Nicholas Ray Dorken saved a man from burning, Fort Myers, Florida, February 23, 2012. Unconscious, a 33-year-old man remained in the driver’s seat area of his car after a nighttime accident in which the vehicle left the roadway, struck a curb and a light pole, and came to rest upright in a parking lot. The car’s fuel tank ruptured in the accident, and escaping gasoline fed flames that issued from the rear of the vehicle and entered its interior. On vacation, Dorken, 28, firefighter, was driving in the vicinity and saw the flames. He responded to the scene and approached the driver’s side of the vehicle, where the man was visible through the opened front door. Despite overhead flames in the vehicle, Dorken stepped inside, grasped the man under his arms, and pulled him out. He dragged the man to safety as flames grew to engulf the vehicle, destroying it. The man required hospital treatment for injury sustained in the accident, but he was not burned.
84737 – 9585
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