A UPS driver sprang into action after a woman’s vehicle burst into flames on Friday on the 60 Freeway in Mira Loma, California.
NBC Los Angeles reported that the driver of a Lexus CT200 slammed into the back of a stalled pickup on Riverside County freeway. The collision caused the vehicles to burst into flames.
Moments before the collision, UPS driver Lawrence Sanchez, who was driving behind the Lexus, came upon the stalled pickup. Sanchez was watched as the Lexus collided with the disabled pickup.
UPS driver Lawrence Sanchez slowed his truck as he approached the stalled pickup. Moments later, the black Lexus collided with the pickup.
The Lexus struck the pickup, bounced off, then went into a wall.
“As soon as I started to slow down, the little Lexus rear-ended the truck and it caught on fire,” Sanchez told NBC Los Angeles.
Sanchez used his truck to block oncoming traffic from hitting the disabled vehicles.
Sanchez approached the vehicles and realized a woman was trapped inside the blazing pickup truck.
“As the flames got bigger, I got my fire extinguisher from my truck,” Sanchez recalled. “Some other good Samaritans had tried to pull the door, but they could not get it open. There’s only so much you can do when it’s that hot.”
Sanchez used the extinguisher to quell the flames enough to allow the woman to escape.
“When she got out, her whole head was on fire, so I sprayed the fire extinguisher at her face to put out the flames,” Sanchez said. “My fire extinguisher wasn’t very big, so I did the best I could.”
Sanchez told NBC Los Angeles that the scene was the most “horrific thing” he’s seen in his 30 years of driving.
The woman was taken by helicopter to the hospital. Here injuries have been described as “major.” The Lexus driver and the pickup’s passenger suffered moderate injuries.