In a heart-stopping rescue, a man drove through smoke and flames to save a woman and her four dogs from the raging Palisades Fire in Southern California. Caleb Serban-Lawler, a Los Angeles-based producer, was initially helping neighbors protect their homes when he found himself in a life-or-death situation on January 7.
"The first half of the day I was watering roofs with neighbors trying to keep fire out as much as possible," Serban-Lawler told PEOPLE. But as the sun set, everything changed. A woman ran up to his truck, frantically asking for help. Her car had broken down, leaving her stranded with her pets.
"All I could do was imagine my own mother," he recalled, feeling compelled to assist.
In dramatic footage shared on Instagram, Serban-Lawler captured the tense moments as he asked the woman if she was okay. She explained that her car was parked in the garage with all four dogs inside, and it wouldn’t start. Without hesitation, he agreed to help her.
They jumped into his truck and drove back up the mountain, navigating through thick smoke and flying embers. "It was so bad we couldn't see anything," he said, as flames burned on either side of the road.
Finally, they reached the woman's car and loaded her dogs into the truck. "Her next-door neighbor's home was already in flames," Serban-Lawler noted, highlighting the urgency of their situation. As they fled down the mountain, they passed horrific scenes of destruction, including burning cars and trees.
In a twist, three of the dogs had to be moved into another vehicle because one of them didn’t get along with the others. "This reporter let me put three of the dogs in her car while we rearranged one," he explained on Instagram. Thankfully, all four dogs and their owner made it out safely, relocating to a friend's house shortly after the rescue.
The woman expressed her disbelief at their narrow escape. "I don't know how you drove; you couldn't see anything," she told Serban-Lawler in the video. "I'm so grateful that I'm alive. I thought I was going to die. Thank you so much."
Serban-Lawler, however, remained humble about his actions. "She kept telling me how I saved her life and that she would have ended up dead with her pets in her home if I didn't help her and that I was a hero. I don't think I'm a hero at all," he said. "Honestly, I was just doing the right thing, and I believe we need more people in the world willing to help like this."
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, also shared her side of the story on social media. In an Instagram post, she revealed that she was ready to evacuate when her car "went completely dead," leaving her in a desperate situation. "No one was around or allowed in," she wrote, adding that she received "no help from 911."
In a panic, she ran down the hill and spotted Serban-Lawler's truck. "He actually came up my street by mistake and was making a U-turn to go back down as my hands slammed his car to stop," she recounted.
"If it wasn't for him, me and my four dogs would've died," she concluded. "Me and my pups will be forever grateful to a true hero, Caleb @calebserbanlawler who just happened to be volunteering on that deadly horrific day."
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