In an act of remarkable timing and bravery, a Chandler Police officer and an off-duty Peoria firefighter, both veterans, joined forces in a life-saving rescue on Tuesday morning amidst the perilous flames of a crashed vehicle on U.S. 60. Officer Brian Larison and firefighter Asa Paguia, drawing upon their military backgrounds, pulled a woman from her overturned and burning car during rush-hour traffic.
As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, Officer Larison was on a different route than usual when he witnessed the crash involving a cement truck and a Nissan pickup. According to Larison, his instincts as a former Marine kicked in, and, armed with only his baton, he fought to shatter the window of the burning pickup, which was trapping the driver. "My thought was, ‘I am not going to let her burn up.’ I hit it three times and it seemed like it took forever to get this window to break and my thought was, ‘she is not dying,’" he recounted.
Larison wasn't battling the blaze solo. Asa Paguia, an experienced firefighter, was en route to his shift, running behind schedule, which put him right where he needed to be to assist in the rescue. Larison, spotting Paguia in his fire retardant gear, knew help had arrived. "Then, I looked and it was an off-duty fireman and he’s got all his fire retardant gear on. Just right place, right time," Larison told FOX 10 Phoenix. Paguia quickly donned his gear, recently used for an overtime shift and still in his vehicle, to aid in the extraction of the trapped driver.
In an interview with 12News, Paguia explained his punctuality mishap intersecting fatefully with the morning's events. "I just worked an overtime shift yesterday, so that's why i had my gear with me. So I thought I could make a difference, stopped, opened my trunk and put my gear on," he recalled, per FOX 10 Phoenix. Both men exhibited a profound commitment to their roles as first responders, emphasizing the inherent impulse to save lives in their line of work.
"She clung to me on the side of the road and I just held her. I just told her I had her," Larison emotionally conveyed to FOX 10 Phoenix. Later, the rescued woman reached out to express her gratitude, providing a poignant close to an otherwise harrowing tale. The woman was safely transported to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. Both first responders returned to their respective duties, humbly carrying the weight of their life-saving actions with them. "The way we operate is we risk a lot to save a lot. So I decided it was worth the risk to get that patient out of there," Paguia shared in a testament to their dedication.
