LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Irma Zamora’s husband urged her not to get out of the car as they approached the scene of a spectacular traffic collision in Los Angeles’ Valley Village neighborhood. But as he pulled over to call 911, she rushed out anyway, eager to help.

A sport utility vehicle had just careened through a local intersection, shearing off a concrete light standard and knocking over a fire hydrant before coming to rest on a front lawn. Water spewed skyward from the broken hydrant and quickly pooled in the intersection.