OAKLAND, CA : Driver extricated from burning crashed van after Oakland police officers stop it from rolling, extinguish fire on Thursday, 17th September, 2020

Two Oakland police officers stopped a burning van that had just collided with a city vehicle near the Coliseum from rolling down an embankment Thursday morning and then extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived on scene to extricate the driver from the vehicle, authorities said.

Police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said the officers could hear the trapped driver yelling “Help me, I’m on fire.”

The van driver, a 35-year-old Antioch man, was in critical condition at a hospital.

The collision happened at about 7:45 a.m. Thursday in an incline part of the northbound lanes of the 500 block of Hegenberger Road.


Police said a 2007 GMC Xfinity van collided with the rear of a City of Oakland flatbed truck, caught fire and then started rolling about 200 feet back southbound on Hegenberger Road toward the Hegenberger offramp from Interstate 880. The truck driver, a 60-year-old Oakland man, was not injured.

Watson said the two Oakland officers were the first to arrive on the scene and were able to physically stop the burning van from rolling down an embankment, then got a fire extinguisher from their vehicle and put out the fire.

Firefighters were able to extricate the driver at about 8:15 a.m. and he was taken to a hospital.

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