STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Scott Buchanan said it was around 7:30 p.m. Friday when he was heading to East Stroudsburg to pick up a Door Dash order.
“I was going down 80 and I got on at the Bartonsville exit, made it down towards exit 305 and I look over and the truck was already on its side wheels,” said Buchanan.
He said the tractor trailer overturned and slid about 300 feet right in front of him. It was loaded with air conditioners.
“As soon as I stopped, I jumped out, ran to the truck and there was a fire right around the fuel tank and the back of the cab was starting to burn too,” said Buchanan.
He said the windshield of the truck was loose.
“I grabbed the windshield and pulled it off. And the guy was moving around and I’m like ‘Are you okay?” and he’s like “Yeah,” said Buchanan.
Buchanan said he grabbed the driver’s arms and pulled him out.
“About that time another guy came down the highway in a white truck and he came running over and I don’t know if it’s him or someone else ‘It’s going to blow’,” said Buchanan.
Buchanan said after he rescued the driver up here on I-80, it was only a matter of minutes before the truck was fully engulfed in flames.
What he said was running through his mind:
“My first thought was I don’t want to get crushed and then my second thought is this guy’s got to get out of there because he’s going to burn to death, so it’s, I had to go help him,” said Buchanan.
The driver was then flown to a burn center.
State Senator Rosemary Brown thanked Buchanan for is heroism in a Facebook post.
“It’s kind of exciting, you know I would hope that anyone would do that for me if I was in that situation, so I don’t really consider myself a hero. It’s just part of being human,” said Buchanan.
Read More: Truck driver rescued from burning rig on I-80 | Poconos and Coal Region