By admin 
CAVE CREEK, AZ (AZFamily) — A Valley father and his 14-year-old daughter are being called heroes after helping rescue six people from burning vehicles Saturday night on Carefree Highway.
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Investigators are still working to determine what caused the crash, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Casey Reinke and his daughter, Elianna, were driving around 10:30 p.m. when they saw a car speed past them. Within about a minute, Reinke said, they noticed what looked like strobe lights in the sky — then came upon a violent collision.
Two vehicles had crashed and erupted into flames, trapping six people.
“She saw it and she’s like, ‘Dad, they need help,’” Reinke said.
Elianna immediately called 911 and moved to stop traffic, Reinke said, while directing him toward the wreck.
“She grabbed my phone. She’s like, ‘I’m going to stop traffic, call 911. You go get them,’” Reinke said.
He said he helped pull one person from a vehicle first. The most urgent situation, he said, was a truck with five people still inside as fire pushed up from the back.
Other drivers stopped to help — including two men Reinke identified as Mark and Tim — and the strangers quickly became a team.
“In the midst of the chaos, it almost felt like unspoken orchestration,” Reinke said.
They broke windows and tried to reach the people trapped on the passenger side, but the flames made it impossible. Reinke said the group then flipped the truck to reach them.
“I grabbed a hold of her. The other guys grabbed arms and we just kind of pulled her out,” Reinke said.
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Firefighters arrived shortly afterward and transported all six injured people to the hospital.
One of the families is now speaking publicly to thank the rescuers. Jeffrey Johnson said his mother and other relatives were in one of the vehicles.
“I thank the Lord that they were there,” Johnson said. “It’s amazing to hear.”
Johnson said his family members are hurt, but recovering — and still stunned that strangers rushed in without hesitation.
“To have a group of people that didn’t know each other … come together and make that happen in such a quick time — it saved lives,” Johnson said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help some of the victims in the crash.
Reinke said a firefighter later told Elianna the bystanders’ actions made the difference between life and death.
“The group of people here are the reason those six people are still alive,” Reinke said he was told.
At home, Reinke and Elianna are simply father and daughter — and on the softball field, coach and player. Saturday night, they said, they became teammates in something far bigger.
“Nobody I’d trust more,” Reinke said.
“I just played my role and he played his role,” Elianna said.
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