Valley first responders recount saving woman from burning truck
The two Valley veterans and first responders share what was going through their minds as they rescued a woman from a burning truck on U.S. 60 in Mesa.
MESA, Ariz. — Asa Pagua, a Peoria firefighter and paramedic for the past nine years, and Chandler Police Officer Brian Larison who has been with that department for 10 years, both served as Marines in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Another thing they have in common?
12News journalist Mark Curtis sat down with the Valley first responders who reunited live on air after rescuing a woman from a burning vehicle in Mesa on Tuesday morning.
Larison was on his way to work when he saw a pickup truck in flames after being rear-ended by a cement mixer.
After he realized someone was still trapped in the vehicle, Larison said he grabbed his baton and started hitting the window, trying to break it open and get to the person inside.
“My first thought was ‘get her out,'” Larison said. “I didn’t want anything to happen to her, I certainly didn’t want her to perish in that fire.”
Pagua is a rover, meaning he goes to whatever fire station needs him, and because he worked an overtime shift the day before, he had his gear in his truck — one of many ways he ensured the woman’s safety.
He was even running late, Pagua told Curtis, but it was then that he learned about the fire.
“Any first responder — fire, police, EMS — when there’s someone in need, there’s no other thought on your mind than helping them,” Pagua said. “That’s why we do what we do… the only thing in our minds, on my mind, was we’re going to get her out, and luckily we were able to, and I’m very grateful for that that we were able to.”
After Pagua and Larison pulled the woman from harm’s way, they stayed with her, consoling her.
“I pretty much told her ‘I got you, you’re okay… we got you,'” Larison said. “Just let her know she was going to be safe.”
The woman then called her husband from Larison’s phone to let him know she was okay.
“She thanked us for saving her,” Larison said, tears in his eyes. “Later on in the evening, she reached out to my wife, and said ‘I’m home, thank you.”
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