Two people, one of them a veteran sheriff’s captain, are in critical condition and were transported to the hospital after a two-car crash on San Francisquito Canyon Road on Friday night, officials said.

Two cars, one a 2009 Ford and the other a 2010 Acura, collided at 9:42 p.m. on San Francisquito Canyon Road north of Stator Lane, according to spokesman Phil Ulloa of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The collision occurred when the Ford, for unknown reasons, swerved into the northbound lane on San Francisquito Canyon Road, running headlong into the Acura.

Carrie Stuart, a captain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was driving the Ford at the time of the crash, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The Acura was driven by a 38-year-old man from Elizabeth Lake, according to a CHP report.

One of the vehicles overturned, and another was engulfed in flames, said CHP Officer Anthony Martin.

The fire did not spread to brush, Ulloa said.

The drivers of each vehicle were transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. One was in full cardiac arrest and was transported by ambulance, while the other was carried by helicopter.

The current condition of the victims is not known.

At least four passersby came to the aid of the drivers involved in the crash.

“We just pulled up, and the fire was already happening,” said Devin Buckner, 25, of Valencia, who helped pull the man, from the dark car that overturned.

“The one guy was yelling for help, in the car on its side,” said Matthew Lacroix, 22, of Green Valley. “We ran over there with a crowbar, trying to get the windshield apart, and another guy came up and started helping us.”

Attempts to break through the windshield with the crowbar were unsuccessful, Buckner said.

“(Buckner) jumped on top, and we handed him a knife, and he cut the seat belt, pulled him out, dragged him into somebody’s truck,” Lacroix said. “Somebody drove past the fire and put him in his truck to get him away from the flames. It was exploding the whole time.”

“It was vicious,” said Seumas Lofland, 22, of Castaic, of the inferno engulfing the white vehicle.

“I was just reassuring him, telling him everything’s going to be all right,” Buckner said he told the man after pulling him from the driver’s side window. Witnesses estimated the man was pulled about 20 to 30 feet from the burning wreckage.

Buckner’s friend Scott Bowen, of Palmdale, described noises reminiscent of popping ammunition coming from one of the vehicles as it burned.

Stuart was unconscious as she was being pulled from the vehicle, witnesses said.

San Francisquito Canyon Road was shut down until about 11 p.m. while CHP officers investigated the crash.

No charges have been filed in the incident at this time, according to a CHP report.