BETHESDA, Md. — An off-duty police officer jumped into action when they saw a car on fire on Montgomery Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland, Thursday night.
The officer was the first to arrive to a single-vehicle crash scene around 7 p.m., according to Pete Piringer, Public Information Officer for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.
The crash was at Montgomery Avenue and East-West Highway. When the officer arrived they found a vehicle had collided with a tree and caught on fire. There was an adult woman behind the wheel and a juvenile girl, described by Piringer as a teenager, was a passenger.
Before firefighters arrived, the police officer was able to use a fire extinguisher and knock down the fire in the engine compartment, Piringer said.
The officer then cut the driver's seatbelt and got the driver, who was pinned inside the car, out safely. The teenager was also removed from the car. Both the woman and the teenager were evaluated at the scene by arriving medical personnel and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries not thought to be life threatening.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Additional details about this incident were not immediately available, but police say more information will be made available Friday.