Mark Pembleton

Mark Pembleton helped rescue Cesar Yepez from burning, Sterling, Virginia, September 18, 2023. In the evening, Yepez, 33, was driving a tractor trailer on a highway when a speeding car struck the driver’s side, causing the trailer to tip as the truck crashed into a guide rail along the shoulder and overturned onto the driver’s side. A fire immediately broke out at the cab and the front half of the trailer, with flames rising at least 15 feet above the trailer and smoke climbing about 40 feet high. While driving his two children, Pembleton, 43, self-employed business owner, witnessed the crash, pulled over, and called 911. After instructing his children to stay in the vehicle, Pembleton went down a grass embankment to the truck and found Yepez, severely burned and screaming for help, on the ground just beyond the open windshield area of the engulfed cab. Amid the intense heat, Pembleton grasped his outstretched hands and lunged backward but struggled to budge Yepez, who was heavier than him, as he would lose his grip and fall over. Pembleton’s proximity to the inferno, causing serious burns he did not notice until later, forced him to briefly retreat. He then resumed pulling, only dragging Yepez a short distance as he called for help. Another man, whose car also was struck, joined Pembleton and each grabbed an arm and pulled, gradually advancing Yepez away from the truck until the heat necessitated brief reprieves before they returned and resumed the rescue. Ultimately, Pembleton and the man pulled Yepez to a spot about 20 feet from the truck, where the man patted flames out on Yepez’s lower body, suffering minor burns to his hands. Others then helped them carry Yepez farther away. Yepez, who suffered third-degree burns to nearly his entire body, died two weeks later. Pembleton drove himself to a hospital, then was taken to a burn center, where he was treated for third-degree burns to his left forearm and second-degree burns to both arms and hands, his head, and his face. In all, Pembleton was hospitalized for about one month and underwent nine months of follow-up laser surgeries to his left arm.