LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two men became heroes Saturday afternoon when they pulled a seriously injured San Francisco woman from her burning vehicle.

Darcelle Chatoian, 45, was trapped in her burning SUV and semiconscious after she went off Highway 29 over Mount St. Helena just inside the Napa County line, as Lake County News has reported.

The story might have ended there, with a tragedy.

But that's when life-saving help arrived in the form of two men – Ryan Perez, 32, of Napa, and Peter Hart, 38, of Clearlake – who put themselves in harm's way to save her.

Hart was driving northbound, coming down Mount St. Helena and heading toward his Clearlake home, when he said he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

It turned out to be Chatoian's SUV, which was off the road and heading over the side of the hill, he said.

He tried to slow down and another vehicle passed him. He turned around and came back, with he and Perez arriving on scene close to the same time.

Perez, traveling with girlfriend Victoria Rossi to a friend's home in Middletown, said he was driving more slowly due to wet conditions, and from the vantage point of his tall pickup he was able to see a vehicle off the roadway.

He said he told his girlfriend, “I think someone's crashed there.”

They pulled over, with Perez noting that he could already see smoke and flames. They tried to call 911 but couldn't get cell reception.

By the time Perez and Hart stopped, Chatoian's SUV already had caught fire.

The men headed down to the SUV, and when they got there Hart said he could see a woman inside, pinned under the steering wheel and the dash, with a lot of luggage and other items pushed in on top of her. Perez said he could hear Chatoian groaning in pain.

Hart said he couldn't get the passenger door open, and his attempts to smother the fire with a blanket didn't work.

Although the SUV's back door was partially open, they couldn't get it open the rest of the way, said Perez. He said another man showed up with a fire extinguisher to try to help, but the fire kept going.

Meanwhile, Rossi was up on the roadway, asking someone to get down the hill and call 911, he said.

Hart said they had wanted to pull Chatoian from the passenger side, since the driver's side was facing down into a ditch. But when they couldn't get that door open, they went around to the driver's side and looked for a way to break the windows. By that time, the flames were starting to go up under the dash.

“She kept saying, 'Help me,'” Hart remembered.

Up on the hill, he said people were screaming, “It's gonna blow! It's gonna blow!”

Hart said at that point, their goal was just to get Chatoian out of harm's way. “There was no time to think about it, we just had to do it.”

With few other alternatives, and the fire getting “too big too fast,” as Hart said, Perez kicked the driver's side window out.

Hart comforted Chatoian, telling her that it was going to hurt a bit as they got her out. They were then able to reach inside, unbuckle Chatoian and pull her out of the vehicle.

But even then, the two men couldn't get her up the hill by themselves. Perez said a friend of his pulled up, and the friend and another man helped them get Chatoian up to the roadside.

By that time, Hart said, the whole driver's side was on fire. Within what he estimated was another eight to 10 minutes the entire vehicle was ablaze.

“It was pretty much a done deal,” added Perez.

Hart said they covered Chatoian with coats to keep her warm, but she started to become unresponsive and went into shock. It was about 10 minutes before medics arrived, with CHP getting to the scene shortly afterward, he said.

Perez's leg injury then became apparent. “At that point I realized I had been bleeding ever since I kicked the window out,” he said.

One of the other men on the scene used Perez's shirt as a tourniquet on the injured leg, and Rossi then rushed him to St. Helena Hospital, Clearlake, where he received 12 stitches.

He said when he tried to leave the hospital, his leg began to bleed again, making it necessary for his leg to be restitched.

Perez called his injury “minor considering what she had to go through,” he said of Chatoian.

Perez said Chatoian was saved thanks to “a good group effort.”

Hart said he's never been in such a situation before. Later, when he realized how dangerous it had been, he said it scared him.

He said he was grateful others stopped to help. “A lot of people just kept on going by.”

Napa CHP Officer Jaret Paulson said Chatoian's condition is improving, although she remains in serious condition with major injuries.

“She was basically unconscious for a couple of days,” he said.

Paulson added, “We are optimistic and hopeful but she’s still beat up pretty good,” and has serious injuries to overcome.

Hart greeted the news of Chatoian's improving condition as “wonderful.”

Perez's mother, Stacy, a medical technician who works in Lakeport, said the family was proud of him and thankful for Chatoian's survival.

Perez, who said Monday that his leg was feeling better, said he believed the situation was meant to work out.

He said he understood Chatoian's situation. Perez said he was once in a serious crash and others had helped him, too.

“People came to help me, so I figured I'd return the favor,” he said.

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