{"id":13629,"date":"2016-01-18T19:24:52","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T19:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=13629"},"modified":"2016-01-18T19:24:52","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T19:24:52","slug":"off-duty-firefighter-rescues-man-from-burning-semi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/?p=13629","title":{"rendered":"Off-duty firefighter rescues man from burning semi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch the report HERE\u203a\u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a call too close to home for an off-duty firefighter.\u00a0Thursday evening, Paul Blanford heard a noise while he was a giving his kids a bath.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty loud so I got up to look and see what it was and that\u2019s when the whole front of the house was kind of orange looking,\u201d said\u00a0Paul Blanford, a Decatur Township firefighter.<\/p>\n

A semi truck crashed right down the road from Blanford\u2019s Johnson County home.\u00a0Cell phone video captured the fire. The flames and smoke were too powerful to even make out what exactly was burning. Blanford ran right to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I came around the corner I started yelling at him to get away from the truck and that\u2019s when I realized he wasn\u2019t all there because he was trying to go towards the truck. He was really close to it already,\u201d said\u00a0Blanford.<\/p>\n

Blanford saw the man on the ground right next to the truck. He knew there wasn\u2019t a lot of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just grabbed a hold of him and dragged him so he wouldn\u2019t get burned up,\u201d said\u00a0Blanford.<\/p>\n

Within minutes, firefighters arrived and took care of the fire while Blanford took off his coat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of cold out last night and I didn\u2019t want him getting hypothermia, I just gave him my coat,\u201d said\u00a0Blanford.<\/p>\n

Medics on scene told Blanford the driver had a diabetic issue and was in shock from the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a little coherent but I wouldn\u2019t say he was 100 percent with it,\u201d explains Blanford.<\/p>\n

The off-duty firefighter isn\u2019t sure of the driver\u2019s name, where he was from or where he was heading.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I tried to talk to him but he was kind of disoriented, he couldn\u2019t really communicate very well,\u201d said\u00a0Blanford.<\/p>\n

Even though the words \u201cthank you\u201d were never part of the conversation, they didn\u2019t need to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can help people, you help them,\u201d said\u00a0Blanford.<\/p>\n

FOX 59 is told the driver was taken to the hospital as a precaution. While Blanford didn\u2019t feel like what he did was that big of deal, he admits his wife and three kids have given him plenty of praise.<\/p>\n

Blanford has been with the Decatur Township Fire Department for nine years.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"