A California Highway Patrol officer pulled four people to safety, including two young children, after their car caught fire Monday morning in Monterey.
CHP Officer Kaleo Clissold "happened to be behind the vehicle" before the fire started on southbound Highway 1 about 10 a.m., the Monterey Herald reported. Herald director of photography Vern Fisher happened to be trailing both vehicles and captured video of the rescue.
Fisher said he "saw an explosion of smoke and flames" come from under the hood of the car.
Clissold first tried to open the burning vehicle's driver side door, but the door wouldn't open, CHP public information officer Oscar Loza told the Herald. Loza said Clissold screamed at the passengers in the front seat, two women, to get out when he noticed there a couple of kids in the backseat.
As the video begins, Clissold can be seen pulling one child from the car. He yells at one passenger who ran from the car, "Here take your kid! What are you doing? C'mon!" before going back to pull another child from the car.
All four people in the car were reportedly treated on scene and taken to the hospital as a precaution.
