Bruce Highway crash hero pulled men from truck moments before firey death

Incredible details about how a Gold Coast first responder saved two men from certain death and helped many others at the scene of an explosive truck and army tank crash near Rockhampton can be revealed. NEW PHOTOS.

The cabin came off of the yellow B-double truck in the Bruce Highway crash south of Rockhampton on July 19, 2023.

Heart stopping new details of how two men with suspected spinal injuries were saved from certain death in Wednesday’s apocalyptic Bruce Highway smash can be revealed.

The first responder at the scene of the horrific crash 24km south of Rockhampton where multiple cars and trucks – one carrying an army tank – were blackened and crushed, was a 53-year-old Gold Coast man with a background in marine rescue.

Speaking exclusively to this publication, the man, who did not wish to be named, recalled pulling two stricken men (among six injured) from their overturned B-double truck’s cabin moments before it was engulfed by a massive fireball.

“I was driving a truck south and I can’t say exactly what happened because it all unfolded so fast,” the Gold Coast man said

“What I believe has happened, is that a truck in front of me, heading south, and a truck heading north, actually clipped each other so that they all then spiralled into each other right in front of me.”

One of the trucks he believed had been clipped was carrying the US Abram army tank which was travelling with a wide load escort and due to take part in Talisman Sabre -the largest Australia-US bilateral training exercise which is taking place in Central Queensland.

“I hit the brakes, so I wasn’t involved in the collision but the car in front of me collided with a B-double.

“I grabbed my mobile phone to call Triple Zero.

“The fire had just started – the rig that was carrying the army tank started the fire.

The scene of the Bruce Highway smash, south of Rockhampton, on July 19, 2023.

“So I grabbed the fire extinguisher out of my truck, ran over to put it out and within like four seconds it exploded into a major fire.

“I had started to put out the initial fire but … within four seconds it had gone from a fire that I could have put out, to a roaring fire that was uncontainable.”

The man said he then started to usher people away from the flames, effectively triaging those involved until emergency services arrived.

“I got the young lady with her daughter to head to the back of my truck, away from her car.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two guys trying to get out of an overturned (truck) cabin in the centre of the fire.

“The cabin had actually come off the chassis frame and rolled over onto the ground and was upside down.

“And I kicked their window and pulled them out – one of which was the guy with back injuries and concussion that went to hospital.

“I got them away from the danger point and then went back to search the other vehicles and make sure everyone else was out because I knew that there was more involved on the other side that I couldn’t see.”

The responder said he ran around to the back of the B-double where he could see the army tank.

The cabin came off of the yellow B-double truck in the Bruce Highway crash south of Rockhampton on July 19, 2023.

“And I could see the caravan on the trailer, so I knew there were more cars involved.

“I’m then screaming to the people down the back: ‘I need to know where the drivers are for these vehicles – I need to know that everyone is out’.

“Because I knew a crash of that scene, there has to be someone stuck in a car somewhere.

“So I’m then going through, identifying where the drivers are, identifying that there’s no-one left inside as it’s starting to explode around me.

“I’d walked from one end of the crash scene to the other three times.

“I’d gotten to the point where everyone could identify their car and that everyone in their vehicle was out – so I was then of the belief that ‘wow, the only person that’s hurt are the two truck drivers that I’ve got out already.”

The responder said it “felt like it was only around six minutes at the most” after he pulled the two men from the overturned cabin that it went up in flames.

A truck on fire at the crash scene on the Bruce Highway, south of Rockhampton, on July 19, 2023.

“The fire went from the cabin of the truck on the side of the road, well off the road, and burnt across the diesel on the ground to engulf the (cabin from which the two men were pulled).

“So it then started (to burn) and that’s when the explosions then started.

“And honestly, it all happened a lot faster than what you can physically think about it.

“I went back to the two (rescued) men to follow up on them (until paramedics arrived).”

The first responder knew he had to help the two men get out “before the fire engulfed everything” because if they didn’t get out “they were gone.”

When asked how hard it was to help the men get out, he became emotional and said “somewhere you just find the strength, you just do it, (from) somewhere it just comes”.

A truck on fire at the crash scene on the Bruce Highway, south of Rockhampton, on July 19, 2023.

“My thought was that, somewhere along the line, it’s such a serious accident, I’m going to find someone that is either dead or seriously injured that needs my immediate assistance.

“Yeah … you just don’t think of that side of it – you just know you have to help because you’re the only one there that’s capable of doing it, so you just go and do it.”

While he had more than a decade of experience in volunteer marine rescue, including upwards of 150 rescue missions – six or seven of which involved saving lives – he had never responded to a road crash before.

The Bruce Highway crash scene, south of Rockhampton, on July 19, 2023.

Pressed about being named and photographed for this story because he was a hero and so that the families of the rescued could see who he was, the responder said:

“I’m still going to say no.

“I’m going to stand firm and say I don’t want my name published.

“If the families want to get in contact with me, I have no problems with you passing my details on.

“I firmly believe that I’m not a hero, only because … (emotional pause) … I just happened to be the one there that could react, that was capable of reacting, in the right spot at the right time, for whatever reason that was.

“If anyone else was in the same position as me, then human nature should have kicked in and they’d have done the same as me, so I don’t see that I’m a hero there.

“The heroes are the ambulance officers, the police officers, the fire brigade people, the ones who actually responded knowing what they’re responding to.

“Having been in that situation before, you know, they know full well what they’re heading to – and whatever point that unknowingness is – they’re the real heroes.

“And look, I agree those two guys who got out of the truck – they wouldn’t be here today had I not been there, I completely agree with that, it’s just that I happened to be the lucky one that was standing there.

Without a first aid certificate, the man would not have been able to be so valuable to those who needed help.

“I’ve had that for a number of years – and I do think that we never know when we’re going to need that, so I think everybody who drives a car should have a first aid certificate because they never know when they’re going to be in this situation.”

Six people were taken to hospital, three with suspected spinal injuries, after Wednesday’s crash which occurred at 11.25am near Bajool.

Originally published as Bruce Highway crash hero pulled men from truck moments before firey death