Officers save woman from burning car

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (WSVN) -- Several officers are being hailed heroes after they saved a woman from a burning truck.

The crash occurred on West Copans Road and Northwest 44th Avenue in Coconut Creek, Monday afternoon.

According to police, a man driving a white Ford F-150 lost control of his vehicle. The truck then slammed into a tree, flipped over and fell into a ditch. The truck then caught on fire. "Got flagged down by a citizen who pointed up towards the south side of Copans Road, and I saw a pickup truck," said Broward Sheriff's Office Detective Frank Biro. "It was mangled. The front end was just totally, almost gone, and I saw a gentleman bleeding from the head."

The driver, 56-year-old Jack Stroming, urged officials to save an expensive piece of equipment that was inside his burning truck. Police then discovered that Stroming forgot to mention that his wife, Lisa, was unconscious inside the burning vehicle. "She couldn't talk. She really couldn't move and was kind of in between the door and the front seat passenger side, and she was not doing good at all. She couldn't really move. She wasn't talking," said Biro.

Detective Biro was then joined by off-duty BSO Sergeant Adam Rubin and Coconut Creek Police Sergeant Chris Markland to rescue the woman from inside the trapped vehicle. "This truck and the engine compartment was fully engulfed, so I ran and I got a fire extinguisher," said Markland. "They literally had seconds and I was like, 'Come on, boys, I have to get her quick because this is getting bad.'"

After several minutes, they were able to save Lisa and get her out safe. "Detective Biro reached in and grabbed her. He was actually able to put her on his shoulder, and at that time the sergeant from Coconut Creek, I saw him over us with the fire extinguisher, which was pretty amazing it came out of nowhere," said Rubin. "And detective Biro was able to put her over his shoulder, and we carried her out to the street while the vehicle was on fire. "

Coconut Creek Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

Lisa has been hospitalized and is in fair condition.

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