An off-duty Seattle firefighter driving south on Interstate 5 Tuesday morning stopped and pulled a man from a flaming pickup truck, possibly saving his life, said Chief Ken Cardinale of the Chehalis Fire Department.
“There was a hero on the scene,” he said. “He was just on his way to work and came upon the accident and the most serious injury was in the pickup truck, and the pickup truck was on fire. He pulled him out of the truck and started administering first aid.”
The injured man, identified by the state patrol as James P. Holmes, 54, of Centralia, was driving a 1998 Dodge pickup truck which struck the freeway’s jersey barrier, was hit by two semi-trucks and rolled before catching fire. He had a serious head injury and was later airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Cardinale said.
“He remained on scene to help the paramedics,” he said. “He was a great help to everybody.”