Joseph Gibson,18, is a man of few words, but that's ok.
His actions the morning of March 5 speak louder.
“We were close to the scene, we heard yelling and screaming,” he recalls. “So we ran out to the road and there was a car out there on fire.”
A car carrying three men slammed into a pole on South 25th Street near Virginia Avenue in Fort Pierce.
One man was partially ejected from the car.
Before first responders could arrive, Gibson and another man, John Terry, sprung into action and pulled the partially ejected man from the car.
The two making the rescue as flames engulfed the vehicle.
“It was just getting hotter and hotter around us … just hearing in the yelling in the screaming was the worst part about it,” Gibson said.
Fire rescue arrived just minutes later.
“The worst call I'd seen in 17 years,” says Lt. Donny Stefani with the St. Lucie County Fire District. “Bad car accident, fire involved, car on its side against a pole. A lot of obstacles for the crew to work with.”
One man in the car was killed and another was badly burned.
First responders say considering all the obstacles in front of them, what the two good Samaritans did was nothing short of heroic.
“We have our protective gear, they have nothing,” Stefani said. “So the actions that they did...I can say for sure they saved that person from injury or even death.”
Honored with a Citizen Hero Award Wednesday, Gibson rejects the hero label. He says he was just doing what was right.
“I’d want someone to really do the same for me, and I believe you should help out other people,” said Gibson.
Terry was out of town and unable to receive his award in person.
Meanwhile, Gibson said he's in talks with St. Lucie County now to potentially become a volunteer firefighter.
