Two quick-thinking NT Police officers were able to pull an Alice Springs man from his burning vehicle after he crashed his ute while suffering from a possible medical episode on the way to work yesterday morning, NT Police said.

The 53-year-old crashed his ute into vacant land off Larapinta Drive on Friday, authorities said in a refreshingly descriptive account of the incident.

Police said two officers were travelling along Larapinta Drive when they “heard the collision and saw a cloud of dust over the crash scene”.

The duty officers attended to the vehicle to remove the man from the ute that had caught on fire.

“I ran over and immediately saw the engine bay was on fire and I couldn’t get to the driver’s side door because of the fire,” one of the unnamed officers said, according to the press release.

“By this time, the car cab had filled with smoke and a fire in the engine bay was gradually getting bigger by the second.

“I went to the passenger door, but I could only partially open it because of the angle of the car. Then two guys helped by ripping the door open and I was able to lean in and pushed the airbags away.

“I saw the driver, who was semi-conscious, so I started to chat with him and told him to lift his legs out of the foot-well so I could get him out.”

The officer managed to safely extract the driver from the burning vehicle, and carried the man to the footpath for treatment, with the assistance of the other officer and a member of the public.

NT Police said the officers stayed with the man until paramedics arrived to transport him to Alice Springs Hospital for treatment.

Authorities did not give details on the man’s medical condition.

Fire crews also arrived on scene and extinguished the fire from the ute and secured the area.

“Thankfully his legs weren’t caught in the foot-well,” one police officer said.

“If his legs had been stuck it would have been horrific.”

One of the responding officers, who police media said wished to remain anonymous, said he was only doing his job: “That’s what we go to work for every day, it’s the positive results”.