The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named Scott Derrick a Highway Angel after the ABF Freight driver rescued a man from a burning vehicle in California.

The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 8, 2025, on I-15 near Oak Hills, when Derrick — who’s been driving a truck for 30 years — was on the road and came upon a collision involving a Honda passenger vehicle and a UPS truck. The car was engulfed in flames.

“I feel like God told me, ‘It’s time for you to go to work,” Derrick said in a news release.

Without hesitation, he stopped his truck, grabbed a fire extinguisher and moved toward the vehicle. The driver of the UPS truck was pulling people out of the back of the burning car, but there was one man still stuck inside.

“The flames were hitting him in the face. I got out with the fire extinguisher and thought, ‘I’m old, I’ve lived my life,'” he said. “Everybody just gave up. I thought, I’m not letting this guy burn.”

Derrick was able to suppress the flames long enough to reach the injured man and pull him to safety.

“I hugged him and I said, ‘Dude, you’re hurt, but you’re alive,'” he recalled. “I just thought, he’s not gonna die while I’m here tonight.”

TCA said that Derrick’s courage and decisive response in a dangerous, fast-moving situation likely prevented further injury or death.