A Maritime mom says her mother’s instincts kicked in after the car she was in with her four-year-old daughter spun off a slippery road submerging their vehicle in an icy pond.

Ashley Holland’s car left the road on the way home after taking young Macy to a birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

Driving on a back road their vehicle hit black ice, fishtailed, rolled twice and landed on the roof in the water near Hantsport, N.S.

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The terrified pair managed to get out of their sinking vehicle and were lucky that others were nearby, including firefighters on their way to another call.

“It was a miracle. 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,” Ashley Holland told CTV,

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

Horrified Holland feared she would drown before saving her daughter.

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

He 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 OK,” Holland said.

Macy walked away uninjured while mom had minor injuries.

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