Timothy A. Holtz II helped to rescue Grace E. Makula from burning, Jasper, Michigan, July 21, 2015. Badly injured and unconscious, Makula, 25, remained in the driver’s seat of a sport utility vehicle after it was involved in a head-on collision, left the roadway, and began to smoke in its engine compartment. Hearing the collision from a job site nearby, Holtz, 35, business operator, responded to the scene as flames were breaking out in the vehicle’s engine compartment. He obtained fire extinguishers from his truck and other motorists who stopped at the scene and with another man fought the flames, but to limited effect. As Holtz was unable to open the burning vehicle’s doors, he returned to his truck for a large wrench, which he used to break out the windows of the vehicle’s front doors. With flames growing and spreading on the front of the vehicle, Holtz leaned through the window opening of the driver’s door and cut Makula’s safety belt. He and the other man then worked to force that door open partially, after which they reached inside the vehicle, grasped Makula, and, pulling her free, carried her to safety, flames beginning to enter the front of the passenger compartment. Makula required hospitalization for treatment of severe injuries, but she was not burned. Holtz recovered from minor burns to his hands and arms.
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