When employees of a Pennsylvania Walmart learned that there was a car on fire in the parking lot early in the morning on New Year’s Day, they didn’t sit around, stare into space, and wait for the fire department to show up. An overnight employee ran outside with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze… and that’s when he noticed an unconscious woman inside the locked vehicle.
“We all responded as quickly as we could,” he told TV station KDKA (warning: auto-play video), “I got out there first. I believe I was the first one from the store.”
She was sitting in the driver’s seat, passed out or napping, with her head against the window. This was around 7 AM on New Year’s Day. While the car was locked, its windows were open, and the employee was able to reach in, unlock the car, and pull the woman out of the vehicle.
It was mostly the front of the car that was on fire, and he was unable to put the fire out before rescuing the driver. The brave employee then woke up the still-unconscious driver and walked her into the store. Police said that the woman smelled of alcohol and was charged with drunk driving, but wasn’t injured. They didn’t share the cause of the fire.
Don’t call the Walmart employee a hero, though. He rejected that label, saying, “I work with a lot of amazing associates. If it hadn’t been me out here, somebody else would have done what needed to be done.”
Walmart Employee Saves Woman From Burning Car In Parking Lot [KDKA] (warning: video may start automatically)
Wal-Mart employee pulls unconscious woman from burning car [Sharon Herald]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist