A Maritime mother says instincts kicked in when her vehicle slid off a slippery road and landed in a pond while she was taking her daughter to a birthday party over the weekend.

Both managed to get out of the submerged vehicle, and were fortunate there were people nearby -- including firefighters on their way to another call.

“It was a miracle,” said Ashley Holland. “You see stories like that and they don't make it, so I don't know how we did it but I'm so thankful.”

Holland and her daughter Macy say they are lucky to be alive following a terrifying accident Sunday afternoon.

It happened along a stretch of road near Hantsport, N.S.

Holland's vehicle left the road and ended up submerged in water.

“We were on our way to her best friend’s birthday party and we went to go do a coffee run,” Holland said.  “We took the back roads on the way home. … We hit black ice then fishtailed then spun and rolled twice and landed on the roof in the water.”

Holland managed to get herself and her four-year-old daughter out of the vehicle.

“I think mother instincts just kicked in,” Holland said. “I don't know, just adrenaline.

Holland said she was worried that she was going to die before she was able to save her daughter.

“I was scared I was going to die in the water,” said Macy.

Brooklyn Fire Captain Ryan Richard was on his way to a call when he noticed Holland’s car in the water.

Richard and his team turned around to help a Good Samaritan who had also stopped.

“It’s very important to remove the wet clothing that they had on to bring the body temperature core up slowly,” Richard said. “It worked very well, great teamwork. We actually had some of our members remove their own personal clothing to supply the patients.”

Firefighters helped keep Macy calm by giving her a teddy bear,

“We will never be able to thank any of them enough for helping us and making sure she was okay,” Holland said.

Macy walked away uninjured while Ashley had minor injuries.

“I'm not a spiritual person,” Richard said. “But there was definitely someone there with them yesterday. I can tell you after 26 years of experience, I've been through a lot of these calls and quite frankly they turn into fatalities; it was definitely a miracle.”

A miracle that this family lived to share.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Natasha Pace.