Burning Vehicle Rescue; Weather Outlook
PHILLIPS: Well, imagine that you're trapped in your car, it's on fire, burning, and you can't get out. And with all the flames, who would risk their lives to help you? It would take a miracle. Here's our Miguel Marquez.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hard to tell, but that is a black Mercedes. It lost control on a major freeway in Los Angeles. Harder to believe, the man who was driving survived.</s>DON THOMPSON, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: It was just a matter of seconds. Another 10, 15 seconds, there just would have been too much fire.</s>MARQUEZ: Seconds to rescue the 72-year-old man whose car burst into flames after smashing into the center divider.</s>THOMPSON: I reached in there and I fumbled a bit more and thank goodness I found that button and popped the belt and grabbed him and pulled him out.</s>MARQUEZ: Adding to the miracle, Don Thompson, a 26 year veteran of the LAPD bomb squad, happened to be on his way to work. His shift started early. Diving into the flames, pulling the driver to safety.</s>THOMPSON: I'm just kind of singed, you know, hair here and some first degree on the side.</s>MARQUEZ: Thompson did have help. Miracles sometimes need company. A Los Angeles firefighter happened to be driving by, making the rescue seamless.</s>ERIK SCOTT, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: To be able to help to immediate patient assessment and get other resources on scene a lot quicker because he happened to be the commander of the dispatch center and called them directly to do so.</s>MARQUEZ: A horrible accident and an impromptu act of heroism.</s>THOMPSON: It makes me feel good to know that I've saved a life.</s>MARQUEZ: Understatement from a veteran cop, all in a day's work.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, Miguel Marques, thank you so much. And CNN affiliate KTLA does report that at least two civilians actually helped with that rescue. The man pulled from the car was transported to the hospital with moderate injuries. Well, a fresh but light round of winter weather is in the Great Lakes and the Northeast. It's hampering efforts to restore power to thousands of residents. Utility crews actually have been working in frigid temps ever since Christmas Eve. More than 400,000 Michigan homes lost electricity after last weekend's big ice storm. And then in northern New England, the same scenario, about 30,000 residents in Maine were left in the dark. A full fix not expected until the weekend, as well. More rain heading to the south. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray here now and to talk about the travelers returning home for the holidays. What do you think? More storms to come?</s>JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the short answer is no, the country is very, very calm right now. We're seeing high pressure in control across the mid-section. Maybe a couple of isolated showers in south Florida, mostly sunny in the Southwest. We're actually going to be warming up in the Midwest. We only are dealing with a couple of lake-effect showers -- snow showers around the Great Lakes. That's really it. Look at this, Denver warming up to 52 degrees today, Kansas City at 44, Chicago will hit 30, even in D.C. in the 40s. So we'll gradually be warming up over the next couple of days. We are seeing a little bit of lake-effect snow but it's really not going to be too much. The power outages, the ice, all of that's left over from last weekend's storm. And so we'll be watching temperatures warm up in those areas as well over the next couple of days. Buffalo, Syracuse, could pick up two to four inches of snow throughout the day today. Even Maine picking up one to three inches. Temperatures are still very cold in the north, really not above freezing. But in the next couple of days, things will start to change. So Burlington could see temperatures at 36 degrees on Saturday. And with these temperatures above freezing, that will help with that ice melt through the weekend.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, Jennifer, thanks. Well, here's a question for you, what is a lower approval rating than cockroaches, Genghis Khan and lice? Your Congress. A new poll explains why. And the last minute shopping might be over, but a lot of the deals have just begun. Our retail experts will tell you - tell all of us actually where we can go.