Miracle on I-80: A fiery crash and explosions, but only minor injuries

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (FOX 10) -- It was just after 4:00 a.m. when Jon Westerman and Anthony Valdez were traveling along eastbound Interstate 80 under the Riverside Boulevard overpass when the collision happened.

"Oh my God, there he goes.. oh.. damn, dude."

The pickup driver apparently didn't see the disabled car in its path because of the thick smoke spewing from the fire.

"That guy just came barreling through there, hit that car, launched into the air, flipped over onto its roof. Went sliding. And that's when we put the car in drive, took off over there to that guy. We knew, we knew he was in bad shape, you know," said Westerman.

"Oh my God. Heavenly Father I pray right now to God, that you will just everybody safe in that car made it."

Westerman said two bystanders got to the pickup driver first.

"We started trying to open his door, his door was jammed. They couldn't get it open. He had gasoline pouring out of the tank. It was an older truck.. oh my God.. 70s Chevy pick up... and the gas was just dumping."

"They got him free and they were pulling him out of the windshield," he said.

California Highway Patrol says a woman stopped in her car to help the driver of the vehicle that was on fire when she was struck by another car, which then became stuck in the far right lane. The pickup driver then hit that car.

CHP says fortunately, the pickup driver only suffered minor injuries.

Westerman says he's seen a lot in the past five years, working for a private traffic management company. Still, this crash was overwhelming.

"It's just shocking, like, I was, I was... we were all completely shut that. Just... I have to call my wife. I was bawling my eyes out to my wife. Like it was completely overwhelmed to the senses," he said.

FOX 10 reported on this story from Phoenix, Arizona. FOXNews.com contributed to this report.

Read more about this story on FOX40.com.