Teen firefighter pulls police officer from burning cruiser after crash

A 17-year-old volunteer firefighter and his 24-year-old neighbor are being hailed as heroes after helping pull a Philadelphia police officer from his burning cruiser.

The officer, Mark Kimsey, was responding to a call early Saturday evening when his car collided with a pickup truck and burst into flames, NBC Philadelphia reports. The force of the crash left the 30-year-old officer trapped inside the vehicle. That's when Joe Chambers, a volunteer firefighter with Leedom Fire Co. in Delaware County, and his neighbor, Dante Johnson, rushed over to help.

"I saw that it was a cop car," Chambers, a senior at Ridley High School, told NBC Philadelphia. "Right then I just started sprinting and did what I had to do."

The door wouldn't open, Chambers said, so the pair pulled Kimsey through the window to safety.

"He said he couldn't feel his legs," the teenager said. "We had to drag him through the window, and he was ready for it."

Footage taken from the scene shows the cruiser engulfed in flames.

"Right when we got him to the sidewalk, the engine compartment blew," Chambers told Philly.com. "Within 30 seconds, the whole car was gone."

Kimsey and the pickup truck passenger were both taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with non-life-threatening injuries, where both were listed in stable condition Sunday. Kimsey, who suffered head trauma and burns to his legs, posed for photo with Chambers from his hospital bed.

"It was great to see he was OK," Chambers said. "He said, 'I can't thank you enough.' I was like, 'You don't have to, it's fine.' I would do it any day of the week if I had to."

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