Actor Mark Harmon is an even bigger hero in real life than he is on the TV screen, says one of the grateful teens he saved from a burning car crash. Eric McMorrow and his pal Colin Specht, both 16, were pulled from certain death by the quick-thinking acor who risked his own life in the inferno to save them. And Eric, who suffered serious burns and fractures to his jaw and ankles, says that makes the handsome Harmon the most fearless man he has ever met. “My whole family owes him a debt we can never repay,” the teen’s brother Brian tells STAR.
“The firemen said that the car could have blown up in a FIREBALL and killed them, but Mark risked everything to save the lives of two people he’d never even met. Mark was kneeling in a pool of gasoline, surrounded by flames, but he didn’t hesitate for a second. He reached into the car and did what he had to do. Some actors play heroes on TV. Mark Harmon is a hero in real life.” And Eric’s family plans to show the heartthrob just how grateful it is for the boy’s life. “When Eric gets out of the hospital, my mom wants to have Mark over for dinner so we can all say thanks,” says Brian.
Harmon, 44, called the parents of young Specht, who was still listed in critical condition last week at the County-USC hospital in L.A. with a fractured skull and burns to his legs. “That man is a saint,” the boy’s grandfather Robert tells STAR. “My son has spoken to him several times about Colin. Mark isn’t concerned about his Image or getting publicity out of this. He just genuinely cares about Colin and what happens to him. We can’t thank himenough for what he did for Colin, and for us.”
The heart-stopping rescue began seconds after Eric’s Jeep Cherokee plowed through a fence at more than 50 mph and rammed into a tree near Harmon’s home in Brentwood, California. Harmon’s wife Pam Dawber - who starred in the 1970s hit Mork and Mindy - saw the terrifying crash and screamed for her husband as fuel poured from the overturned car and burst into flames. “I tried to get the doors open, but couldn’t do it,” she says. “So I screamed for my husband to get a sledgehammer.” The quick-thinking hero raced to his Garage to get the sledgehammer and then ran to the scene. “By the time I got to the car, it was on fire and I realized there was someone in there and I broke the window,” says Harmon. “He was hung upside down and couldn’t get free. I didn’t know if he was seatbelted in so I yelled at him to unbuckle. The flames were getting more intense. I reached up inside the car, got a hold of his belt and got him through the window and out. When I pulled him clear, from his thighs down he was pretty much on fire. I rolled him around on the ground and got on top of him and pretty much put out the flames as much as I could.”
The former college football star then returned to the inferno and pulled the second lad to safety. Dawber, who threw water on the Teens to help smother the flames, then yelled at neighbors to call an ambulance. Following the amazing rescue, Harmon tried to downplay his heroic efforts.
“You just do what you do,” he says. “I’m not a hero.”
But local rescue workers disagree. “Mark is a true, bona-fide hero,” says one. “He was in grave danger doing what he did. He put himself at great personal risk. There could have been a huge Fireball.” Neighbor Bob Tur who witnessed the rescue says: “There was gas all over the ground and Mark was standing in it. He’s fit and he’s brave. He saved lives.”
STAR - January 23, 1996
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