He Did What Heroes Naturally Do: React

For Ed Rodriguez, a round of golf suddenly turned into what authorities hailed as an act of heroism.

While playing on a San Dimas course Saturday morning, the Glendora man saw an elderly woman in a backyard next to the course accidentally set her clothing on fire while lighting a cigarette.

Climbing over a chain-link fence, Rodriguez used his bare hands to help smother the flames. But 84-year-old Dorothy Litwack had sustained second-degree burns over 80% of her body. She was airlifted by Los Angeles County firefighters to County-USC Medical Center in critical condition. Litwack died there of her injuries early Sunday.

Rodriguez, 40, suffered second-degree burns on his hands and legs. He took himself to a hospital for treatment, county fire inspector Mark Tolbert said. Rodriguez’s wounds are expected to take up to six weeks to heal.

“The fact that he responded in the way he did is very heroic,” Tolbert said Sunday. “That’s what heroes do. They just react.”

With his wife and three teenage sons at his side, Rodriguez reluctantly appeared at a Sunday afternoon press conference.

“It was all a reaction,” Rodriguez said of his efforts to save the woman’s life. “I didn’t even know how I got to her.”

He said the woman appeared to be wearing a cotton nightshirt and a frilly shawl. He said he rolled her on the ground to put out the fire.

Barely aware that he was also hurt, Rodriguez held the woman’s hand until the paramedics came.

“I was telling her that she was OK, just hold on,” said Rodriguez, a project manager for an engineering company. “My heart goes out to her family.”

Rodriguez’s wife, Glorya, 42, said she had to convince her husband to meet with reporters.

“He is a very reluctant hero,” she said. “He was nervous and just kept saying it wasn’t a big deal. The guys had to tell him, ‘We’re really proud of you.’ ”

Sixteen-year-old son Chris said his father is “always trying to do the right thing.”

“Mom told me in the morning what happened,” Chris said. “It seems funny, but I wasn’t really surprised because of the type of person he is.”