SOUTH HARRISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — An off-duty New Jersey firefighter saved a man from a fiery collision between a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer today.
According to New Jersey Online, Firefighter Rob Bowen, 24, was outside his aunt’s home when he heard a loud bang. When he investigated he found a pickup truck that had smashed into a tractor-trailer, which had ignited into flames after also crashing into a tree.
“I went to the front of the semi and looked through the windshield…I couldn’t see anyone in there. Then the fuel tank really released,” Firefighter Bowen told New Jersey Online.
He ran to the white pickup truck but was only able to open the driver’s door a couple of inches. The driver was “unconscious, his head was tilted down and he was gurgling,” he told New Jersey Online.
Firefighter Bowen dragged the driver from the pickup truck a safe distance from the wreckage and tended to his wounds.
“I just dragged him, about 15 yards, until I stopped feeling the heat,” he added.
The driver was later taken to the hospital and released.
The report said Firefighter Bowen attempted to go back for the other driver but “by that time the flames were really going,” and he couldn’t get close.
The person driving the tractor-trailer died in the accident. Authorities are using DNA tests to identify that driver.