BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — A Boulder police officer saved a man from a burning car and it was all caught on body cameras.

The man behind the wheel crashed into a tree, but it wasn’t his fault. The man experienced a medical problem right before his car crashed into a tree in Boulder.

Officer Douglas Perhacs has been at the Boulder Police Department for two years.

“It’s a beautiful place to work,” Perhacs said.

That beautiful place was the backdrop for a dramatic rescue.

Boulder police officer finds car up in flames

“It seemed that it was a life or death situation,” Perhacs said.

Last weekend, Perhacs arrived at the scene near Baseline and Flagstaff roads.

“I saw orange coming from the front of it,” Perhacs said.

That orange was fire, billowing from the hood of a car, about a foot high. Inside the car was a man, semi-coherent, behind the wheel.

“He was bleeding from the mouth and seemed disoriented,” Perhacs said. “He was just kind of looking at me and the inside of the car was beginning to fill with smoke.”

Perhacs helped the man escape the burning car, saving his life. The incident happened toward the end of his shift.

“At this point, I was actually debating going back to the police department because I had a lot of paperwork from previous calls,” Perhacs said.

‘This was a job where I could help people’

His commitment to serving, he said, compelled him to take the call.

“As soon as I saw this, I realized this was a priority. I was closest, and I needed to go and I needed to get there now,” Perhacs said.

All in a day’s work for the military veteran and former emergency medical tech.

“This was a job where I could help people, I could have immeasurable impact and I could go home with a sense of purpose that I helped someone and I did something important for my work,” Perhacs said.

Perhacs said he’s since talked to the man he saved and his father, who both thanked him for saving his life.