Two Torrance warehouse workers helped an unconscious elderly man get out of a van after it caught fire last year.
Torrance Memorial Medical Center warehouse workers Eduardo Flores and Robert Ybarra log, sort and deliver packages for the hospital.
Last November they were at a red light on Medical Center Drive when they spotted a driver in trouble.
"We were coming back from a delivery to Torrance Memorial hospital and we seen a van in flames," Ybarra said.
The van was stalled in the middle of busy Lomita Boulevard. An elderly man was unresponsive inside.
"We were banging on the window," Ybarra said. "The flames were coming around the bottom."
An oil slick in the street marks the spot where the van caught fire, just as the workers and an off-duty police officer forced the door open.
"I dragged the man out, took the seat belt off him and grabbed him under his shoulders and the officer grabbed the feet," Ybarra said.
Flores added: "We pulled him out to the stairway where the steps are at and we sat him down."
The Torrance Police Department came, the fire department came and put the flames out with the fire extinguisher.
For their part in the rescue, the rescuers were honored by Torrance Memorial with its award for extraordinary people..
They wear the pins everyday now with pride and humility.
"I would do this for anyone in trouble," Flores said. "I didn't do it to get recognized. That could have been somebody's father, somebody's grandpa, dad, anything. If we have a chance to help somebody in life, I think I did the right thing there and then."
