Teenager uses ‘superhumanstrength’ to lift burning truck off dadand save family

Teenager uses ‘superhuman
strength’ to lift burning truck off dad
and save family
CHARLOTTE Heffelmire is being hailed a hero
after she lifted a burning truck off her dad and
saved her family from a potentially fatal fire.
The 19-year-old’s father Eric was in the garage
working on the vehicle, when the jack slipped,
pinning

him face up under the fallen vehicle.
The accident caused petrol to spill and ignite
around him.
Charlotte, on leave from the US Air Force
Academy, ran into the garage and tried heaving
the truck off her dad’s body.
“I felt the weight shift, and I said, ‘You almost
got it,’ and then it was just ughhhhhh, and
suddenly I’m pulled out,” Eric told NBC News.
The teenager told WUSA9 : “I lifted it the first
time, he said ‘OK, you almost got it,’” she said.
“Finally managed to get it out, it was some
crazy strength, pulled him out.”
It’s unclear if the car was in gear at the time,
which would have made it much more difficult
for her to move.
After realising the car could explode at any
minute, Charlotte jumped into the burning
vehicle and drove the damaged car away from
the family home.
“I just did what I had to do, so I don’t feel like a
big hero or anything,” she said.
Heffelmire was this week awarded a Citizen
Lifesaving Award by her local County fire
department.
Both Charlotte and Eric sustained burns and
were taken to hospital for medical treatment.
Superhuman strength, or hysterical strength is a
display of extreme strength by humans, beyond
what is believed to be normal, mostly occurring
when people are in a life or death situation.
Although it is not known what gear the vehicle
was in at the time of the incident, Charlotte’s
exertions may be an example of hysterical
strength, a condition that enalbes people to
perform physical feats way beyond their normal
capabilities.
The extra strength is believed to come from
adrenaline released during a crisis.
Charlotte Heffelmire receives
@ffxfirerescue lifesaving award; lifted
truck off dad, saved family from fire
@wusa9 pic.twitter.com/pXTGfDFNoQ
— Peggy Fox (@PeggyTV) January 7,
2016
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