#134 In which our hero witnesses a man of action.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with some co-workers. Since it was a nice day, and the place is only a couple blocks away, we walked. As we neared the restaurant, someone says, “Hey. That car is on fire.”

And sure enough, there’s a minivan stopped at the light on the corner with flaming oil dripping out from beneath the engine. A couple other people have noticed this and start shouting, “Hey! Your car’s on fire! Get out!” We’re across the street and, as you might imagine, a little hesitant to cross, but we start shouting the same stuff, pointing at the increasing amount of fire coming out from under their hood.

An 80-year-old man hobbles out, followed by his 80-year-old wife and their 50-year-old daughter. With the occupants safe, we’re all mesmerized by this burning vehicle. Some of my co-workers are worried that the car is going to explode, and that we should get the hell out of here. Matter of fact, the one co-worker who called 9-1-1 on her cell as soon as we saw the fire was told by the dispatcher, “Okay, when you get off the phone with me, RUN! Just get away from there! RUN!” Personally, I don’t think cars really explode like that, outside of Hollywood action flicks, so I’m not so worried. But I do feel bad for this old couple who look like they can ill-afford to have their van go up in flames.

But just then a car come screeching to a halt in the intersection, and a man jumps out to assay the situation. He calmly approaches the burning car, pops the hood and attempts to smoother the flames with a heavy moving blanket he somehow produces from the backseat of his car. This doesn’t work, and honestly, I think opening the hood just exacerbated the fire. Then, he puts the blanket away, and grabs a fire extinguisher that has been brought out by the restaurant staff. He covers the engine compartment with fire-killing dust, putting the fire out. Then returns to his car and gets out some flares and puts them around the van so traffic can keep moving.

At this point, I’m like, “Who IS this guy?” He then returns to his car, and drives off into the sunset.

So I’m thinking, man, I want to be THAT guy when I grow up! I’m not exactly Mr. Take Charge in a crisis situation, but this guy clearly is. That van was probably 10 minutes away from being a huge fireball -- it’s a little alarming how quickly the fire escalated -- and would have been a complete loss if MacGyver hadn’t shown up.

Couple minutes after he left, the Akron fire department showed up and finished hosing down the still-smoldering van.

Guess I’m not quite ready for my own cape and tights just yet.

The black car halfway in the intersection is the hero's car;

and you can see the man of action himself right behind it,
as he runs to grab a fire extinguisher. I, of course, am
cowering on the opposite side of the street.

Akron FD on the case. "Who was that masked man?"