Devin John Moore

Devin John Moore saved a man and rescued a woman from burning, Waldron, Indiana, February 20, 2024. About an hour before dawn, the man, 46, was in the front, passenger seat and the woman, 44, in the driver’s seat of a burning sport utility vehicle after left the highway and struck a tree. Driving toward the crash was Moore, 38, an off-duty police officer, who pulled onto the shoulder and called in the accident on the car radio. Flames intermittently flared at the SUV’s front end, rising as high as 3 feet, and there was a small fire beneath the area of the front seats. Moore, who did not have an extinguisher in his car, jogged to the front, passenger door, which already was open. The man and woman called for help as smoke was filling the interior. Moore popped a side airbag with a knife, leaned inside, and cut the man’s seat belt. Moore then grabbed the man by the arm and escorted him toward the SUV’s rear, where the man hunched over while Moore ran around to the driver’s side. Moore unsuccessfully attempted to open the driver’s door and break out the window, then returned to the passenger side, where smoke flowed out through the open door and flames again flared at the hood. With fire burning on the floorboard near the woman, Moore opened the rear, passenger door, releasing a large plume of dark smoke. Moore moved into the smoke, which enveloped him, then immediately retreated and returned to the front, passenger door. Moore leaned inside, removed the woman’s seat belt, grasped her, and pulled her across the passenger compartment to the ground. Moore then dragged the woman, who could not walk on her own, to the SUV’s rear and the fire shortly accelerated and engulfed the vehicle. Moore pulled the woman farther away, then was guiding the man away when the man collapsed. Despite efforts by Moore and arriving first-responders, the man could not be revived and died at the scene. The woman was treated at a hospital for her injuries, including burns. Moore, who inhaled smoke, was treated for a persistent cough six days after the rescue, then recovered.

2024-0000131-10486