Kansas deputy helps children escape from burning vehicle after wreck with semi

A Phillips County deputy, who is recovering from minor burns, is being praised as a hero after helping cut free two children from a vehicle that was on fire.

“You’re a hero for saving those kids!” Robin Smith said on the Phillip’s County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.

The sheriff’s office said the incident started after Deputy John Miner tried to help a “disabled motorist” Wednesday evening. Miner was outside of his vehicle when a semi rear-ended his patrol vehicle and pushed it into the ditch, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Miner’s emergency lights were on.

Here is what the sheriff’s office said happened next:

The semi then hit the trailer of the vehicle Miner was helping. The semi’s fuel tank ruptured and spilled diesel fuel as the semi went into a ditch and caught fire.

The two vehicles in front of Miner’s patrol vehicle also caught fire.

Everyone was able to escape the semi and vehicles except for a 2-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl in the vehicle directly in front of Miner’s vehicle. The children were in car seats.

Miner cut the boy out of the car seat and handed him to another person.

He then reached across the seat and cut away the girl.

As Miner was pulling her out of the vehicle he realized his pants were on fire. He placed her on the ground and started to put out the flames with the help of another person.

He was taken to the Phillips County Hospital where he was treated for minor burns. He was the only one hurt of the nine people involved.

Miner wrote on Facebook that he is fine but has “some decent burns.”

“Thanks for the prayers and kind words, just happy the kids weren’t physically hurt,” he wrote.

Sheriff Charles Radabaugh said: “We’re all amazed that this situation turned out the way it did.”