Oct 11, 2008 9:41 pm US/Central
SUV Crashes Into Gas Pump, Bursts Into Flames
DP
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. (CBS) ―
A woman was not seriously hurt or burned thanks to the quick thinking of a few off-duty firefighters after her sport utility vehicle collided with a gas pump, sending up a fireball at a California gas station, reports CBS station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.
Kristen Marsilio was driving early Friday morning when she suddenly had a seizure, lost control of her SUV and slammed into a gas pump, which burst into flames, at a Chevron station on Palo Comado Canyon Road in Agoura Hills.
Off-duty firefighter Kevin Harmon happened to be nearby when the crash happening. Harmon said he had seen the smoke and thought it was simply a car fire. But as he drove up he saw the SUV was on top of the gas pump.
Phil Rivera, also a firefighter from a different fire station, ran to the SUV and dragged the disoriented Marsilio from the driver's seat.
"I told the lady to get out. I was, like, lady, get out. She was kind of disoriented at the time, so I unbuckled her seat belt and started dragging her out and carrying her," Rivera said.
Firefighters who responded to the scene said their off-duty comrades put their lives on the line to save Marsilio.
"That gal would have been terribly hurt if these guys didn't get her out of the vehicle," Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Jerry Reese said.
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