Pickett did inevitable. It made it possible.
The Hidden Dangers Most People Miss
Scenes like the Route 9W crash contain hazards that even well-meaning helpers underestimate. A short list can help you avoid becoming a second victim:
- Downed lines: Electricity can travel through wet ground. Keep a wide perimeter. Shuffle your feet if you must move away from a suspected energized area to minimize step potential.
- Hybrid and EV batteries: Damaged battery packs burn hot and can reignite. Do not spray water from a consumer extinguisher onto battery compartments. Leave suppression to firefighters.
- Airbag and pretensioner deployment: Pyrotechnic devices can still fire after impact. Do not place your head or hands in front of undeployed airbags.
- Toxic smoke: Vehicle interior fires produce cyanide and other dangerous gases. Even brief exposure can cause dizziness. If you begin to cough or feel light-headed, get clear immediately.
How Communities Can Prepare: Small Investments, Big Impact
You cannot plan every rescue, but you can make the next five minutes of any emergency safer and smarter.
- Carry a compact rescue tool: A combination belt-cutter and window punch fits on a keychain or in a glove box. Practice using it on a scrap belt if possible.
- Upgrade your first-aid kit: Add nitrile gloves, a CPR face shield, and a foil blanket. These items cost little and matter a lot.
- Learn compression-only CPR: The technique is simple and widely taught. It can bridge the gap until professionals arrive.
- Talk through scenarios with family: Decide who calls, who stays with kids, and who acts. Clarity before a crisis reduces panic inside one.
The Human Side: Witnessing, Helping, Healing
Rescues leave marks: on victims, families, and the people who step in. Even when everything ends well, adrenaline dumps can create a delayed emotional crash. If you ever find yourself rattled for days—poor sleep, replaying the scene, a quick flash of fear at certain sounds—that is a normal brain response to an abnormal event. Share what you’re feeling with someone you trust. Physicians and counselors can provide brief, targeted support that helps you process and move forward. Taking care of your mental health after doing something brave is not a luxury. It is part of the work.
Why This Story Matters
It is easy to scroll past headlines about crashes and fires: one more grim square on a busy feed. But some moments deserve a second look. A young man finishing dinner with his family saw a life at immediate risk and made the decision most of us hope we would make. He moved fast. He moved smart. He got someone home.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It is a behavior that can be learned, practiced, and summoned when it counts. Pickett’s rescue on Route 9W proves that the line between bystander and lifesaver can be crossed in seconds with clear thinking and a bias toward action.
Conclusion
On a dark stretch of road in Upstate New York, a car burned and power lines hissed. The difference between a headline and a eulogy was a 20-year-old safety from Army who refused to freeze. Larry Pickett Jr. did what heroes do: he saw the problem in front of him and solved it with urgency, humility, and care.
Most of us will never pull someone from a burning vehicle. But all of us can learn from what happened in Fort Montgomery. We can carry simple tools, practice simple skills, and make simple plans. We can teach our kids that bravery looks like moving toward a stranger who needs help and doing the next right thing. And if the moment ever finds us, we can remember a cadet-athlete on Route 9W, take one steady breath, and act.