CONTRIBUTED PHOTO State Center Reserve Police Officer Dan McCready, far left, and his uncle Brian Krumm assisted a motorist whose vehicle went up in flames near Monroe on Saturday night.

MONROE — It was just supposed to be an easy trip to Knoxville and back.

State Center Reserve Police Officer Dan McCready and his uncle Brian Krumm, a member of the Marshall County Community Emergency Response Team (CERTs), drove to the other side of Interstate 80 to exchange some equipment with another agency last Saturday night, and not long after they set out for the journey home, they saw a vehicle on the other side of the Highway 14 centerline hit a deer.

After pulling over to assist the motorists, McCready quickly noticed that the vehicle was on fire — via dashcam footage, the entire incident was captured on video.

“There’s a lot of four letter words that aren’t suitable for print,” McCready said when asked what was going through his mind at the time. “We were just thinking they hit a deer. We weren’t expecting it to go the way it did, but I think training for both of us just kind of kicked in. We just didn’t even worry about anything else, and we got up there to make sure they were OK and then realized the car was on fire. That kind of made everything a little bit more interesting.”

The drivers, McCready said, were initially hesitant to leave the car because they thought they had been involved in a routine deer accident. Luckily, he had noticed the flames before the vehicle was even fully stopped.

Krumm had gone on ride alongs before but unsurprisingly said he’d never witnessed anything quite like what transpired on Saturday night.

“I don’t know if you can ever get used to this because it’s pretty crazy,” he said. “I’ve been involved in things like this before, but this was a first for me.”

Ultimately, the spare tire and gas tank exploded, and the whole car went up in flames as the Monroe Fire Department was arriving on the scene about five miles north of the Mile Long Bridge on Lake Red Rock.

Although the vehicle is a total loss, the driver and passenger were not injured, and both McCready and Krumm are thankful they were able to escort them to safety before something much worse could’ve happened.

“We were just kind of in the moment at the time and doing what we needed to do to get the folks out of there and get them safe,” McCready said. “For me, it didn’t actually hit me until we were released from the scene and down the road a ways… You kind of go through all the training that both of us have gone through, and all that just kind of kicks in almost like muscle memory.”

State Center Police Chief Jon Thomas said it didn’t surprise him at all to hear McCready had stepped up when duty called — after all, he’s volunteered more hours than any other reserve officer in State Center.

“I’m not surprised at all that Dan took the initiative to turn around and check on that car, recognize what was going on and problem solve it,” Thomas said. “The other thing I would say is I think this is a great example of the value reserve police officers have in the state… They do things like this all the time.”

Thomas also called McCready an example of “the standard” that he’s come to appreciate among the law enforcement professionals he works with regularly.

“But I’m very proud to say that it’s my guy, and he hit a home run,” Thomas said. “I think it’s just reflective of who Dan is. Dan’s served in the military. He’s served as a 911 operator. He’s a reserve officer now. I think Dan just has service in his veins.”

Both men were happy to help in a crucial moment, and they’ve enjoyed the positive attention the video has received. But, they add, most law enforcement officers and first responders deal with difficult situations like these on a daily basis.

“This one just happened to be caught on film,” McCready said.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.