{"id":1009,"date":"2026-05-21T13:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1009"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:36:09","slug":"right-place-right-time-nc-teens-speak-out-after-saving-woman-from-burning-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1009","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Right place, right time\u2019: NC teens speak out after saving woman from burning car"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. (WJZY) \u2014 The Union County Sheriff has credited Joella Meadows and Mandi Tarr, two Porter Ridge High School students, for saving a woman from her burning car<\/strong> in Indian Trail on April 30.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more NC community sends positive energy to teen baseball player after cardiac arrest<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat could be anybody in that situation,\u201d said Meadows in an interview with QC News. \u201cThat could have been me. That could have been my family member.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meadows said Tarr was a passenger in her car when they headed west on Unionville-Indian Trail Road after school, and she noticed smoke coming from under the vehicle in front of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Joella Meadows and Mandi Tarr, Porter Ridge High School Students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy dad was a mechanic for a bunch of years, and I\u2019ve always known if a car is smoking, something\u2019s wrong,\u201d said Meadows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tarr said she quickly noticed that the smoke had turned into flames.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we saw it, we were like, we have to get her off the road,\u201d said Tarr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The girls told QC News that Meadows started honking and eventually pulled to the side of the vehicle being driven by a woman, now identified as Sharon Maggard. Tarr said they pleaded with the woman to get out of her car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she was so unaware,\u201d said Tarr. She was like, \u2018I really have to get out?\u2019 And we were like, you have to get out immediately.\u201d<\/p>

Read more NC woman grieves loss of family business in fire<\/a><\/p>\n

Within minutes, the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The girls said they called 911 and stayed with Maggard until firefighters arrived at the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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(Union County Sheriff\u2019s Office) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d said Meadows. \u201cI\u2019m an 18-year-old girl. I was never expecting this to happen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said the heroic actions taken by the girls saved Maggard\u2019s life and that he plans to honor them with the UCSO Good Samaritan Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The girls, who are friends and cheerleaders for Porter Ridge, said they appreciate the recognition but are glad that Maggard walked away from the scene unharmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cIf we would have looked back and saw it on the news and just heard it was the lady was in her car, I would have had such like a guilty conscience,\u201d said Tarr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would want somebody to do the exact same thing for me if I was in that situation,\u201d said Meadows.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Push to increase number of license plate readers in NC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. (WJZY) \u2014 The Union County Sheriff has credited Joella Meadows and Mandi Tarr, two Porter Ridge High School students, for saving a woman from her burning car in Indian Trail on April 30.\u00a0 “That could be anybody in that situation,” said Meadows in an interview with QC News. “That could have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Right place, right time\u2019: NC teens speak out after saving woman from burning car - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Right place, right time\u2019: NC teens speak out after saving woman from burning car - Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. (WJZY) \u2014 The Union County Sheriff has credited Joella Meadows and Mandi Tarr, two Porter Ridge High School students, for saving a woman from her burning car in Indian Trail on April 30.\u00a0 “That could be anybody in that situation,” said Meadows in an interview with QC News. “That could have been […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T13:36:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ffd303b30342b5ef1c02f79f833f0f49.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"888\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"591\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Right place, right time\u2019: NC teens speak out after saving woman from burning car\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T13:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d3ae5c20de7874f576afb67315c61c75.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=1009\",\"name\":\"\u2018Right place, right time\u2019: NC teens speak out after saving woman from burning car - 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