"You could smell the smoke (and knew) that it was wires burning and my thought was it is either going to blow up or keep burning. There was also a risk someone else was going to smack up the rear of her car."
Mr Paul pulled her from the car and carried her across the road and put her into the back of someone else's car.
The woman started to wake and a member of the public, a former nurse, stopped and checked her over until St John Ambulance paramedics arrived.
She was taken to Rotorua Hospital in a moderate condition.
Mr Paul, who owns Tesha's with his partner, said he had his cup of tea in one hand and his cigarette in his mouth when the crashed happened right in front of him while he was talking to Mr Gibbs.
"I ran over still holding my cup of tea, put it down, pulled her out and took her across the road, still with the smoke in my mouth. I then went back and got my cup of tea."
Mr Gibbs said they were both unsure whether it was right to move the woman, who he estimated was in her mid 20s, but decided it was safer to get her out.
"The adrenalin started pumping straight away ... There was quite a bit of liquid leaking out underneath so we didn't want to take any chances."
Mr Gibbs called 111 while Mr Paul took the woman out of the car. He then helped slow traffic down until police arrived.