Michigan Eagle Scout Gets ‘Heroism Award’ for Saving Woman from Burning Car

An Eagle Scout in Michigan saved a woman from a burning car crash two years ago, and he recently received the Boy Scouts of America Heroism Award for his life-saving actions.

The woman, Jodie Matthews, pinned the award on Mychael Van Allsburg at a ceremony in June as he fought back tears.

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“I heard the crash … and just started kind of running towards the noise,” Van Allsburg told Fox News, recounting the incident in 2018 in Fruitport, his first day on the job at Enterprise Door LLC.

He witnessed a driver get out of a rolled-over pickup truck, then he spotted a mangled, four-door car sitting in the middle of the street.

“I ran straight to the car trying to assess the damage as I’m running up to it and assess the danger,” he said. “In Scouts, they teach you … if you don’t have to move the person, don’t move them.”   

The Eagle Scout heard Matthews cry out for help but all the windows were closed.

“I looked towards the engine because I started smelling smoke and like electrical wires burning … it was coming from the engine bay. And so I was like, ‘OK, well, we have to get this lady out this car is going to catch on fire,’” Van Allsburg said. 

He stuck his hand between the doorframe and the top of the vehicle and began to bend it down. 

“By that time my co-worker had come running over to help me and the both of us bent the doorframe down to gain access into the vehicle,” he said. 

The boy told the woman not to worry, assuring her he wouldn’t leave her side.

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Eventually, Van Allsburg said he was able to lift the steering wheel, giving them the ability to hoist Matthews from the car. 

“A couple of seconds later, the entire cab or the cockpit of the vehicle was engulfed in flames,” he said. They were only about 10 feet away at that point. 

Now 19, Van Allsburg didn’t mention it to any of his fellow Scouts, but they found out after he put it on his Eagle Scout application, noting it was just the way he was raised.

“You see an opportunity to help somebody, even if you don’t know them, you help them, and that’s all that was that day,” he said. “For me … I just saw an opportunity to help somebody that needed it, and I didn’t even think twice, I just went over and helped that lady.”

Caleb Parke is a senior correspondent for the ‘Todd Starnes Show.’ Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.