David A. Dulkis helped rescue Saul D. Flores from burning, Corona, California, February 3, 2018. Flores, 23, was trapped inside his burning sport utility vehicle following a nighttime accident in which the vehicle left the road, continued down an embankment to its bottom, and caught fire. Flames engulfed the rear of the vehicle, and the SUV’s fuel tank ruptured. Dulkis, 47, executive chef, who was driving nearby, saw the vehicle on fire, stopped, and responded to Flores’s vehicle. Seeing Flores inside and unconscious, Dulkis, after several tries, pulled the driver’s door open. Flames by then had reached the rear passenger compartment and were spreading to the front, passenger seat. Dulkis tried to unlatch Flores’s seat belt but was unsuccessful. He lifted the shoulder strap over Flores’s head and grasped Flores under his arms and struggled to pull his torso and legs through the lap belt. Another man arrived at the SUV and grasped Flores about his torso. Together, Dulkis and the man pulled Flores from the vehicle as flames encroached on the driver’s seat, burning Flores’s clothing. As Dulkis and the man laid Flores down on the ground ammunition inside the vehicle began to explode and the men moved Flores about 30 feet farther away. Flames quickly grew to engulf the vehicle. Flores succumbed to his injuries, which included severe burns. Dulkis suffered a second-degree burn to his arm and was treated at the scene. He recovered.
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