A 36-year-old woman and two of her children are dead after a three-vehicle pileup in north Alberta, but her four-year-old daughter is alive — thanks to a bystander who crawled into the family's burning van.

Alex Gouchey was about 100 metres away when the crash east of High Prairie happened Sunday around 3 p.m. MT. An SUV hit the van carrying the mother and her three kids in a head-on collision, RCMP say.

Both vehicles were crossing the bridge on Highway 2 west of the Driftpile First Nation, 325 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Police say the westbound SUV hit a car head on, before striking the eastbound van.

Names of those involved in the crash haven't been released by RCMP.

Child crawled out 'through the smoke'

Gouchey, from Horse Lake First Nation, was filling his vehicle at a nearby gas station when he heard the crash. Trained in first aid, he ran to the crash site.

"It happened so fast, I had no time to think about what to do," said Gouchey. " 'Just try not to stop. Help,' I thought, 'just try to help.' "

Alex Gouchey was at a station getting gas for his vehicle when he heard the crash. The van was on its side and in flames.

"I went in on my hands and knees up to my waist because I could hear her [the 4-year-old] screaming in there," said Gouchey. "She heard my voice and I kept saying, 'Over here baby.'

"She came crawling out through the smoke. She was burnt already and I pulled her out."

Gouchey tried to go back in for the others inside, but the fire had become an inferno, so he and other rescuers turned to free the woman in the SUV.

"All we could do is sit there and wait until the fire truck finally came," Gouchey said.

"I really don't feel like the hero. Some may tell you I am for saving one, but I wish I could have done more."

Crash will 'haunt' 1st responders

The SUV driver, a 57-year-old woman, was taken by air ambulance to an Edmonton hospital in serious, but stable condition.

The four-year-old girl is in hospital with a broken leg and burns. Her father has been in hospital with her.

The two 17-year-olds in the car were treated by EMS at the scene and released with minor injuries.

Driftpile Cree Nation Chief Dean Giroux said although the deaths are heartbreaking, he is proud of the way people responded to the crash.

The four-year-old pulled from the van suffered a broken leg and burns. (Dean Giroux) "It was chaotic, but it was amazing to see the community come together in a time of need," he said.

It only took the fire department six minutes to arrive, he said, but people were on the scene, helping almost immediately.

Giroux did note that the crash had a traumatic impact on some of those helping, as the people in the crash lived in the area.

Some of the first responders knew the people in the burning wreckage, Giroux said.

"They were hurting today, wishing they could have done more," Giroux said. "Some were upset because they knew the people in the van."

"It's going to haunt them for the rest of their life."