TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Two men who risked their own lives to save a woman and child from a burning car said Thursday they just reacted in a way they believed others would in the same situation.

"I was not going to let anybody die under my watch," said 26-year-old Evaristo Chaidez, who said he battled intense heat to pull a nearly unconscious woman out of the driver's seat and a baby out of the back seat.

He was helped by Robert Singleton, 47, who had a knife to cut seatbelts and picked up a fire extinguisher to bash in the back window where the baby was. "I know the baby would have been overcome by smoke if we didn't do what we did," Singleton said.

As it was, the baby's mother, 28-year-old Perla Gonzalez, died as a victim of a suspected drunken driving crash at 10:28 p.m. Wednesday at Kentucky Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. Singleton said, "We tried to get her out first, but we couldn't get the door opened."

Both men said at least one or more other unidentified men helped them in their efforts, and Singleton said his wife, Belinda, used a fire extinguisher on the back side of the car.

"We were strangers coming together to help strangers," Singleton said. "It was pretty crazy."

He gave great credit to Chaidez, who pulled out the driver, later identified as 19-year-old Cherie Marie Lopez of Bakersfield, and the baby, 1-year-old Jayden Gonzalez. He said he had hip problems and arthritis and was unable to accomplish that.

But Chaidez said Singleton's cutting the seatbelts was a key to the rescue because the driver's side doors couldn't open.

"My whole thing was," Chaidez said, "this car was going to blow up. I knew if we didn't get them out, they were going to burn."

The California Highway Patrol reported that the crash happened when Marcus R. Trevino, 23, of Fallbrook, was driving east on Kentucky Street in a 2007 Mitsubishi Galant and ran a stop sign at Mount Vernon.

That's where he broadsided a southbound 2003 Infiniti. The impact pushed both vehicles in the northbound lanes where they caught fire, officers said. Trevino was not seriously injured, but he was arrested on charges of drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, officers said.

Singleton said he was in a front yard celebrating his nephew's high school graduation a few houses away when the "very loud" impact occurred. He said he ran to the cars that were already on fire.

Chaidez said he too was driving home after a graduation celebration for his sister as the crash happened right in front of him. He pulled over right away and took off his shirt to fan the flames away from him.

"It was hard to get into the car," he said. "It was very hot. It toasted a little bit of my ear."

After lifting the first woman out, he got some windshield washer from his car to try to control the flames as they worked to rescue the baby, he said. "That gave me a little bit of time," he said.

"I took off the seat belt and took the baby," he said. "I was really happy he was alive."

Lopez appeared to be unconscious until she got out of the car and was carried to safety when she exclaimed, "what happened?" Singleton said. The baby too didn't cry until he was out of the car, Chaidez said.

Officers reported Lopez suffered minor injuries, but the baby suffered major injuries. They were taken to Kern Medical Center.

Chaidez said he thought he might not make it through the ordeal. "I was hoping I wouldn't die because I know my mother would be really upset," he said.