Propane bottles on a camper went up on Interstate 30 at Texarkana, and Mitchell Royal crossed two highways on foot to pull the driver out of her burning pickup about thirty seconds before the cab was gone.

A 25-year-old Texarkana man pulled a woman out of a burning pickup on Interstate 30 on Wednesday afternoon, about thirty seconds before the cab of her truck was fully alight, Texarkana Today reported on Thursday.

The woman had been driving a four-door Ford F-150 towing a camper trailer when she rear-ended a semi on the interstate, and the impact set off the propane bottles mounted on the gooseneck of the trailer, sending up a fireball that took hold of the truck and the camper within seconds, according to witnesses quoted by the paper.

From St. Michael Drive

Mitchell Royal was travelling on St. Michael Drive near the hospital with his girlfriend, Asia, when he saw the explosion on the interstate above them.

I saw the explosion happen immediately. I knew it was fresh. I said, Asia, pull over.Mitchell Royal, to Texarkana Today

He crossed two highways on foot, waited for a break in the traffic and jumped the concrete barrier to reach the truck, and by the time he got to it the cab was crushed and fire was already coming through the back glass.

The rear door

The passenger door would not open, and while he was working at it he could hear the driver, an older woman, calling for help from inside. He forced the rear passenger door instead, and when it came open he found five or six dogs in the back of the cab.

Royal said he crawled through the broken glass and the flames to get the dogs out, and that all of them let him except one, a service dog that had positioned itself between him and the woman and would not move.

All of them were nice except one. There was a service dog and he was just trying to do his job.Mitchell Royal, to Texarkana Today

The seat lever

Once the dog was clear, Royal reached in over the back of the driver's seat, pushed the seat lever and forced the seat down so that he could get to the woman, and he told the paper there was a point in the middle of it when he did not think either of them was getting out.

There was a moment when I thought we were both gonna die. The flames just kept on rushing in and I had to duck my head underneath the flame and pull her out underneath this wall of flame. I was like, ma'am, if you do not work with me right now, we will both die in this vehicle.Mitchell Royal, to Texarkana Today

He pulled her out through the rear door and dragged her clear of the truck, and he reckons it was roughly thirty seconds later that the whole cab went up.

Afterwards

The woman had what appeared to be a fractured leg and a number of puncture wounds, probably from the glass, and the top of her hair had been burned off in the first blast. She was taken to CHRISTUS St. Michael. Royal believes four or five of the dogs got out of the truck with her, and two small ones did not.

I tried my best, man.Mitchell Royal, to Texarkana Today

Royal was quick to hand the credit around when the paper spoke to him, naming the trucker who witnessed the crash and later gave his dash cam footage to the paper, and another man in a brown shirt and a black hat who worked alongside him at the truck and whom Royal said he would call the hero as well.