It happened just before 1 o'clock Wednesday morning in the 4500 block of Auburn Way South. Police say a car loaded with six people was heading east when the driver lost control. The car then hit a light pole and caught fire.

Neighbor Edward Marsette woke up when he heard the transformer on the utility pole explode and raced out.

"I just realized that there was kids in there scrambling around." In just his socks and underwear, Marsette ran to help. "They were all on fire one way or another, one's pants, one's shirt, the third one that came out of the vehicle, his T-shirt was, the whole back of it was on fire."

Marsette started pulling the teens out of the burning car -- he got three of them out -- and smothering the flames in their clothes.

"His T-shirt started right back on fire again and I didn't know what to do so I just screamed at him, 'Get your (butt) down and stop, drop and roll!' "

Marsette knew there was at least one other person still trapped. He crawled on his hands and knees reaching inside to try and free them.

"I just couldn't, I couldn't get to them."

It's tough for him to think about what he couldn't do.

"You only wish your hands were as strong as the Jaws of Life to break the car open right?" Then bullets inside the car began exploding in the heat. He had to back off.

The exploding ammunition made it difficult for firefighters as well.

"We don't know what type of ammunition was exploding," said Brad Thompson of the Auburn Fire Department. "Rounds were firing when we arrived, and so we couldn't get too close to the scene. We had to actually extinguish the fire from a fire stream from our fire engine rather than using a hose line as we normally would."

Thompson added that Marsette even deferred treatment when aid cars arrived so they could tend to the more seriously injured

'The Flames Were Too High'

The worst of it says Marsette, is that the other person in the car was conscious the whole time. "They were screaming, they were just screaming for help. There was nothing to do, the flames were too high."

Two young men died. Three are in Harborview Medical Center with serious burns in the intensive care unit.

Marsette thought they were all Native American teens. KOMO 4 News has learned they do have some connection to the Muckleshoot Tribe.

Auburn police say both speed and alcohol contributed to the crash.

"If I was to send a message out to anybody," says Marsette, "do something about your children drinking and driving and running around late, after curfew hours."

In the meantime, Marsette scoffs at the notion he's a hero. He just thinks of the people he couldn't save.

The 18-year-old driver is also at Harborview in satisfactory condition. He's under guard there and once he's well enough to be released, police say he'll be booked into the King County Jail for investigation of vehicular homicide.

The accident closed Auburn Way South in both directions for six hours.

The victims' names have not been released yet.