Shawn Hubbard (left) receives Highway Angel award from Josh Goldman, Ruan Transport terminal manager in Rialto, Calif.

Shawn Hubbard, a professional truck driver for Ruan Transport Corp. of Des Moines, Iowa, has been named a Truckload Carriers Association Highway Angel for saving the life of a young man who was trapped inside a burning car.

And Andrew Burkhart, a driver for FFE Transportation Services of Lancaster, Texas, has been named a TCA Highway Angel for helping two children who lost most of their family in a horrific accident.

In the early morning of Nov. 13, Hubbard was driving on I-60 in California when he saw flames from a car on fire. The car appeared to have smashed into several steel poles and had come to rest in a ditch against a 40-foot high embankment.

“As I stopped my truck and got out, I expected to see people standing around watching the fire, but there was no one. And then I saw two heads inside the car and realized lives were at stake,” said Hubbard.

Hubbard emptied his fire extinguisher, as well as a second extinguisher that was tossed down to him by an employee at a hotel above on the embankment. The extinguishers slowed the flames, but didn’t put them out. With the fire intensifying, he saw the driver was motionless and was probably dead. However, the passenger was still alive, pinned in by the crushed car and unable to unbuckle his seatbelt.

With adrenaline kicking in, Hubbard was able to pull a fence and collapsed roof off the car to allow the passenger to escape.

“I don’t care how badly you’re hurt, you have to crawl out of here… go… go!” Hubbard screamed at him. “If you don’t move, you’re going to burn to death!” Within seconds, Hubbard was pushing the more than 300-pound man up the hill to safety as flames engulfed the car.