A Navy sailor fresh out of boot camp rushed to save the occupant of a burning car, but the flames engulfed his mother’s vehicle during the rescue.
Both the sailor and his mother were unhurt.
Fireman William Thompson had just arrived at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, with his mother when he heard what sounded like an explosion.
A car parked nearby had burst into flames after the driver had suffered a medical emergency, local police told ABC News. Thompson said he and his mother were about 20 feet away from the fire.
When he saw a person in the car, he jumped into action.
“It was less than 15 seconds before I was over there punching the window out,” Thompson said, according to a Navy news release on the Oct. 25 event. After Thompson broke the window, other bystanders helped move the driver from the flaming wreckage as emergency services arrived.
“The people doing the firefighting showed up and I chose to get everyone away; I was begging people to move away,” Thompson said, crediting his Navy training as key to quickly reacting to the incident. He walked away with minor cuts to his hands while breaking the glass.
Thompson — who recently graduated from Navy boot camp and was training at the Surface Warfare Engineering School aboard Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois — was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal on Monday for his actions.
“In the face of danger, Fireman Thompson made a split-second decision to put his own safety aside to help a civilian in dire need, while also making the scene safe for others,” said Cmdr. Quentin Cooper, the leader of the surface warfare school, referring to Thompson’s role as a fireman in the Navy, which in the sea service is not someone who battles flames, but is an engineering rate.
Three other vehicles were damaged due to the fire, police told ABC News. Thompson said his mother’s car was among them. He said his mother had lost personal items worth thousands of dollars to the fire.
“We lost a lot. It was a big sacrifice to be there,” Thompson said. “My mother would have had time to leave, but I made her stay and get away to safety because I didn’t want anything to happen to anybody.”
