2 Off-Duty Deputies Rescue Woman, Son From Burning Van

Two off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on their way home from work early Friday pulled a woman and her son from a burning van in La Canada Flintridge, authorities said.

The van caught fire about 1:45 a.m. after it struck a telephone pole near Foothill and Ocean View boulevards, Deputy Drew Basey said.

Deputies Gregory Laval and Michael Chinery, who were driving by, saw Anna Wang, 40, of La Crescenta trying to escape through the driver-side door. As Laval pulled the woman from the van, she screamed that her son was still inside, the sheriff’s spokesman said.

The deputies returned to the vehicle and removed Steve Lee, 13, “just as the entire van was engulfed in flames,” Basey said.

Wang was listed in serious and guarded but stable condition at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. A hospital spokeswoman said she was suffering from internal injuries and smoke inhalation. Lee was listed in good condition at the hospital, where he was being treated for a broken left arm.