FULLERTON : Firefighter Honored for Rescuing Teen

Fullerton firefighter Larry Stealey’s job doesn’t stop when he clocks out of the station.

In August, on his way home, he rescued a Brea teen-ager moments before her wrecked car burst into flames on the Orange Freeway.

Stealey, 26, was commended recently by Mayor Don Bankhead and the City Council for saving the teen-ager’s life.

Perhaps more importantly, Stealey has gained a new friend. The victim, Sarah Domis, 17, has brought him home-baked cookies, cake, flowers and even a microwave oven at his work.

“He thinks that when I say he saved my life, I’m exaggerating, but I don’t know what I would have done,” she said. “He’s real modest--to him it’s his job.”

Domis said the accident happened when she was coming back from a concert in Hollywood on Aug. 8 and fell asleep at the wheel.

Stealey said he was driving on Nutwood Avenue when he looked up at the freeway and saw Domis’ car slam into a guardrail. He parked his car and told another driver to call paramedics, he said. He then climbed the embankment.

Domis was in shock when Stealey arrived. Her face was bleeding so much she could not see to get out of the car, she said. Her left eye was swollen shut. Later she would need 135 stitches to close the wounds to her face.

Stealey said that as he comforted Domis, he noticed flames coming from under the front of the car. He had to make a quick decision about whether to move her and possibly worsen any internal injuries.

Stealey said he decided to drag Domis through the passenger window since the doors were jammed shut. A few minutes later the car burst into flames.

Stealey called Domis the following day to check on her injuries and has since become a friend of her family.

In three years of service with the Fire Department, Stealey said, saving Domis has been his biggest accomplishment.