3 called heroes after fiery rescue
Published: March 23, 2007
The flames licked the car threatening a full-on inferno, but that didn’t stop three strangers from rescuing the trapped motorist.
Two men and a 17-year-old boy were called heroes Friday after California Highway Patrol officers said they pulled a 31-year-old San Clemente man from a burning vehicle.
Timothy Nelligan’s Oldsmobile burst into flames after it was struck by a vehicle that police said caused a five-vehicle, chain-reaction pileup on the northbound San Diego (I-5) Freeway, south of Crown Valley Parkway.
“I didn’t just want to stand there and just watch him die,” said Manuel Fuentes, a tanker-truck driver from Pico Rivera.
Fuentes, Joshua Radwan of Laguna Hills and Sean Hooper of Mission Viejo said they were all compelled to help a man they didn’t know. Fuentes bashed his fire extinguisher into the window and slashed the seatbelt trapping Nelligan before all pulled him out seconds before the blaze engulfed the vehicle.
“They saved this person’s life,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Stephen Miller said. “There’s no doubt about it. That person would’ve died.”
The crash began at 12:45 p.m. after Tracy Bowes, 31, of Long Beach drove his Hyundai into the Oldsmobile, which was stopped in traffic. The Oldsmobile then hit an Audi in the left lane. The Hyundai eventually skidded on its side and hit Hooper’s Jeep and a second car.
Radwan and Fuentes decided to help after they saw the crash and smoke ahead of them. “It was scary. I didn’t want to see someone burn in front of my face,” Radwan said. “I figured it was a matter of time before it exploded.”
Hooper, a 17-year-old lifeguard at Lake Mission Viejo, said his training helped and – combined with his instincts – enabled him to respond quickly.
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