'I signed up for this': Police officers pull man from burning car in Phoenix

Two officers from the Phoenix Police Department and community members pulled a man out of a burning car after he collided with a power pole near 31st Avenue and Thunderbird Road Wednesday.

In a video posted on Twitter by the police, the man's car can be seen upside down and with smoke coming out of it. When the officers approached the car, they found the man passed out inside.

According to Andrew Williams with the police department, the vehicle turned after hitting a power pole. The cause of the collision is still under investigation, he said.

The officers involved in the rescue were identified as Rachel Fernandez and Jessica Hunting during a news conference on Thursday.

Hunting said she tried to wake the man up with a sternum rub. He regained consciousness and started moaning of pain, Hunting said during the conference.

After checking nobody else was in the car, officers pulled him out and carried him away from the vehicle with the help of a community member.

The patient was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

'He's my main concern. Who cares what happens to me?'

Fernandez and Hunting said they had to act quickly with limited time and resources in order to save the life of the driver before the flames caused an explosion.

"When I was told that somebody didn't exit that vehicle, I was just like 'I need to get them out now,' because the flames that were on the vehicle kept getting bigger and we only had one little fire extinguisher," said Fernandez.

Hunting said that she could only think about getting the man out of the car, even if that meant putting her own well-being at risk.

"You just don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know if the fire is gonna increase, not increase, explode, not explode," Hunting said. "At that point, it was just more of 'he's my main concern. Who cares what happens to me? He's my main priority.'"

Hunting and Fernandez said even though they feel glad they were able to save the life of the driver, they're far from considering themselves as heroes.

"I consider it just part of the job," Fernandez said. "I signed up for this."

"At that point, I just kept thinking and I was like 'alright, cool, my job's done. We're gonna go ahead and clean up the scene, get the accident and everything taken care of, and then hopefully we can go to the next call and do the same thing for the next person,'" Hunting said.

Both officers started working with the department in recent years. Hunting has been an officer for three years and Fernandez for one.

Reach breaking news reporter Laura Daniella Sepúlveda at lsepulveda@lavozarizona.com or on Twitter @lauradNews.

Reach breaking news reporter Angela Cordoba Perez at Angela.CordobaPerez@Gannett.com or on Twitter @AngelaCordobaP.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police officers pull man trapped in a burning car in North Phoenix