Durham, CT : Woman Saves 2 Drivers From Fiery Crash on Route 157 in Durham on Wednesday, November 19, 2014

A Wallingford woman helped save two people Wednesday after a crash here that caused one of the cars to burst into flames. In an interview Thursday with the Press, Christine Mansfield said she was near the stop sign on Route 157 near the intersection with Route 68 when she heard the loud bang of two cars colliding. Almost instantly, the cars ended up against a telephone pole near the intersection. But even though there were other cars on the road, no one was checking on the injured drivers. Mansfield got out of her car and rushed to their aid. “I was bouncing from one car to another trying to figure out who can walk and who’s OK,” she said. One woman had managed to get out her car despite her injuries and Mansfield told her to move away from the wreckage. But another woman was still in her vehicle, wailing pain. Mansfield could see that oil was dripping and catching fire near one of the cars. No one was coming to help get the woman out, and as the flames grew, Mansfield reached and pulled the woman out as fast as she could, then dragged her away from the growing blaze, she said. Even after the women were out of their cars, the scene was a chaotic and dangerous one: For a time, traffic was still driving around the wreck and its victims. The fire was growing and emergency crews still hadn’t arrived. Mansfield was still very frightened as she looked over the accident scene. “I shook like a leaf,” she said. “I felt so bad that this woman was in pain and I was dragging her. It was overwhelming. I just thought the cars were going to blow up.” But Mansfield, who runs a software training company called Discovery Training Services and serves as Wallingford town councilor, said she wasn’t a hero and had just done what she could to help. “You kind of do what you have to,” she said. “When crisis hits, you don’t think, you just do.” In a copy of an accident summary obtained by the Press, state police said Louise Gasparini, of Middletown, was traveling west on Route 68 near Route 157 when she collided with Maryann Booss, of Bethany. Booss had been east on Route 68 and was turning left onto Route 157 when the accident happened. Gasparini’s car was heavily damaged and caught fire after the collision, totaling it. Booss’ car also sustained heavy damage to its front end. Both Gasparini, 43, and Booss, 69, were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital by ambulance for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. State police said a witness told them that Gasparini had been traveling at a high rate of speed and passed him before the accident. Source : Woman credited with saving drivers from fiery Durham crash