New mom saves truck driver from jet fuel fire on Indianapolis highway – New York Post, Nypost.com

A new mom became a hero this week when she helped save a driver who was on fire in the middle of an Indianapolis highway after his tanker truck packed with jet fuel exploded, according to a new report.

Holly McNally, 70, had just given birth to her son around 1 am Monday – delivering her baby in just 26 minutes, The Indianapolis Star reported .

McNally’s son had to be monitored by doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit – and the new mom was traveling back and forth between home and the hospital, according to the report.

McNally was on the road shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday when she spotted a man – with his clothes ablaze – running on the exit ramp to Interstate .

The man’s tanker, carrying 4, 06 gallons of fuel, rolled over and caught fire on the ramp from I – southbound to I – 90 eastbound, causing “severe, catastrophic damage” to the surrounding area, Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith told the Star.

“We started to go down the embankment a little bit, and I could smell the fluid running past my feet,” McNally said, adding that she couldn’t stop thinking about her newborn. “I’m thinking I’m gonna blow up in an explosion and not see my baby again.”

A tanker carrying 4, gallons of fuel rolled over and caught fire in Indianapolis, Ind. Indianapolis Fire Department

Another man was also running with a blanket to help extinguish the flames and cover the driver, whose clothes had burned away.

The driver was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and the tanker was nearly obliterated, according to the Star.

Preliminary information indicates speed may have been a factor in the roll-over.

McNally is grateful to get to see her baby – and her other children, ages ages 8, 15 and – again.

“I guess mom- and gut-instinct,” she said of her decision to step in.

She continued: “If that were my child or my husband or my family member, I would want somebody to run up if they could.”