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LI Volunteer Firefighter On Way Home From Husband's Funeral Helps Rescue Crash Victim

KINGS PARK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A day of mourning turned into just another day on the job for a volunteer firefighter on Long Island who sprang into action on her way home from her husband's funeral.

Roseanne Kleppsattel told CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff she was in the right place at the right time Tuesday, returning from Calverton Cemetery after the funeral for her 77-year-old husband, Fred.

He was a fire chief. She is a longtime volunteer firefighter in Kings Park.

Aboard a firetruck in the funeral procession, mourners came upon a five-car crash with a woman trapped in a vehicle on the Long Island Expressway. Kleppsattel pushed aside her sorrow and geared up, manning firehoses while fellow firefighters freed the victim.

"When you're in this type of service this many years, you react," Kleppsattel told CBS2.

"It's on your DNA. It's in your blood."

She believes being in the right place was no coincidence -- her late husband lived his life saving others.

Kleppsattel told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall that her husband, who died in his sleep of natural causes, was probably looking down from heaven at the time.

Less than a week after her husband's death, Kleppsattel said she believes the best way to honor and remember his life is to get right back to the job of saving lives.

The driver, who was airlifted to the hospital after the rescue, is expected to recover.

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