Man and sons rescue young woman from burning vehicle in Opaskwayak Cree Nation

A man and his sons are being hailed as heroes for saving a woman from a burning car that crashed into a cement wall across the street from their home Saturday morning.

Three people died in the crash.

Ernie Flett and his teenage sons, Brandon and Derek Flett, ran across the street to find a smouldering Cobalt with what looked likethree bodies inside after their neighbour banged on their door to tell them.

The vehicle had come to a rest on its hood after colliding with apublicworks building.

"When that car hit,it just folded like a can. There was no way they survived. No way at all," said Flett.

While his wife dialled 911, Flett saidthey weren't sure what to do, as it appeared all three people in the vehicle had died.Then, something caused them to jump to action.

"She moved," he saidof a female passenger in the back seat,asthe smoke from the engine was getting thicker.

"Her feet moved just a little bit. Probably from fear," he said.

"We had three minutes to get that kid out. If we had something like a fire extinguisher, we would've gotten them all out."

'We weren't going to leave her behind'

Flett saidhe and his eldest son crawled into the car through the back window, which had smashed. The engine continued to smoke, and the smell of gasoline was thick in the air.

"I was pretty scared. But there was a live person in there; we weren't going to leave her behind. And we knew she was alive so we said,'Let's get her the hell out of here. It's going to blow up!We've got a few seconds, let's do it.'"

They struggled to undo her seatbelt, and once she was free, he and his son dragged her out the back window.

"When we got her out, the blue flames shot through the cabin right after that.If we would've had a fire extinguisher,we would've been able to put that fire out because it was smouldering small, but once it [the flames] hit the fuel bang, that was it. Everything just (pow) a big puff of smoke and fire came out," he said.

Together, they carried her across the road, and Flett'sCPR training kicked into gear.

"I turned her on her side, she started throwing up, and that's when she started breathing good," he said.

"They [my sons] wanted to get back in there but I didn't let them because the car started blowing up, then all of a sudden it was totally engulfed in flames."

Flett saidparamedics arrived at around 6:20 a.m.and took the girl to hospital.

• Opaskwayak Cree Nation gathers to mourn deaths of 3 killed in crash
• 3 dead, 1 injured in crash on Opaskwayak Cree Nation

The chief of the Opaswayak Cree Nation confirms the girl isMegan Prince, who remainsin serious condition in hospital.

Later that day, Flett and his family learned the people who died were some of his ownfamilyKyla Fontaine Young, a cousin, and Mike Vaillaincourt, his nephew.

RCMPsay one female was found deceased outside of the vehicle.Flett saidshe was under the carand they hadn't seen her.

Flett saidVallaincourt had been looking forward to a barbecue at their house later that week.Now, he worriesfor his sons.

"They're pretty quiet. They're not really talking too much. It bugs them, I can see it in their faces," he said.

"If you can't get it out of your mind, we have to go see a psychiatrist, I told them. All of us. Because my wife said I was crying in my sleep last night."

Close to home

Flett saidhe's helped pull people fromcar wrecks twice before in his life. But this time, it was family, and right across the street from where he lives.

"We've seen something that people will never see in their entire lives. When you see a broken body like that, and it's one of your cousins and your nephew, you're going to think, 'Why him' and 'Why us?'Why would it happen to us in our own front yard?"

Many in the community are calling Flett and his sons heroesand thanking them for being the first responders.

Flett saidhe credits the heroism to his friend, Danny Cowley,who knocked on the door to wake them, and his two sons,who woke him and helped save a life despite not having first aid training or ever seeing that level of trauma.

"I wasn't being a hero.I was assisting the two, three heroes that were there," said Flett.

"I knew if I let this thing let me snap me here we're not going to be able to do nothing. So I just took control and started telling them what to do: don't panic, keep your head straight, we've got tohelp these guys," he said."But we couldn't, we could only help one."

He hopes Prince willmake a full recovery.

"I don't even know who she is;I don't know her from a hole in the ground. Never even met her before in my life, but I saved her."

Dad recounts rescue from fatal Opaskwayak Cree Nation crash

8 years ago

Duration 1:46

Ernie Flett recounts helping rescue a young woman from a burning vehicle after a crash near The Pas Saturday morning. Three other people died in the crash.