19-year-old Charlotte Heffelmire is being hailed as a hero after she lifted a pickup truck off her father – and saved her family from a dangerous fire.
Charlotte’s father, Eric, was working in the family garage on a GMC pick-up truck when the jack propping up the car slipped and pinned him to the ground, with leaking petrol instantly catching fire.
“We had a bunch of propane containers and they were cooking off – just fireballs,” Eric told NBC News.
He struggled for 10 minutes when a door opened and his daughter ran: 5-foot-6, 120 pounds and barefoot.
Charlotte began to lift the truck.
“I felt the weight shift, and I said, ‘You almost got it,’ and then it was just UGHHHHHHRRR, and suddenly I’m pulled out,” Eric said.
Then, Charlotte realized the truck’s gas tank would explode and could engulf the house in flames. She jumped in the driver’s seat and gunned the truck sideways on its three remaining wheels, away from the house. She then grabbed a garden hose and began spraying down the house before firefighters arrived.
Charlotte’s grandmother and 3-month-old niece were able to exit the home. She suffered burns to her feet and hands, and a back injury has kept her from returning to the Air Force Academy.
“If I can’t do any of the military branches, then probably just intelligence or government work,” she said. “Right now I’m just healing up and making sure the family is okay.”
Watch the news report below:
