A raging fire burnt the hair off Garry Gillies' arms as he and his ex-wife made the life-saving dive into a burning car.
There was no hope for Brisbane siblings Sarah and Daniel Walker, killed instantly in a horror Bruce Highway crash in the final hours of the Easter long weekend.
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Heroes save crash victims
Police and a doctor save the lives of three people after an horrific crash on the Bruce Highway near Maryborough which claimed two lives. Nine News
But Peter Knowles still had a chance.
Both legs fractured, two vertebrae broken, the 25-year-old couldn't get himself out of his friends' car, burning in the middle of the road just out of Tiaro near Maryborough.
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Gary and Ann Gillies dragged him free and Ann looked after him until the helicopter arrived for an emergency flight to Brisbane.
It was 3.15pm on Easter Monday and the Gillies, like so many others, were returning to the Sunshine Coast, after visiting their grandkids in Agnes Water.
"I don't think it was (brave)," Mr Gillies, 63, said.
"I think it was, you just do that. You stop."
Police are yet to figure out why the Gaylers' car, travelling in the overtaking lane, veered right, clipping another vehicle and slammed into the Walkers.
Gary and Ann were just two cars back when the crash happened. The fire that quickly started was so ferocious they couldn't see what was happening on the other side of the wrecks as they helped Mr Knowles.
They also grabbed Sarah Walker's 14-year-old boy, critically injured but somehow able to get out of the car by himself, and dragged him further from danger.
Three days later, he's still fighting for life, critically injured in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
His relations have thought of little else, willing him to survive as they grieve his mum, 30 and uncle, 22.
"My two beautiful babies are gone and I can't even see them," grief-stricken mother Kerri Walker said through tears.
"My grandson's fighting for life.
"... It's the worst time of my life."
Life saving, said of the efforts of Gary, a paramedic of 40 years, and Ann Gillies, a long-time registered nurse.
It was a miracle that more people weren't killed, Acting Inspector Paul Algie said, praising local officers who pulled Hervey Bay solicitor Don Gayler and his wife Leanne away from petrol spilling on the road minutes before it went up in flames.
"On the northern side of the accident where I was, and my wife, there was just herself and me," Gary Gillies said.
"And If we hadn't got that guy out, Peter, if we hadn't got him out of the car, he would have died.
"There's no doubt in my mind about that."