Do read this rather amazing account of how D.C. resident Kevin McDonnell pulled a man from a burning car near the National Cathedral on Sunday, courtesy WaPo reporter Matt Zapotosky.

He broke down the trees blocking the man’s door, then pulled him bodily from the car. Flames and smoke hampered his efforts; at one point, McDonnell’s own jacket caught on fire.

“Clearly the biggest concern, and why I don’t think anyone else approached the car, was the fire was moving backwards,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “It was just a matter of time before the gas tank ignited, which it was kind enough to do after we got him to the top of the hill.”

“I just couldn’t sit there and literally watch another person get burned up in his car,” said McDonnell.

Mr. McDonnell is officially DCist’s Badass of the Day.