Following a May 10 auto accident outside Flossmoor Golf Club, Raul Lara and Ruben Martinez pulled a woman from her burning car and transported her to an ambulance so that she could be taken to the hospital.
Their lifesaving efforts were honored at Monday’s Flossmoor village board meeting. Mayor Paul Braun read a pair of resolutions commending Lara and Martinez for their heroic actions.
Acting Fire Chief Greg Berk said the accident victim was driving southbound on Western Avenue at Butterfield Creek when she unexpectedly crossed the center line and struck a concrete bridge barrier. Her car left the road and she drove through a fence on the west side of the golf course. After that, the vehicle, now on golf course property, caught fire.
Lara and Martinez, both golf club employees, immediately responded to the accident and removed the woman from the burning car, the resolution states. Berk said she was too badly injured to get out of the vehicle on her own power.
Under the direction of a Flossmoor fire department paramedic, the two men carefully placed the woman on the back of a golf club maintenance vehicle and took her to the course’s parking lot, where an ambulance was waiting.
Without the quick actions of the two men, who both responded without regard for their own safety, the driver’s injuries would have been “far more extensive,” the resolution says.
The resolution thanked both Lara and Martinez for their lifesaving actions and extended best wishes to them “for future success, health and happiness.”
Lara and Martinez were not present at Monday’s meeting, which was held in-person but also remotely streamed for village residents and other interested parties.