WENTZVILLE, Mo. — Thursday night, five people were recognized as everyday heroes by the Wentzville Fire Protection District for saving a mother and her three kids from a burning van on the side of the highway.
Wentzville Fire Protection District Deputy Fire Chief Michael Scott said the van was already on fire after colliding with a dump truck on the highway and would have quickly taken four lives that night had it not been for five good Samaritans.
Chris Rice and his wife were on their way home from dinner on Friday night, May 5 around 11:45 when they saw a terrible crash where Highway 64 meets 70 and 61 in Wentzville.
“I ran down the highway, went to the driver's side, and the driver, I got her when she was getting out of the car and I know she was banged up pretty good. So I just told her to sit in front of the car, get away from the flames,” Rice said.
He ran back to the van to save three kids that were still trapped inside, Rice said.
“I went to the passenger seat, got the little girl out to the window. Her little brother was down there. I got him out. And then I noticed that there was another young one in the back seat and he was just screaming in fear,” Rice said.
He said that’s when off-duty St. Louis Police Officer Chris Scoville rushed in to help him break the window so they could pull the last child from his car seat.
“I would hope someone would do the same thing if my kids were in that situation. That's all it was. I think some were saying the highway patrol was saying I was a hero, but I'm not a hero. I was just doing what I would hope anyone would do,” Rice said.
Deputy Chief Scott said the Wentzville Fire Protection District arrived shortly after to find five drivers who pulled over to help.
“Had they not stopped and helped them get out of the vehicle, the battalion chief said their injuries were pretty serious as it was. It would have been a lot more serious and possibly fatal,” Scott said.
Those five people, Chris and Dawn Rice, Ken and Brandon Clinton, and SLMPD Ofc. Chris Scoville were honored with Civilian Hero Awards for saving Kayleigh Volker, her daughter Tessa and twin sons Lincoln and Landon.
“The fact that it was so late and you all stopped and you didn’t know what you were coming up to but what you did made all the difference,” Volker’s mom, Jessie Skeen, said.
Volker said she’s glad to be reunited with their heroes.
“We probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” Volker said.
Scott said he wants this to be a sign to everyone that knowing CPR and even just stopping to call for help can go a long way.