THANKS FOR LIFE MEN HONORED FOR SAVING WOMAN FROM FIERY CRASH.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - While a crowd of onlookers stood by helplessly as the crushed Jeep burst into flames, Matt Stains and Bob Smith rushed to rescue the driver still inside.

The pair of Valencia men ripped the plastic from the back of Vicky Eyre's Jeep, hooked their arms under her shoulders and pulled her to safety as the front tires exploded.

Within seconds, the Jeep was engulfed in flames.

Now, more than 1 1/2 years later, Stains and Smith have received medals and a $3,500 prize from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for their extraordinary heroism in saving Eyre's life.

The awards also were given to 16 other heroes throughout the country and in memory of six who died while trying to save lives.

Stains and Smith modestly brush off the honor. They're just regular guys, they say, responding to a crisis the only way they knew how.

``You just gotta do what you gotta do,'' Smith said. ``I'm sure there were a lot of people who would do that, but it was surprising there were so many people standing around doing nothing. I'm just glad she has her life and her family.''

``It was just something that had to be done,'' Stains said. ``It doesn't seem like much at all.''

Shortly after the awards were announced, the 44-year-old Eyre met one of the men who saved her life when Stains came to visit her at her new home in Lebec.

``Thank you so much,'' Eyre said, weeping and wrapping her arms around Stains. ``Thank you for saving my life. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here.''

``I'm just happy to see you up and walking around,'' Stains responded.

It was Feb. 13, 1999, and Eyre was driving west on Highway 126, heading back to her Fillmore home with a Jeep full of Valentine's Day roses and thinking of nothing but her plans for the holiday.

Suddenly, as she passed through the Chiquito Canyon Road intersection, a Santa Clarita Transit bus ran a stop sign and drove directly into Eyre's path.

She slammed on the brakes. Her Jeep hit the side of the bus and burst into flames.

``My face hit the steering wheel and knocked the breath out of me,'' Eyre recalled. ``When I looked up, everything was on fire. The doors were jammed, and the zippers wouldn't work, so I kept crawling toward the back of the Jeep. I was just screaming: Please, somebody get me out of here. I don't want to die like this.''

As the fire spread rapidly through the dash board and into the front seat, Eyre crouched in a rear corner, kicking at the flames until the bottoms of her shoes began to melt.

``I was bawling like a baby as they pulled me out,'' Eyre recalled during the recent reunion. ``I just remember lying there, looking up and seeing the whole thing up in flames.''

Recalling the sudden death of his father, the 43-year-old Stains also was overcome by emotion.

``Life can go just like that,'' Stains said with a snap of his fingers. ``I lost my father in a plane crash when I was 16. I'd just gotten off the plane, and he went on to Mexico. Then we heard the plane had crashed.''

When the crash occurred, Stains and Smith were heading home from Santa Barbara on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles - Stains with his girlfriend Karen Ward and Smith with his wife, Gloria.

The four motorcyclists were following Eyre and were seconds away from colliding with the bus themselves.

For Eyre, the men's bravery and swift actions not only saved her life, but also transformed it. Since her brush with death, Eyre said she takes nothing for granted and has grown closer to her husband and five children.

Though she suffers excruciating headaches that leave her bedridden for days, she said the crash has improved her life by making her more grateful for everything she has.

``I love life so much more now,'' she said. ``In a second, you could be gone, or your loved one could be gone. I'm a lot more thankful that I'm here now, and I cherish every second. Before the accident, I was in kind of a rut, just going back and forth to work. Those guys saved my life in more ways than one.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Vicky Eyre of Lebec hugs Matt Stains at their first meeting since he helped free her from inside a burning Jeep.

(2) Vicky Eyre, center, talks with Matt Stains, right, and Karen Ward about the day Stains and another man freed Eyre from a burning Jeep. Ward saw the rescue.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer