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As his father, fellow firefighter Keith Kopacz, tried to douse the raging blaze, Joe Kopacz and his brother Nick gently lifted her out of the vehicle.
“I quickly radioed to headquarters to get EMS on an ‘expedite’ rush due to her condition,” the lieutenant told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Arriving Garfield and Elmwood Park police officers helped in tending to 25-year-old Jessica Wagoner of Lyndhurst. Soon after, EMS workers took her to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was listed in serious condition.
Garfield Fire Lt. Joseph Kopacz,
Firefighter Nick Kopacz
All three Kopaczes are with Garfield Engine Co. #5. The elder Kopacz has been a firefighter nearly 38 years.
According to Joe Kopacz (above, middle), they all did what they were trained to.
“It’s what you learn about in the fire academy,” he said. “I was happy that we were in the right place at the right time.”
He and Nick Kopacz (above, right) were home when they heard a loud bang that “sounded like an explosion” around 1:15 a.m. yesterday, the lieutenant told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“My brother looked out the front door and noticed smoke and flames pushing from a vehicle,” he said. “I quickly grabbed my fire department radio and my sneakers and ran out the door with my brother to see what was going on.”
As they ran toward the chaos, Kopacz called in an alert requesting police, firefighters and EMS.
The brothers asked one of the drivers and bystanders what happened, then began checking injuries.
That’s when one of the drivers, 25-year-old Harry Halvorson III of Wallington, said someone was still inside his burning car.
The 1970 Mercury Cougar “was being overcome by heavy smoke and flames,” Kopacz said. “I then observed a female trapped under the dashboard, unconscious.
“I was able to free her up from under the dashboard and with the help of my brother we were able to carefully and gently pull her out while stabilizing her neck,” he said. “We then got her onto the grass away from the vehicle.
“All of the civilians, as well as the drivers of the vehicles, were then moved to a safe distance away from the fire.”
Elmwood Park and Garfield firefighters, including their chiefs, arrived. The fire was eventually snuffed, but not before it destroyed the car.
Soon after, Fatal Accident Unit detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office arrived, along with members of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification, who collected evidence.
Authorities arrested both drivers — one of whom was drunk, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said yesterday afternoon.
Both also were driving while on the suspended list, he said.
(SEE: Bergen prosecutor: Wrong-way driver drunk in Route 46 head-on crash in Elmwood Park)
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