MIDLAND, Texas —
Right before Saturday's Rockhounds game in Midland, three hometown heroes Joe Bustamante, Jared South and Fernando Chavez were presented the Hometown Hero/Life Saving Award. They were presented the award for their actions back in May where they witnessed an accident while driving on the road and stopped to aid the family of the vehicle in question.
According to the Midland County Office of Death Investigator, the men jumped out of their trucks with fire extinguishers in hand to go save the life of the driver. They soon realized that their fire extinguishers were not doing anything to the blaze that had started in the vehicle, but heard the screams of little girls that were trapped inside of the upside down, burning truck.
They pried open a door and crawled into the fire getting the two girls, ages three and 10, and their mother, out of the burning wreckage. The father, who was driving, lost his life.
“It happened right in front of me, so my reaction was, you know, stop, get out of the way of danger and get my fire extinguisher," Bustamante said. "But when I walked up to the SUV, I used my fire extinguisher, like I said, it didn't do nothing at all and I heard a lady crying. So I forced the door open and then when I forced the door open, a little girl walked out of the back of the truck and told me to get her sister out.”
Bustamante himself has a family and even has grandchildren of his own. He couldn’t stop thinking about his family during the incident.
“You know, the whole time, you know, I would hope they would do that for my family, that my family was ever in that situation. It was very emotional. It was hard,” said Bustamante.
The three hometown heroes had no idea that their awards would be presented to them by the very lives they saved that day, and hadn’t seen since then.
When Bustamante was asked what he wished he could say to them that he didn't get a chance to on the day of the accident, he said, “I'm glad you're all right. You know? And if I had to do it all again, I would, I would. I would be there.”