Photo courtesy DISD.

An Adamson High School English teacher is being hailed a hero after witnessing a fiery hot air balloon crash and jumping into action earlier this month.

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Israel Alfaro was driving to his sister’s house in Crandall, TX, on Oct. 9 when he witnessed a hot air balloon which appeared to be falling from the sky. The crash occurred around 7:25 p.m. in the 4300 block of Farm-to-Market Road 741.

“I could see them ripping the sandbags, they were trying to lighten their load,” Alfaro told WFAA. “They landed on top of the power lines. Everything automatically engulfed in flames. The basket, everything was just in flames.”

By the time Alfaro reached the crash site, two other passersby had already pulled one man out of the balloon basket. The pilot had sustained injuries but was able to walk.

A second pilot inside of the basket suffered broken bones in both legs. Alfaro was able to approach the burning site because of his clothing which covered his arms and legs, and pulled the second pilot from the basket.

Shortly after pulling the man from the balloon, a gas tank exploded.

“Honestly, it was terrifying when we were trying to find out if there was a third person with them in the hot air balloon, and we couldn’t get a response because they didn’t understand us and we didn’t understand them,” Alfaro told reporters.

The two men have been identified by Crandall police as Pjotr Halas and Krzystotf Zapart, from Swidnica, Poland. The men were competing in the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race, and crashed 600 miles from their departure location of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

One victim was airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, and the other was driven to the hospital by paramedics, NBCDFW reported after the crash.