Motorists saved burning trucker
Driver in critical condition after fiery crash on I-75 in Dayton.
As a semi truck burned out of control on Interstate 75 Thursday, a group of motorists came to the aid of the driver as he fought to extinguish his burning clothes, dragging him from what could have been fiery death on the highway.
The harrowing story is told by Titus Brewer, 55 ,and his wife T wana, 54, both of D ayton. T he couple were driving their
daughter T iffany to her job in Springboro when they drove up the Edwin C.M oses entrance ramp to I-75 south.
Just as the three were at the top of the ramp,they saw the flames from the truck.
T itus shouted out, “Stop! Stop,” to his wife, who was driving.“Fire!” as the truck came into view on the other side of the highway.
T itus said he jumped from the vehicle and made his way over a concrete highway barrier to the other side.O ther motorists were stopping to see if they could render assistance,too,he said.
A t that moment,the semi driver could be seen desperately trying to escape.It’s unclear from witnesses whether he left via the door or pushed his way out of the broken front windshield.
D aughter T iffany tried to direct traffic,avoiding passing cars and they drove past the scene.
“It was a chaotic scene and people swarming in to help him,” T wana said.
T itus said he kept moving forward and got as close as he could — perhaps eight feet — from the burning rig,trying to assess the danger and see what happened to the driver.
T he semi driver had gotten out at this point and dropped to a spot next to the front tire.
H is clothes were on fire. A stream of flaming diesel liquid began snaking down the highway.T itus could feel the intense heat from the flames.T here were explosions.
T ires were blowing out from the flames and heat. T itus couldn’t get closer without being burned by the intense heat.
“R oll! R oll! R oll!,” T itus said he and other motorists-turned-rescuers yelled at the driver.T he driver rolled on the highway,extinguishing most of the fire except his pant legs.
T itus said he and other men — who have not yet been identified — jumped in and then dragged the man away from the truck, his pants smoking.
“I didn’t think about me,” T itus said.“I was seeing a father,somebody’s uncle,somebody who needed help.H e needed to get out of there.”
H is wife T wana brought over a blanket and bottles of drinking water to help extinguish the flames.
With the help of a law enforcement officer who arrived,the group poured the water on the driver to help extinguish the flames.T he driver looked badly burned on the legs and on his mid-section,T itus said.
T wana recorded the scene on her cellphone, the driver in the foreground,barely able to speak,the truck burning out of control before fire personnel arrived.
T itus,a former janitor, considers the driver lucky. T wana,who works for the YM CA in downtown D ayton as an administrative assistant,is still somewhat in shock by the ordeal.
B oth deny they are heroes.
“It was a team effort,” said T itus.“People working together to help.”
T he three left before talking to emergency responders and drove their daughter to work.A s quickly as the rescuers jumped into action,they departed and went their separate ways,T itus said.
When he looked up, “the guys that helped me pull him out,they were all gone,” T itus said.
A s near as can be determined,the accident involved the semitrailer and a sedan,shutting down I75North about 4½ hours. It remains under investigation by the M oraine Police D epartment.
T he driver of the semitrailer was identified by M oraine police as 45-yearold H erbert B rown from M cK eesport,Pa.H e was reported in critical condition at M iami Valley H ospital.
T he driver of the Subaru sedan,a 34-year-old woman from Loveland,O hio, was treated and released.
M oraine police Sgt.Jon Spencer arrived just after B rown was pulled to the side of the highway. H e said the deputy who helped save B rown was B utler County D eputy Jody G reen,who was on his way to the M ontgomery County Jail with a prisoner.
“When I got there,they pulled him off to left side of highway and the truck was fully engulfed and it was an active rescue,” Spencer said.“H e was badly injured and they had to put a blanket over him.If he had been stuck in that truck,it would not have turned out as it did.”