Like hundreds of other Angelenos, Patty Phillips jumped in her car with her dog Dakota in a desperate attempt to evacuate. In her panic, she turned onto a steep road covered in rocks and debris. She turned down the wrong road by mistake, and smoke blurred her vision.

Suddenly, the wind shifted and blew smoke over her car – so much so that she couldn’t see the road in front of her. Phillips put her Cadillac into reverse to try and make it back down the hill, but a boulder caused her SUV to become high-centered. It wouldn’t move.

“I turned on Big Rock [Drive] and the flames came at me everywhere,” she told CBS News. “Like a blast of flames and smoke, and I was blinded. It’s total vertigo, you can’t see your road, you can’t see in front of you… If I hadn’t hit that boulder, I would’ve rolled down the gully into the fire.”

She texted her husband that “she was in big trouble,” and that her “car wouldn’t move.” Phillips refused to abandon her dog, so she stayed in the SUV and laid on the horn, hoping someone would hear her. The woman called 911, who told her it was unlikely anyone could save her.

“I was praying to God to let me die from smoke inhalation and please don’t let me be burned alive,” said Phillips. “I thought I was going to die.”

Her husband ran for help and found it

Phillips’ husband was down in the line of fire, begging firefighters to save his wife. Every one of them said it was too dangerous, except for Fire Captain Malcolm Dicks.

“My husband had him by the collar, ‘Please save my wife,’ and Malcolm said, ‘Let’s go!’ And he goes up [the hill] and goes, ‘We might not make it but we’ll try,'” Patty recalled tearfully.

Dicks ran up the steep, obstacle-laden road and reached Patty’s Cadillac. Within minutes, he pulled her and Dakota from the SUV and led them down the hill to safety.

“He risked his life to save mine. Like, that is a brave man and he needs a hug from me, he needs to receive an honor,” said Phillips, explaining to reporters she was desperate to thank the hero for saving her life.

“Nobody else would come,” she said.

The firefighter was happy to help

Malcolm Dicks, before he became a Fire Captain, was recognized as a hero early on in his career for bravery. He’s normally in Pacoima but was in town to help with the fires.

“I told my kids and my wife about it, I didn’t know if I’d ever see [Phillips] again,” he said.

When reporters found him and told him about Phillips’ wish to thank him herself, they connected the two via FaceTime. She tearfully thanked him, and he became emotional seeing how much his efforts affected the couple. Patty told him she wanted to meet him in person to thank him in person and hug him.

“I’ll be excited to see her again and see the husband and the dog, and I’m just glad they made it out safe because unfortunately a lot of other people didn’t,” said Dicks.

Viewers were just as emotional

“When she said, ‘My husband had him by the collar saying, ‘Please save my wife!’ and Malcolm said, ‘Let’s go!’ that is intense!” exclaimed a viewer. “Give Malcolm a medal of honor for his bravery!”

A tough viewer said the story made them emotional.

“I’m 62 and this story made me cry a little,” they said. “That is the story of a legend. A lesser man would have to deal with that woman’s death on his soul, but because Malcolm is a hero he receives and gives love, life, and light. Let’s all be more like Malcolm.”

Someone else noted he risked his own life to save hers.

“That man was away from his own family and risked his life to save other people,” they wrote. “‘Hero’ isn’t accurate enough.”

Warning: only watch this video if you’ve got some tissues close by.