After breaking through the window of a burning vehicle on Highway 101 near Cotati on midnight Friday, a CHP officer realized there were two children in the back seat.

CHP Officer Matthew Barawet and Sgt. Jason Bahlman quickly switched gears. They had been cautiously approaching a driver who had led officers on a 25-mile pursuit for unknown reasons. Then they were moving fast to rescue her daughters, ages one and five, from the burning car, Santa Rosa-area CHP Sgt. Andrew Henkens said.