CHP sergeant, truck driver rescue man from vehicle fire in Santa Rosa

A man who was hoisted 35 feet in the air on a truck boom narrowly escaped injury during a commercial truck fire Thursday morning in Santa Rosa.

The worker’s truck was parked on Airport Boulevard near a traffic light, and the man was working in the bucket high above when the fire broke out in the engine compartment shortly after 9 a.m., the CHP said in a Facebook post. The man tried to lower himself, but found the controls to lower the bucket were malfunctioning.

A CHP sergeant in the area noticed the smoke and responded. After quickly realizing the man was stuck, he turned to oncoming traffic and flagged down a tractor-trailer nearby.

At the sergeant’s direction, the driver pulled up next to the burning truck and underneath the boom. The stranded man was able to jump down onto the top of the tractor-trailer, which then drove a short distance away from the flames.

Sonoma County Fire District arrived and began to aggressively attack the fire. During the firefight, CHP said, the boom and bucket where the man had been fell to the ground.

Both agencies heralded those who stepped in quickly to save the man.

“This would have had a much different outcome,” the Sonoma County Fire District said in the Facebook post. “What an awesome deed done today!”

You can reach Staff Writer Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ka_tornay.