BARNHART, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com)—
A pair of highway construction workers are being hailed as heroes for saving a woman and her baby from a fiery crash. The accident happened while the workers were repaving a section of Interstate 55. Last Thursday a team of construction workers were working in the center lane of I-55 near Barnhart, Missouri, when they heard a crash and saw a car erupt into flames.Two men risked it all and ran across the interstate to help and saved a DeSoto woman and her one year old son.
They are road warriors, working overnight to repave and redesign the aging interstate. Traffic races by, weaving through cones and concrete barriers.
Randy Clandenny said, "It's a pretty dangerous job."
And yet they aren't afraid to risk it all.
Richard Boyd said, "We head a loud crash."
The Millstone Bangert construction crew saw an inferno. "When I looked over I seen the woman in a burning car and my instinct was to drop everything and rush over to her," said Boyd.
In an instant Boyd, Clandenny and their colleagues went from repavers to rescuers. They ran across the northbound lanes of I-55 near Barnhart with one thought.
"In my head I was like 'It's going to blow! Save the lady. Save the lady.'" said Boyd.
"Me and another laborer opened the door to get the woman out and she said something about a baby," said Clandenny.
The woman's 1-year-old son was strapped in his carseat.
"I looked in the back seat and seen the baby and I tried to pull it out but it was strapped down so I unbuckled it and got the baby to safety," said Boyd.
Meanwhile, Clandenny and others used a fire extinguisher to put the blaze out.
"It was different. Everyone was stirred up," said Clandenny.
The incident now replays in their minds. "If anything would have happened to the baby I would have been devastated," said Boyd.
"Seems like I felt safe out here before, but now I am always watching twice as much," said Clandenny.
And they hope drivers are, too. "Please slow down. Millstone Bangert and MoDOT is trying to make this road better and we all have families and we want to get home to them safely," said Boyd.
The woman and her child were taken to St. Anthony's Medical Center. They have been released and are doing well.
Boyd and Clandenny say their crew has worked together for the past seven years without an accident and they want to keep it that way.
