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Disneyland Can Wait: Tourist Dad Saves Truck Driver From Fiery Crash
Bob Michels was on his way to Disneyland with his family but when he saw a fiery truck crash, he stopped to help.
The accident occurred shortly before 7:30 a.m. right off the 101 Freeway south of Rose Avenue in Oxnard, according to ABC 7.
The family had been driving behind the truck when it veered off the road, rolled down an embankment and burst into flames, igniting several cars in a Carmax lot.
Michels told CBS 2, "I knew I had to stop and do something."
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Michels jumped over a guardrail and a fence to rescue the driver. Since the truck was which was carrying a load of Bounty paper towels, that made it that much more flammable.
"I saw him leaning in the driver's side and trying to get her to come out and as he was doing that, I could see the flames starting to come up in the back of the cab. That's when I started screaming and freaking out," his wife Aimee Michels told CBS 2.
She shot a video on her cell phone that the huge fireball that engulfed the truck.
Firefighters arrived and were able to extinguish the fire. The truck driver was taken to Ventura County Medical Center. According to Yahoo, she had "non-life-threatening" injuries.
CarMax employees were on site when the incident took place but the dealership was not yet open at the time of the accident, ABC reports.
It's not known what caused the driver to lose control of the truck, but a high wind warning was in effect for the area.
News of Michel's heroism followed the family to Disneyland. When he got to the theme park, he was named Honorary Citizen For the Day, CBS reports.
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PHOTO: Semi careens off Calif. freeway, crashes into dealership, bursts in flames: http://t.co/Qh6t0iEeh4 pic.twitter.com/JJdzwyBNJt
— Micah Grimes (@MicahGrimes) October 5, 2013
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