A Nova Scotia woman says her "motherly instinct" compelled her to risk her own life Friday to help a stranger trapped in a burning car.

Andrea Swinemar pulled a 21-year-old woman out of a burning car that crashed metres away from Swinemar’s home in South Alton, N.S.

“I could hear her, crying for help, trying to get out of the car,” Swinemar told CTV Atlantic on Sunday. “She was in pain.”

The mother of four had just returned from grocery shopping on Friday afternoon and was holding her seven-month-old baby when she heard the crash.

“I ran across my front yard, up through the ditch and I could see the girl trying to get out of her car,” she said.

Swinemar pulled the woman from the vehicle, which was engulfed in smoke and flames.

“Hearing her cry from the car…I knew I needed to get her away from this,” she said.

Swinemar believes the sharp dip between the road and the shoulder was a factor in the accident.

“There’s quite a dip in spots that if you pull your wheel back too quick you’re going to lose control a little bit.”

Police are not releasing the name of the woman involved in the accident, but Swinemar said she has received a visit from the driver’s parents to thank her for her actions.

The woman’s parents said she did not suffer any major injuries as a result of the accident.

With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Alyse Hand