DOWAGIAC — On Wednesday, a crash occurred on Dewey Street in Wayne Township that left a woman trapped in burning vehicle.

The vehicle rolled over after hitting a tree, with 31-year-old Trisha Smith inside. At 11:40 a.m. the accident was reported to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and other emergency services were alerted.

The first to respond was Craig Yeager, the assistant chief of the Wayne Township Fire Department.

“When I got there, sure enough, there was a working car fire,” Yeager said. “I could see the lady in there. She was hanging upside down from her seat belt. She wasn’t moving at that time, and I grabbed my leatherman knife. I put all my fire gear on first. The car was burning enough where I knew I needed to wear my turnout gear.”

He cut her loose and drug her about 40 feet to safety. Yeager says she became conscious enough at that point to tell him no one else was in the vehicle.

“That was great because there wouldn’t have been any hope for anybody else,” he said.

Shortly after, other emergency services showed up, including a fire truck from the Wayne Township Fire Department, Pride Cass and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Pokagon Band Tribal Police and Pride Care Ambulance.

Smith was rushed to Borgess Lee Hospital, where she was flown via helicopter to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo.

Yeager says it is unfortunate that Smith was in the accident, but says that the events that occurred after that were lucky. When he first heard about the accident and left for the fire department, he was not sure what he should do.

“Sometimes the fire dictates your next move,” he said. “I was debating on my way to the call whether or not to go to the station or go to the scene. And that fire dictated to me what I was going to be doing.”

If Yeager had not gotten to the scene when he did, Smith may not have been saved.

“As firemen, we really don’t know where we are going to be in six minutes or what we will be doing,” he said. “I can sum it up like that and sometimes we get lucky. … It just a good feeling when a chaotic situation goes well.”

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office said that others were on scene and may have information about this crash. The office asks that these people contact them at (269) 445-8644, as this case remains under investigation.