BETHEL PARK, Pa. — A family is thanking God – and a young couple – for escaping from a trip to get ice cream unharmed after a tree and power lines came crashing down on their minivan.
Maggie Sheffer said her husband and her eldest daughter noticed some sparking right before the tree came down in the middle of Thursday night’s severe storms as they turned onto Highland Avenue in Bethel Park.
The tree smashed through the family’s windshield and crumpled the roof. However, the rest of the car wasn’t seriously damaged and Bluey kept rolling on the screens the three girls in the back were watching.
The parents’ efforts to get the doors open were hampered by the power lines running around the car. Sheffer’s husband popped the hatch, but couldn’t get the leverage needed to open the door more than a crack.
Two doors down, Isabella Dudjak and Luke Fordyce heard the crash and went outside to see what happened.
“We went out the back and we saw the car,” Dudjak recalled. “So, we ran across the road and we just started screaming, like, ‘Is anybody out there?’”
Dudjak held the hatch open while Fordyce carried one of the young girls to safety. Neither realized power lines had fallen and how close to danger they had put themselves.
“It’s encouraging to see that there are people out there who are willing to help us, and it’s awesome for our daughters to see young people who are who are willing to put themselves at risk… to help others,” Sheffer said.
Her daughter, Maria, expressed her appreciation as she figured out the best way to tell the story of what happened to her classmates next week.
“I’m glad that they saved us because if they hadn’t saved us, we would have had to climb out the tiny little hole of the trunk,” she said.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW