Fiery rescue: Bystanders pull 3 from flaming cars in Winter Garden crash

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. - Three people were pulled from their cars after a head-on crash caused a large fire in Winter Garden Sunday night.

Part of the dramatic rescue was caught on camera, and one of the rescuers spoke exclusively with FOX 35 News. The video shows flames shooting from under the hood of a white van. Three people were in the vehicles.

Aaron Cox said he and others were able to walk two women safely to the sidewalk, then noticed the last man was trapped in the driver's side of the white van, and the door was jammed.

"I looked down to see if he was pinned," Aaron Cox said. "His legs were free, they were just broken about the shin and I told him he needed to start leaning towards the window and I just started grabbing him and I told the two gentlemen behind me to support him while I kept pulling his weight out over my head, and then we got him out."

Once the crash victims were safe, Cox ran back for his hat that fell by the van. Ten seconds later, he said one of the cars exploded.

"Two minutes slower, three minutes slower, we would have been right there," Cox said. "It would have went off."

Winter Garden Police said the driver of the white van told officers he had just put new tires on but hadn't gotten them aligned. The van went into oncoming traffic and hit the other car head-on.

Cox said he relied on his training as a Marine to know what to do before first responders arrived. He thinks the driver and people trying to help could have been burned badly if it took much longer.

"If I was in that situation, I would pray somebody would just do everything they could to get me out before," Cox said.

Police said all the victims were taken to the hospital and are expected to be okay.