A fire chief jumped into action to save a woman from the fierce flames of the Airport Fire, and he says the moment he saw her, he acted fast.
“I happened to look back down the road and I saw the woman walking down the middle of the road,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Michael Martinez, one of the many firefighters battling the 23,000-acre fire burning in Orange and Riverside counties.
The dramatic rescue was caught on video. You can see the woman running away from the flames, looking for a way out.
The Airport Fire, which started in Trabuco Canyon, is expanding into Riverside County after burning more than 19,000 acres.
“I started screaming at her, ‘You need to get in! You need to get in! … opened my door, reached out and grabbed her, and pulled her into the backseat,” said Martinez.
The woman was taken to the hospital with severe burns, but that wasn’t the only rescue.
On Thursday afternoon, firefighters saved a horse after its corral caught fire during a flare-up. They helped even more horses earlier that morning.