EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Rhode Island man said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he opened the door and saw two severely damaged cars in front of his house Monday night.
“We heard a couple of bangs and some popping sounds, then the lights went out,” Peter Rocha told NewsNation affiliate WPRI. “It was just unbelievable, and it was literally so close to home.”
Rocha, who lives in East Providence, said he immediately sprung into action as soon as he saw flames “kicking up” around one of the vehicles.
“I’ve got kids of my own, a little older than the occupants of the vehicle. But nonetheless, when I saw the fire start, I just said, ‘You guys need to get out,'” Rocha recalled. “Then, when I found that they weren’t able to get out on their own, I had to assist them.”
Rocha said he crawled inside the burning vehicle and helped the trapped passengers escape before firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames.
Rocha said several of his neighbors also ran out of their homes to assist those who were injured.
“It was a neighborhood coming together,” he said.
In total, four teenagers were transported to the hospital with varying injuries. East Providence Battalion Chief Crowshaw said another teen was not injured and was picked up by her parents.
Crowshaw told WPRI that one of the vehicles involved in the crash slammed directly into a utility pole, taking down wires and knocking out power to more than 3,000 residents for several hours. He said the fire started in a nearby tree and then spread to the vehicle.
While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, Crowshaw said he believes speed should not be ruled out.
“There’s no way to do this much damage without a lot of speed,” Crowshaw said. “I don’t have an estimate [on how fast the drivers were going], but they had to be going pretty fast.”
Rocha said the speed limit on the street where the crash occurred is 25 mph. “By the looks of the rubber marks in the street, they couldn’t have been going just 25 mph,” he said.
Crowshaw also applauded the neighbors’ heroic actions, noting that each one of them “did what good townies do.”
Authorities have not yet released any additional details about the incident.