Local hero receives $300 from Pay it Forward, donates money for man he saved

SAN ANGELO, Texas ( Concho Valley Homepage ) — A Concho Valley man who helped rescue an individual from a burning vehicle was awarded $300 as part of KLST’s Pay it Forward Campaign, sponsored by Carpet Tech. What he did with the money was another act of heroism.

Michelle Lewis said that her father-in-law was involved in a wreck on July 24 that would cause his vehicle to catch fire. Arriving at the scene, she found that her father-in-law had been rescued from the blaze, his savior having left without identifying himself.

Doing her father-in-law’s laundry weeks later, she found just what she needed to unmask the mystery hero: A work shirt left behind bearing the name “Andy” on a stitched-on name patch.

“I thought, ‘This is not his shirt!'” Lewis said. “So I went to social media and tried to get the story to see if we could find out who Andy was.”

Using social media, Lewis was able to trace the shirt back to USA Compression and eventually identify the rescuer as Andy Vidovich. She learned that Vidovich was one of the first people at the scene of the crash and that the shirt was used to save her father-in-law’s life.

“The vehicle was on fire, and he and another fellow put the fire out, but he put this (the shirt) on my father-in-law’s face to protect it,” Lewis said.

Lewis set out to return Vidovich’s shirt to him, and KLST joined her to award him $300 through the Pay it Forward Campaign. During their meeting, Vidovich shared his side of the story.

“I was just heading down the highway going out to our usual thing,” Vidovich said. “I look over and see a car on fire with 3- or 4-foot flames coming off the hood. “

He, along with another motorist, stopped his vehicle to assist those involved in the crash. Vidovich used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames and covered the face of Lewis’ father-in-law to protect him from the chemicals in the extinguisher.

“At first I threw my shirt over his head because those extinguishers, it’s real thick and dense,” Vidovich said. “I threw that over him, put it out.”

Vidovich and the other individual were unable to remove the man from the vehicle due to how damaged the front portion of the car was, however. Instead, the pair attempted to keep the father-in-law conscious while he was bleeding from his face. The duo then departed once the scene was cleared by first responders.

“I just felt like an everyday hero, in Andy, is among us,” Lewis said. “We need more Andys in the world.”

Upon receiving the $300, Vidovich decided to pay it forward once again by donating the money to Lewis’ father-in-law’s medical expenses.

“I really do appreciate that, but no, that’s more than enough for me is to make sure that he’s alright,” Vidovich said.

If you know someone who deserves a little help from the KLST Pay it Forward Campaign, sponsored by Carpet Tech, keep a lookout for Senora Scott — she’ll be holding the “KLST Pay it Forward” sign — and let her know why that person should get that week’s award.

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