Earlier this month, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Wetter entered a burning vehicle to save a one-year-old girl who was trapped in a car seat. The girl’s parents were driving along Mission Road in Fallbrook, California, a village near Camp Pendleton, when a gas can fell from the back of another vehicle and became wedged beneath the car. The can caught fire and engulfed the car in flames.

GySgt. Wetter, who was driving behind the family, pulled over immediately, leaped from his vehicle, and ran to the burning car. Assessing the situation, he found that both parents were uninjured, but the father, Tony Hurley, was struggling to remove his daughter from the back seat. GySgt. Wetter used his pocket knife to cut the seatbelt, which had become locked, and free the child.

Local firefighters were on their way to the scene but never would have reached it in time.

GySgt. Wetter, a father of three, was incredibly humble in his recounting of the event captured by Fox Five San Diego.

“We’re all in the together. This life of ours is not just a single person; you’re not in it alone,” Wetter said.

“If my wife and my children were in that car, I would hope there was someone like myself who was willing and able to help out.”

We salute GySgt. for his swift action and his calmness under pressure. Oorah, Marine.