The Prince George's County Fire Department is applauding a veteran firefighter for his quick thinking, pulling a woman from a burning vehicle.
When he saw smoke, PGFD Assistant Fire Chief Darren Ware stopped on the side of northbound Route 301 near Brandywine Road on Wednesday. Inside a burning car on the side of the road, he found a woman in the driver's seat.
"I hit on the window and said, 'Open the door.' And quickly, I realized that wasn't going to happen," said Ware, a 21-year veteran of the department.
The woman was experiencing a medical emergency.
Soon, retired Deputy Fire Chief Tyrone Wells and another man - an unidentified good Samaritan - also stopped to help. They broke through the driver side window to pull the woman out, but then the car started moving.
"She inadvertently stepped on the gas pedal And caused the vehicle to move and shift further down the embankment," Ware said. They eventually pulled her to safety through the passenger side window.
"As you can expect, we were moving at 100 miles per hour," said Ware.