Officer

California Highway Patrol

7/25/1976

Special Act Award (Gold)

On July 25, 1976, Officer John D. Jones was back on his beat in the Hayward CHP area after his dinner break when he saw a pall of black smoke rising ahead. He headed for the scene assuming it was a car fire. When he arrived on the scene he saw many onlookers watching a light plane burn. The plane had crashed nose-first and flames were quickly consuming the aircraft. One man was running back and forth from the flames trying to reach the pilot who was fully exposed because the roof of the cockpit had been knocked away. Officer Jones grabbed a fire extinguisher, ran to the plane, pointed the extinguisher and got only a useless phzzz. He turned to help the man who had run back in and was pulling at the pilot’s shoulders. Jones took hold of the other and together they dislodged the pilot who was badly burned but still alive. Unfortunately the pilot died later; he had been in the burning plane for several minutes before Officer Jones arrived.