COMANCHE COUNTY, Texas — Jacob Bell was at the right place at the right time on Friday afternoon.
At around 12:30 p.m., the Comanche County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a single-vehicle accident along State Highway 36 near County Road 330.
Bell, who happened to drive past the wreck moments after it happened, noticed the overturned vehicle that had caught on fire.
He immediately pulled over to check if anyone was trapped inside.
“I could see there was a car flipped over in the brush,” Bell said. “It was upside down and on fire, so I ran back to my truck and got my fire extinguisher.”
Bell said he pulled the vehicle’s door open and saw a person’s arm dangling between airbags.
“I pulled him out, the fire is starting to really blaze now,” Bell explained about the crash site. “He had no pulse. He wasn’t breathing. I pulled him to the top of the road and administered CPR.”
Texas DPS confirmed the driver was a 72-year-old man from Houston who may have suffered a medical issue moments before he wrecked into a power pole. DPS confirmed that a Good Samaritan pulled him from the burning vehicle.
It’s not the first time Bell has rushed in to save a stranger.
“God is working in my life very much so,” Bell said.
More than a month ago, Bell rescued a young woman from drowning at Lake Waxahachie after being baptized.
Bell pulled her from the water, gave her CPR, and tried to save the young woman’s friend, 21-year-old Lincer Lopez, who drowned and died while trying to save her.
WFAA spoke to Bell after he saved the young woman from drowning. He told WFAA he pulled Lopez’s lifeless body from the lake.
“I had one I wasn’t able to get to last time, that still haunts me today,” Bell said about Lopez, who he was unable to rescue from the water.
He said he felt he was placed in both situations to do what he could to help.
“It’s giving me a springboard to see the world in a different light and maybe change the way I do things and maybe get to a different place where I can help people,” Bell said.
On Friday, his biggest fear was that he wouldn’t be able to save the driver.
“There was a cross left in the pole and I kept thinking that was God there he was watching over us. I broke down,” Bell said.
Bell was taken to the hospital and received treatment for smoke inhalation. Coincidentally, the driver he saved was placed in the same hospital room.
“He was so grateful,” Bell said. “Still right now, it’s very emotional.”