Officer

California Highway Patrol

3/21/1993

Special Act Award (Gold)

On March 21, 1993 at approximately 11:30 a.m. Officer Jennifer Pendergast encountered a two story home fully engulfed in flames in a residential area of Los Angeles County. Several neighbors were spraying water onto the house with garden hoses. Officer Pendergast was told by one of the neighbors that there was an elderly woman who couldn't walk on her own, still inside the structure, and groans could be heard coming from within. A tow truck driver had also arrived on the scene at the same time as Officer Pendergast, and he attempted to gain entry into the house through the front door but was barred by a locked metal security screen door. Both Officer Pendergast and the tow driver quickly ran around to the rear of the home to try another entrance but the heavy, extensive smoke and flames made that option impossible. Thereafter Officer Pendergast ran back to her patrol car and obtained her flashlight, leather gloves, and a fire extinguisher. She then tried to gain access through the front door, but was unsuccessful. Officer Pendergast told the tow driver to get a crow bar out of his truck so they could try and force the metal security screen door open. He returned with a large metal crowbar, attempted to pry it open but when that failed he then used the bar to punch several holes through the door which allowed him to reach inside and unlock it. Officer Pendergast and the tow driver entered the house and found it fully surrounded by smoke and flames and observed the elderly woman succumbing to the conditions, falling to the ground within five feet inside the door. Together they drug the victim outside the structure onto the front lawn. As Officer Pendergast was conducting a primary assessment of the woman's condition, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Engine 41 arrived. Officer Pendergast continued to administer oxygen to the victim until the paramedics relieved her. The entire rescue took approximately five to ten minutes. Although Officer Pendergast and the tow driver were only inside the fully engulfed structure for about two minutes, they placed themselves dangerously close to the flames, overwhelming smoke and falling embers raining upon them while they were both inside and blowing from the windows while they worked at the front door. Unfortunately, the rescuers were unable to safely re-enter the structure to save the elderly woman’s two dogs who sustained fatal injuries from smoke inhalation. Several news media members conducted interviews in front of the house which aired on the local evening news, and an eyewitness to the horrific scene that day gave a formal statement saying “If it wasn’t for the officer and tow driver, she [his neighbor] would have died. They saved her life”.