Deputy Pulled From Flames : Accident: Lawman is injured when his patrol car hits a tree, but two motorists rescue him from the fiery crash.

Two rescuers pulled a trapped and seriously injured Orange County deputy sheriff to safety early Wednesday as his crashed patrol car burst into flames, authorities said.

Nelson Joo, a Los Angeles City firefighter from Aliso Viejo, and Kevin Leahy, an Orange County marshal from Laguna Hills, were credited with saving the life of Deputy Christopher Thompson, who lost control of his patrol car on El Toro Road before dawn Wednesday.

“The deputy could not have gotten out of the car by himself,” said Lt. Tom Garner of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “They definitely saved his life.”

Thompson was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was listed in serious condition with second-degree burns, a broken arm, a broken leg and possible internal injuries, hospital officials said.

Garner said Thompson apparently lost control of his patrol car while traveling on El Toro Road through Leisure World at 5:10 a.m. and ran into an olive tree in the center median strip near Avenida Sevilla. Police closed El Toro Road between Moulton Parkway and Paseo de Valencia, snarling traffic for hours around the popular commuter route.

Authorities said they do not know why Thompson lost control of the patrol car. The Sheriff’s Department refused to reveal his hometown.

Joo said he was on his way to work when he first noticed the billowing smoke and then flames from the patrol car burning in a median strip at the center of El Toro Road.

“As I got closer, I could see the car had plowed into a tree and the engine compartment was burning,” said Joo, 26, a six-year veteran firefighter. “I stopped and ran around to the passenger side door and yelled at the guy to give me his hand. He was dazed.”

Joo and Leahy, who was also on his way to work at the Orange County court complex in Santa Ana, managed to pull Thompson out the passenger door as the flames spread.

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“I grabbed his gun belt and the other guy grabbed his arm, and we got him away from there as the flames started to come up over the roof,” said Leahy, 34. “I’ve never seen a car go up in flames that fast.”

The driver’s side door and window were jammed and the two men’s frantic efforts to get a fire extinguisher out of the trunk was futile, they said.

Garner said the car was “totaled. It was just a big mess. The driver’s window frame area was about a third the size of a normal window.”

Leahy also managed to grab the car’s radio and call for help. A fire engine from a nearby Laguna Hills station arrived within minutes, and paramedics administered first aid to Thompson before taking him to the hospital’s trauma center, Garner said.

Garner said Thompson, who is married, was working a shift that began at midnight. Through a hospital spokeswoman, Thompson’s wife declined to be interviewed Wednesday.

Garner offered no explanation for the cause of the accident.

“It’s unknown at this time whether this was a mechanical problem, or what happened,” Garner said. “Apparently the deputy wandered into the center median for some reason and hit the tree.”

Garner said the Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol will investigate the accident and the CHP will check the car for mechanical malfunctions.