Two good Samaritans spotted a Harpswell man on fire outside his burning vehicle on Friday morning along Harpswell Neck Road and used snow to put out the flames, according to an eyewitness and local fire officials.
The incident occurred next to 1501 Harpswell Neck Road, where a house fire broke out in October and 78-year-old Hugh MacFarlane was found dead in the home.
The man who caught on fire Friday was Hugh MacFarlane’s son, 48-year-old Jeffrey MacFarlane, according to a spokesperson for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which is investigating the incident.
David Mercier, fire chief for Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, said the man — whom he didn’t identify — had been living in his vehicle since the October fire destroyed the home where he lived with his father.
Mercier said that around 9:40 a.m. on Friday, two young men in a vehicle drove upon the scene of the vehicle fire and stopped to help.
“I spoke with two gentlemen who were driving by and saw the vehicle burning and the individual standing at the rear of the vehicle, and he was on fire on his upper torso and his hair and face,” Mercier said in an interview. “So they stopped in the middle of the road, ran down to him and put him on the ground to put the fire out with snow.”
Mercier said the two rescuers risked their own safety to drag the victim away from his burning vehicle while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Jeffrey MacFarlane was taken to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick for treatment of burn injuries, then transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland, according to the spokesperson for the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The spokesperson, Shannon Moss, said in an email that the vehicle fire “is believed to be accidental.” Investigators want to interview Jeffrey MacFarlane before they make a determination, she said.
Moss said investigators ruled the October house fire an accident, caused by smoking in a bedroom on the second floor. Hugh McFarlane, the victim of that fire, had died “earlier in the night from health issues unrelated to the fire,” she said. The fire was reported around 4:30 a.m.
Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, the Cundy’s Harbor Volunteer Fire Department, and the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department all responded to Friday’s vehicle fire, according to Mike Drake, Harpswell’s fire administrator and emergency management agent.
“Units were on scene in a few minutes and extinguished the fire,” Drake said in an email.
Mercier said the “real story” is the heroism exhibited by the two men who happened upon the burning man and rushed to help. Mercier declined to name the rescuers, saying he didn’t have their permission.
“That speaks volumes for our community, when young men are willing to risk their own lives to try to save (a fire victim),” he said.
Harpswell Road Commissioner Ronald Ponziani witnessed the incident, which occurred next door to his home.
Ponziani said the fire victim had been inside the vehicle when it caught fire. The man managed to escape the vehicle, he said in an interview, but not before the upper half of his body became engulfed in flames.
He said the two citizen rescuers removed the man’s burning coat, smothered the fire with snow and dragged the fire victim to Ponziani’s property while they waited for the ambulance.
“I really thought he was dead, but he wasn’t,” Ponziani said.
