Off-Duty Rangers Pull Trapped Woman From Burning Car

Two California State Parks officers on their way to a training class pulled a woman from a burning, overturned car moments before it was engulfed in flames on a Northern California highway.

Dashcam footage released by California State Parks shows flames and thick black smoke pouring from the wreck beside Highway 70 at dawn on October 16 as one officer radios, “There’s a subject trapped inside.” Supervising State Park Peace Officers Ryan Gray and Dylan Ayache, along with bystanders, rushed to the vehicle.

The car had rolled about 10 feet down an embankment near the Nicolaus Avenue offramp shortly after 6:30 a.m. and caught fire with the driver trapped inside, according to Sutter County Fire. The CHP said the officers first tried to knock down the flames with extinguishers, but the fire kept spreading into the passenger compartment. The woman crawled to the rear of the vehicle, where one of the officers reached through a broken window and pulled her out. Moments later, the car was fully engulfed.

The woman suffered burns and was taken to a hospital. California State Parks thanked the CHP and Sutter County Fire for their response and praised the two officers for their “extraordinary heroism and willingness to risk their own safety to save the life.”