KNOXVILLE (WVLT) – A Knoxville Police officer is being called a hero Tuesday night after pulling a man from his burning vehicle.

It happened just before 6 p.m. on Tillery Road in North Knoxville. KPD officials say Officer Jason Waggoner was responding to a general burglary alarm at the Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union when he saw a car driving fast through its parking lot. As he watched, the driver lost control and drove off a nearby embankment. When it reached the bottom of the embankment, it burst into flames.

Officer Waggoner stopped his cruiser, retrieved a fire extinguisher and ran to the bottom of the embankment to put out the blaze. He was unable to put the fire out, so he broke the car’s window and pulled the driver to safety.

During the rescue, Officer Waggoner suffered smoke inhalation, and was treated and released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center late Tuesday evening.

The driver was identified as Christopher Myers, 37, who remained hospitalized at UT Medical on Tuesday night in fair condition.

KPD investigators are still looking into the case and they believe Myers may have been intoxicated when he drove off the embankment. They did say that if it wasn’t for Officer Waggoner, Myers would have been killed in the fire.