Woman Thanks Heroes Who Saved Her Children From Burning Minivan

— -- Terri Fontanez was driving home from a her niece’s birthday party with her four young children when another motorist ran a stoplight and T-boned her minivan.

“As soon as he hit, I saw the smoke,” Fontanez said of the crash that happened on Nov. 23, 2013 in Henrietta, just outside of Rochester in New York. “The impact was so hard, you know, the vehicle immediately was on fire.”

The car behind Fontanez’s was being driven by Christine Wilson, an off-duty police officer with the Rochester Police Department. Also nearby was Frank DiStefano, a snow plow operator and father of two. They both rushed to help.

“I grabbed the first child, helped her unbuckle her seatbelt,” Wilson, who has two children, told ABC News’ Jesse Palmer.

In the car were six-year-old Marianna, two-year-old twins, Dante and Maddox, and Annaleigh, six months.

Wilson managed to get Marianna, Annaleigh and Maddox from the car, but she struggled with unbuckling Dante.

The smoke and heat became intense.

“I knew I had that last child in the car and I just didn’t want to leave him,” a tearful Wilson said. “But I ran. I fell down … and I’m just yelling and screaming for somebody to help me.”

DiStefano heard those cries.

“As I approached the vehicle, I heard somebody screaming— ‘the babies, the babies. There're still babies in the car.’ So at that point, I'm, like, ‘Oh, man.’ And now I start running,” he said.

DiStefano ran to the burning car. He knew his only option was to break the rear safety glass of the rear windshield.

“I just – with my elbow, I just took a shot at the window as hard as I could, and for some odd reason, the whole window just blew apart,” he said. “My adrenaline was pumping so hard, you know. I probably could have ripped the back door right off if I had to.”

He jumped through the rear windshield, reached over and released the harness on the child’s seat, freeing Dante. Within two minutes, he said, the vehicle was engulfed in flames.

Wilson described that moment.

“I heard the commotion over there, near the van. And I looked and I see this guy running with that last kid in his arms, saying ‘I got him. I got him.’”

Fontanez, 32, and her children, walked away from the crash with little more than bruises. She says she’s grateful for the Wilson and DiStefano’s help.

I thank them to myself -- almost every day, I think. You -- they cross my minds and I thank them. They may not be able to hear me, but I do. Because again it could be different without them,” she said.

Along with Wilson, Fontanez met DiStefano for the first time on Sunday, and she expressed her gratitude in person.

To DiStefano she said: “I’ve been wanting to meet you and, you know, thank you in person, and I’m glad I finally get the chance to."