2 Royal Military College students jumped into action to save a man from a burning car in North York

Arriving at the scene of a crash to find a car in flames with the driver stuck inside, Jadin Brown and Cameraon Whiddon knew what to do – and what they did may have saved a man's life.

“That’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re mandatory first responders, we have the training, why wouldn’t we help?," Brown said.

Both are 20 year old students at Royal Military College in Kingston, and have been trained to handle a situation like the one they found last night.

It was just after 10:30 p.m., the two men were outside after having watched the World Juniors on television at Whiddon’s home near Bayview and Moore Avenue, they told CTV News. 

“We hear the car speeding by and go, people are being stupid,” Brown said.

Soon they heard a crash. “It didn’t sound like it was a normal bang that you would hear every night," Whiddon said.

They followed the sound, and it led them to a parking lot outside.

A black Ford Mustang had lost control while traveling north along Bayview, crashing into cement pillars near the stores loading dock. The car was on fire and a crowd of onlookers was forming.

For Brown and Whidden, training kicked in.

"We told everyone to move back, we weren’t sure it was going to explode or not," Whidden said.

Whidden broke all the windows to help clear the smoke from inside, while Brown attended to the driver.

“I checked that he was alive, but I couldn’t extricate him because he was pinned,” Brown said. "I tried my best to get him out and get him away from the car that could have exploded and then we just dealt with the fire."

Flames were erupting from the engine area that the men described as being “about two feet on the engine."

"It didn’t seem like it was spreading, it just seemed like it was shooting out. But the whole front was just crumpled,” Whiddon said.

There had already been calls to 911, and an employee of the Loblaws brought a fire extinguisher, as did a nearby resident.

Brown and Whidden went about knocking the fire down.

“We put out the fire and checked for vitals. EMS showed up, we gave then the triage report,” Brown said.

The car's roof was removed and it took several minutes to get the man out.

According to Brown and Whidden, the driver was in his mid twenties to early thirties.

Police said the man's condition has been upgraded to non-life threatening.

“Police did tell us that the guy was talking in the ambulance, so I really hope the guy is ok," Whiddon told CTV News. 

Both Brown and Whiddon were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation. Whiddon was also treated for a cut to the finger he sustained while breaking the car windows.

When asked about their decision to help, Brown said, “It’s what we’re meant to do, right? It’s serve and protect, service over self. Put yourself in the way of harm for others.”

Whiddon added that it’s an easy decision because they can identify with someone in distress.

“I would want someone to come and help me,” Whiddon said. “I think that’s what we did and I think we did an ok job.”