Local 398 members save woman’s life in San Diego

The work SMART members do impacts the every­day lives of people across North America, from the buildings constructed by sheet metal workers to the transportation operated by TD members. SMART members improve the quality of life for our neighbors in countless ways, helping them breathe clean air, safely transporting people and freight from point A to B, and more.

For SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering (RME) Local 398 Brothers Joshua Mavez, Andrew Meisenholder, Jesse Warford and Dan Medellin, this impact took on a whole new level when they saved a woman’s life just outside their facility.

On October 24, 2025, the four San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Light Rail Vehicle Department workers noticed an enormous cloud of smoke coming from a van that had crashed just outside the workplace. When Mavez first arrived at the scene, all he saw was “a car stuck between two gates.” It was only when he noticed the tires pop and sparks flying that he realized some­thing was seriously wrong.

Mavez was the first to rush to the scene, and Meisenholder, Warford and Medellin followed without any hesitation, armed with fire extinguishers.

The four RME brothers were ready to take action and put out the fire. But then, Meisenholder recalled, “a security guard yelled out that somebody was in the car, and after that, you could see the silhouette of somebody in the vehicle.”

The four immediately shifted their focus from extin­guishing the fire to rescuing the elderly woman trapped inside her vehicle.

“The fire was getting bigger and bigger by the second,” Mavez said. But the four MTS workers did not let fear or danger get in their way. They were able to shatter the van’s windows and pull the woman out, saving her from the fire and thick smoke.

For Meisenholder, who has elderly family members of his own, the experience was visceral.

“I felt for her and just wanted her to be okay,” he said.

The events resonated close to home for Mavez as well.

“A month before this scenario happened, I had an uncle that passed away in the same exact way. I wasn’t thinking about that in the moment, but after the whole scenario happened, it made me really think, ‘this is like my uncle in the car and now I’m rescuing him,’” he said.

Meisenholder said that this situation demonstrated the true power of union solidarity.

“I feel confident and closer to them [Mavez, Warford and Medellin] knowing that we all had each other’s back. We all just did what had to be done,” he explained.

Mavez added that as municipal workers, “we should be held up to a standard. We work for the public, so we should be able to do what we can to help others.”

The four SMART members were honored for their heroic actions by the MTS Board, with Chairman Stephen Whitburn and CEO Sharon Cooney conducting a ceremony of recognition.

Thank you to Brothers Mavez, Meisenholder, Warford and Medellin for showing exactly what our union stands for. Without these four brothers’ bravery, compassion and heroism, the situation could have ended very differently.