The man photographed with a fire extinguisher at the fiery car crash that took actor Paul Walker's life has been identified as his childhood friend of more than 25 years, stuntman Newt Wimer.

Wimer, 37, raced to the scene of the Santa Clarita, Calif. on Nov. 30 and desperately tried to put out the fire that engulfed the Porsche Carrera GT containing Walker and Roger Rodas.

According to the Daily Mail, Wimer burned his arms during the rescue attempt and was eventually detained by police at the scene for his own protection.

"Newt is absolutely devastated by what has happened. He is a brave man and he did everything he could that day," a friend of Wimer's told the site.

"He would have carried on if he hadn’t been restrained. In fact it’s lucky he was or he could have died too. But despite that, he will be in pieces, just wishing he could have saved them both."

As Breaking Celebrity News previously reported, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner formally identified the bodies of the crash and established that Walker died of “combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries,” while Rodas died of “multiple traumatic injuries" -- making it unlikely that Wimer had a chance to save either of them, despite his heroic effort.

Breaking Celebrity News has learned that Wimer and Walker attended hig