A Chilliwack resident is being credited for pulling a man to safety after the commercial truck he was driving was hit by a train on Tuesday morning, Aug. 26.
Cody Vernon was working on the highway widening project along Lougheed Highway, about 180 metres down the road, when he heard the loud bang.
Almost immediately his operator called him to tell him a truck had been hit by a train.
Vernon dropped everything he was doing and ran to the scene.
He said he was only the third person to arrive. There were two others, but one person was throwing up and the other was yelling for everyone to stay away from the fire.
Others started gathering across the street, said Vernon, with everyone yelling to stay away from the truck, that it's going to blow up.
But Vernon took a look and could see a body lying in a fetal position about one foot from the burning vehicle.
At first, Vernon said, he wasn't moving, and he thought he was dead.
"Then I could see him moving and I'm like okay, well, we can't just leave him there. I could see his skin starting to change colours," he said.
"I'm not letting this guy die in front of me," Vernon said to himself.
Initially, he screamed at the man, asking him if he could move, to crawl away from the fire, but the man didn't respond.
So, Vernon took action.
Because of the fire, he was forced to cross the train tracks onto the north side to get to the man. But, he said, there were lots of bushes and a chain link fence.
Vernon was unable to get through the fence the first time, so he came out of the bushes and yelled for a tool of some sort to cut through the metal.
Two other people ran in to help him, and they managed to tear down the fence using their hands.
When they reached the unconscious man, Vernon, the two men who helped him with the fence, and his coworker, Doug Gill, picked him up and started to carry him to safety.
But, when they got the man about five feet away from the truck, the other three men let him go thinking he was far enough from danger.
Vernon, though, wanted to make sure the man was safe. So he screamed at the men to come back and help him and then they carried him back through the opening in the fence and through the bushes, back to the road.
First responders including Maple Ridge Fire and Rescue and BC Emergency Health Services showed up soon after and took over tending to the man's injuries.
The man was transported by air ambulance to hospital in critical condition, said BCEHS spokesperson Bowen Osoko.
It was only then that Vernon took a moment to himself to process everything that just happened.
Vernon said the crossing has no lights and no warning system that a train is coming.
He has since been in contact with the man's family.
Vernon noted he would do the same thing again in a heartbeat, if he had to.
"I would want somebody to do the same for me," he said.
Kristine Arnold, a close friend of the truck driver's wife, said the husband and father of a two-year-old girl was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital following the crash where he has undergone three surgeries, so far.
He also has second-degree burns to his body, and as of Thursday, Aug. 28, he was still in the intensive care unit.
Arnold started a fundraising campaign for the family, since it is unknown, at this point, when he will be able to return to work, or if he will ever be able to, as the sole supporter of his wife and child.
She is trying to raise $12,000 for the family to cover everyday essentials for his wife and daughter like food and housing, to help with transportation costs especially to and from the hospital, to support future medical and rehabilitation expenses, and to make sure his wife can remain by his side while caring for their daughter without the stress of financial insecurity.
As of 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29, $6,349 had been raised.
To donate go to: and search "Maple Ridge Train Accident."
