Wiscasset Assistant Fire Chief Nick Merry was taking a nap and wife Jessica was driving him and their 10-month-old son Nicholas home Sunday night after a long day at the beach. Nick woke up, saw a car leave the road way up ahead, and asked Jessica to pull over.

She hadn't seen the accident because she was so focused on her driving in the heavy traffic, she said. What happened next gave her a better grasp of the gift she said her husband of two years has, in wanting to help and being good at comforting someone in an emergency.

"I've been doing this so long, it's just second nature to me," Nick said. He has been with the department 16 years and has been assistant chief for four years.

"I've always wanted to give a helping hand to anyone when I can."

In separate phone interviews Monday after Jessica contacted the Wiscasset Newspaper via Facebook, the couple said he got out, found the older woman driving was having an unknown medical issue and he asked Jessica to call 911. He stayed with the woman the whole time a Freeport ambulance and State Police were on the way.

Jessica said her husband had been exhausted Sunday after the beach and a stop at the Maine Mall for an errand. And before the trip home, he had had a big meal at Panda Express in South Portland. The stop at the restaurant wasn't planned but they smelled the food and decided to get supper there, she said. If not for that, they would have been long past the stretch of interstate where the accident happened, she said. On Facebook Sunday night and in the interview, she credited divine intervention with the timing.

As for what she saw her husband do on the interstate, she said, "I know what he does, and I've always been proud of the person he is. But after seeing that, I realize that it's a gift, and how fortunate I am, my children are, and we are as a community. He's amazing."

Baby Nicholas slept through it all, his parents said.