Truckie and volunteer firefighter Gary Jones is being hailed a hero after he pulled an 80-year-old man from his burning car on the M1 at Pimpama on the Gold Coast.
It’s reported that the driver of the car had been frozen by fear and didn’t respond to calls to exit the vehicle.
Though numerous vehicles had driven past, Jones immediately stopped when he saw the car was alight.
9News reports that Jones called for the elderly man to get out of the car, but he remained motionless, while surrounded by flames.
Jones went to the driver’s side of the car and pulled the man to safety. The victim was taken to hospital and treated for shock.
Details of what caused the fire are currently being investigated.
Though Jones has been widely praised for his heroic actions, he maintained that he was “just an average citizen”.
“When he was sitting in the car there were flames both sides of him, the upholstery went up quick, bang,” Jones told 9News.
“Opened the door, pulled him out, he nearly got run over then.
“An 80-year-old is not agile, that’s for sure.”
Speaking to the Today show this morning, Jones said, “When the car was travelling, the flames were behind it. When he stopped, the flames rose straight up. It was gone – in three minutes, it was gone.
“I can’t believe there’s not a mark on him. We were overcome with the fumes from the burning rubber, knocked me and the young fella in the car.
“But there’s no burn marks on him. Nothing. He was sitting in the car. The flames were level with his shoulder in the car.”