Ga. Bystander Rescues Driver From Burning Car

Aug. 4, 2011
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- A bystander rescued a driver from a burning car Thursday morning. The fire broke out at a Chevron gas station at the intersection of Clairmont and Briarcliff roads in DeKalb County. The driver was sitting at the intersection when another car crashed into him, sending the car into the gas pumps, DeKalb County firefighters said. When the car erupted in flames, a man getting coffee for his wife inside the gas station intervened.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. --

A bystander rescued a driver from a burning car Thursday morning.

The fire broke out at a Chevron gas station at the intersection of Clairmont and Briarcliff roads in DeKalb County.

The driver was sitting at the intersection when another car crashed into him, sending the car into the gas pumps, DeKalb County firefighters said. When the car erupted in flames, a man getting coffee for his wife inside the gas station intervened.

"My first impulse was to run behind him and push his car with my truck, but I figured we'd both be caught," Eddie Evans told Channel 2's Carol Sbarge.

Firefighters said the man ran through flames to rescue the driver, who was struggling to open his jammed door.

"Got his seat belt off and his head was caught in his airbag, so I got him out, reached and grabbed his whole body and just picked him up," Evans said.

He said he tried to save his sister from a fire decades ago, but she died.

"I tried, but today, I feel good because I did what I didn't get to fulfill in 1956," Evans said.

Firefighters called him a hero.

"There's no doubt the gentlemen saved his life," DeKalb fire Battalion Chief Shan Dobson told Sbarge.

Evans said he's just happy the driver will be able to be able to see his family again.

"That's what's important," he said.

Copyright 2011 by wsbtv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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