Good Samaritan recalls horror of Monday's fiery crash in Milton

Friends try to console the female passenger in a truck that caught fire after a crash trapping the driver on White Mountain Highway in Milton on Monday. (Lebanon Voice photos)

MILTON - Craig Jewett of Milton may have helped save a life on Monday, at least that's the hope today after a man burned in a horrific crash on White Mountain Highway was Medflighted to a Boston hospital with life-threatening burns.

Jewett was first on the scene of Monday's fiery crash.

Jewett, who lives across the street from the entrance of Lockhart Field where a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer crashed into a tree around 11:40 a.m., said he was inside his home when he heard what sounded like a thunderclap.

"I was just here in my shorts and flip-flops, so I grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran out," Jewett said on Monday. "The guy was pinned under the dashboard and couldn't get out, so I was just telling him to calm down and relax and he did. At that point it was just smoldering."

Jewett said the female passenger was able to get out of the car on her own but was frantic about the driver who was trapped inside as the smoke grew thicker.

Milton Fire and Rescue crews work to extricate a man from a vehicle that had caught fire on Monday in Milton.

"I gave her the fire extinguisher, but she said she didn't know how to use it, so I said just press the button and point it at the floor and spray to coat his feet," he said.
At that point the truck was smoldering, he said, but it soon turned to flame and someone asked him to get another fire extinguisher.

"I went to my truck to get one and by the time I got back it was almost fully engulfed. It was that quick," he said.

The woman passenger was up and walking about but remained visibly distraught as Milton Fire and Rescue crews arrived and worked to free the driver after quickly putting out the blaze that had erupted.

The woman was transported to Frisbie Memoral Hospital.

The victim's names and/or conditions had not been released as of this morning. Neither is said to be from Milton.

.The pickup truck, a Dodge 1500, appeared to have been heading north when it crossed into the southbound lane, went off the road and struck the tree, just feet from the sign that signals the entrance to Lockhart Field.

The male burn victim was extricated and taken to the baseball field behind Milton Elementary School where he was Medflighted to a Boston hospital.
The crash remains under investigation. Milton Police as of this morning had released no further information on the cause of the crash or the condition or names and home towns of the victims.

Milton Firefighters and Rescue personnel, Milton, Farmington and Wakefield Police, Frisbie Paramedics and the Strafford County Accident Reconstruction Team responded to the scene.