Watch: Cop Pulls Up to Burning Car…Then Puts on His Gloves

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Television shows and Hollywood movies often portray police work as nothing but nonstop action — yet in reality, much of the job is routine.

There was nothing “routine” about a dramatic rescue that happened in Atlanta early Wednesday, however. Police officers received a call about a car accident on Interstate 85… but when they rolled up, they stepped right into a scene from a disaster movie.

“When the officers arrived on scene, they found a black vehicle literally wrapped around the support pillar of I-85 on Cheshire Bridge Rd with the engine compartment on fire, quickly spreading to the rear of the vehicle,” explained the Atlanta Police Department in a Facebook post.

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A car fire is a dangerous situation under any circumstances, but then the cops noticed two people trapped inside.

Officer Michael Skillman was the first one on the scene. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and a baton and started to battle the flames while also trying to break the car’s windows.

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A second officer named Elijah McCall quickly arrived to help. “I didn’t notice (the passenger) until he pretty much started screaming,” McCall said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The crash had jammed the car doors, and both the driver and the passenger were trapped. Three more officers arrived to assist — Derek Daniel, Bill Brooks, and Andre Valentine.

“I wasn’t really concerned about my safety at the time,” Daniel told the newspaper. “It comes with the job of being a first responder.”

It wasn’t until the fire department arrived with special extraction equipment that the two people were able to be pulled out of the vehicle, but the heroic actions of the officers while battling the car fire almost certainly saved their lives.

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“I want to say thank you from the heart for them because if it wasn’t for them, that car would have exploded,” Hector Quiroz, the father of those in the car, told WXIA News. “We wouldn’t be here today.”

The officers credited for saving two lives regarded it as just part of the job.

“I signed up to help people and that’s what I’m going to always do,” said Brooks.

“It’s not always about catching bad guys,” stated Officer McCall. “We also go out and save lives.”

During times of unrest and questions about the role of police in the country, this incident is an important reminder of the role our officers play in protecting the community and saving lives — and America owes them a debt of gratitude.

H/T TheBlaze

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