Criminal charges apparently were pending after a Chevy Trailblazer and four-door Nissan collided near the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Rock Road just after 4 a.m., responders said.
The driver got out of the Trailblazer, which burst into flames, they said.
The other driver was seriously injured and had to be extricated.
"He was feet away from the fire, which was growing," one responder said. "This could have been much worse."
Glen Rock firefighters completely doused the flames that the borough police had beaten back with extinguishers.
Both drivers were hospitalized.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Fatal Accident Unit also responded, along with the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence. Also responding where Ridgewood and Hawthorne police and Glen Rock EMS.
Lincoln Avenue was closed for several hours between Rock Road and Van Winkle Avenue in Hawthorne.
A tow truck finally removed the wreckage shortly before 8 a.m.
Boyd A. Loving took the photos and contributed to this account.
ALSO SEE: A person stepped in front of a train and was killed Saturday afternoon in Glen Rock, responders said.
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