He saw a man in a burning car. A Pasco hero didn’t think twice and ran to the flames.

Masood Zarifi of Pasco didn’t start Wednesday looking to be a hero.

By the end of the day, Pasco police and firefighters hailed him as one anyway.

Zarifi, 29, helped pull an 81-year-old Kennewick man from a burning car in a field at the dead end of East Lewis Place. The driver was unharmed.

But it didn’t start out looking to end that way.

When Zarifi arrived at the scene close to 8:20 p.m. from Highway 12, he couldn’t see anyone in the smoking car.

Police said the elderly driver was confused about where the road ended, crashed into the state Department of Transportation fence along the highway, then got stuck in the weeds, sparking a fire.

Zarifi was dialing 911 when he saw a man in the passenger’s seat trying to unlock the doors. The man, who was not identified by police, crawled across the front seat to get away from the flames.

“He just froze up,” Zarifi told the Herald. “To be honest, I had no idea what to do.”

The Pasco High graduate rushed to the car and tried to open the door to no avail. He looked around for a rock, found one and tried to smash in the passenger door window. Also no luck.

Another person stopped at the scene.

Zarifi backed off from the car as the fire spread. He shouted at the passerby for a hammer. The man grabbed one from his work truck and brought it to Zarifi.

Zarifi reeled back and smashed in a window with a single hit. The two men then pulled the driver out.

“As soon as I took him out, the whole car caught fire right away,” Zarifi said. “After that, I just relaxed for a bit. I was like, ‘Thank God he was out.’ ”

Police and firefighters rolled up at the scene. While the fire was extinguished, police asked what happened. The men, as well as others who helped out afterward, relayed the story.

“They said, ‘You’re a hero,’ ” Zarifi said. “I said, I’m not a hero. I’m just a guy. We’re all human, we’re supposed to care for each other.”

Zarifi added that he didn’t think much about his own safety.

“Maybe God was listening and sent me at the right time and the right place to help him out,” he said. “When you have to save a life, you have to do whatever it takes to save someone’s life.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 8:12 PM with the headline "He saw a man in a burning car. A Pasco hero didn’t think twice and ran to the flames.."