A Danbury teen has been credited with saving his friend’s life, after pulling him from a burning vehicle as it went up in flames.
Rylie Snorek, 17, Danbury, attends Webster High School, but has also been a Danbury Fire cadet for over three years.
According to Rylie, he was following his friend, Caleb Smith, from his house outside Danbury on their way to school in Webster. They were on the way to the high school at about 6:45 in the morning on Thursday, Feb. 3 when something went very wrong with Caleb’s older Chevrolet pickup, as flames erupted from the truck after a gasket from a return fuel line apparently leaked fuel onto the hot engine or exhaust.
“And the fuel pump just kept pumping,” Rylie said, adding that the sudden blaze also made the interior door locks freeze up on his friend’s truck. “Maybe the electronics got fired, but I was able to open the door from the outside, though.”
The truck was quickly engulfed in flames, and Rylie said he was lucky to have been able to get him out.
“Yeah, the truck went up really fast,” he said. “I got him out as quick as I could … but there wasn’t much truck left by the time (firefighters) arrived.”
Webster firefighters arrived on scene moments later to extinguish what was left of the truck, but it was Rylie’s quick action that saved his friend from an awful fate.
“It’s something everyone should have done,” Rylie said with a shrug. “It was lucky I was there.”
Rylie has already taken a few kudos from his firefighting comrades, and his friend, Caleb, is happy to have survived.
But also noted that it wasn’t just any old day for him to be hero that morning.
“And it was my birthday!” he added, matter-of-factly. “I’m glad it turned out okay.”
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