Two teenagers owe their lives to a pair of police officers who pulled them out of a blazing car in Milwaukee.

Officers Nicholas Schlei and Nicholas Reid acted swiftly when they saw a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am hurtle into a utility pole before overturning.

Within seconds flames poured out from under the bonnet. With temperatures plunging way below freezing the officers who were not wearing gloves acted swiftly.

The dramatic rescue was captured on police bodycam video.

They succeeded in pulling out the 16-year-old driver and another teenager who was unconscious in the back seat. A third boy escaped, having kicked out a car window.

"The flames, by the time I got out there, were too big for a fire extinguisher," Officer Reid said at a news conference on Wednesday, "We knew that we had to get those kids out."