The Orange County community is praising one brave firefighter after he rescued two people trapped inside small plane that crashed on the 405 Freeway near John Wayne Airport.
John Meffert, from Avalon on Catalina Island, was off-duty and driving along the freeway when the twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed on the southbound 405 around 9:25 a.m.
He immediately jumped into action and removed the victims, a man and woman in their late 50s to early 60s, from the fiery wreckage, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
OCFA Capt. Larry Kurtz told KTLA that it’s difficult to say what would have happened had Meffert not been there to help the pair.
“Typically when we have these type of situations bystanders do step in to aid,” said Kurtz. “That speaks to the human spirit of people helping others out. The fact that this individual’s training kicked in is so much better. It was very fortuitous that he happened to be on the southbound 405 at the exact same time.”
The pair was transported to a local hospital with major injuries.
Kurtz, who briefly spoke to Meffert at the scene, added that the firefighter seemed to be a heroic and kind-hearted man.
“He seems very humble, very selfless. We certainly need more people like him in the world,” said Kurtz. “He was very calm and very relaxed. Obviously he’s a professional and he deals with emergency situations all the time. From what other firefighters report on the scene, he functioned very well during this.”
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2u7Kre3
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