Phillip DeEvans Bretz helped to rescue Frederick A. Garbutt from burning, Anza, California, August 14, 1992. Garbutt, 28, was trapped in the wreckage of his sport-utility vehicle, which had overturned and caught fire in a highway accident. Driving upon the scene within moments, Bretz, 46, surgeon, stopped and ran to Garbutt’s vehicle, where he heard Garbutt scream that he was on fire. Bretz went to the rear of the vehicle, which lay on its passenger side, and entered through the broken-out window of its rear door. He attempted to remove Garbutt, but Garbutt was restrained by his safety belt. Bretz shouted to the others who had arrived that he needed a knife, and a police officer handed him one through the rear window. With flames growing inside the vehicle, Bretz returned to Garbutt, whose seat was aflame, and cut the safety belt, freeing Garbutt. Bretz dragged Garbutt to the rear window, where others helped to pull him out of the vehicle. Bretz and another man dragged Garbutt across the street shortly before the vehicle was engulfed in flame. Garbutt was hospitalized five weeks for third-degree burns and other severe injuries.
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