Off-Duty Officer Witnesses Car Crash and Burst Into Flames, Races Through Fire to Save Victims

Many people become first responders because helping others is something that deeply aligns with their character. The job title is just the official way of identifying the fact that they are ready to jump into dangerous situations to help people.

For those individuals, there really is no “off the clock” time, as they’re always prepared to respond first.

Officer Mark Afanasev with the Stockton Police Department is one of those people. He and his wife were out on Saturday in Rancho Cordova, California, when they witnessed a horrific car accident. One of the cars involved swerved into a pole and immediately erupted in a ball of fire, and like a true hero, Afanasev drove toward it, told his wife to call 911 and charged toward the blaze.
“I realized that we had to go there to help them because there was nobody else around,” he later told KCRA-TV. “I’ve never seen anything like that, never been part of anything like that, but the only thing that I could think of was, ‘There’s people in that car. I got to help them get out. I can’t let them, you know, burn in that car.'”