DALLAS -
A passing motorist pulled a truck driver from his burning cab after the 18-wheeler went off a freeway ramp and smashed into a wall.
The accident happened just before 4:30 a.m. on the ramp from southbound I-35E to eastbound I-30.
Traffic through the area, known as the Mixmaster, is heavy in all directions of I-35E and I-30. CLICK HERE TO SEE UPDATES AND ALTERNATE ROUTES FROM CHIP WAGGONER'S TWITTER FEED.
For some reason, perhaps because of the rain-soaked streets, the driver of the flatbed 18-wheeler lost control and ran over about 150 feet of guardrail separating the onramp from the main lanes of I-30.
His cab smashed into a retaining wall and burst into flames, but motorist Terry Sims said she stopped to help right away.
"He came down the ramp and I came around, and then I saw a flame from underneath the trailer, so I pulled him out of the truck," she said.
"The door wouldn't open, so we had to pull him through the window," she said.
The truck driver sat dazed on the side of the road as his truck cab burned. He did not appear to be seriously injured.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames before the fuel tanks blew, but the road headaches are just beginning.
Northbound and southbound traffic on I-35E is heavy, and motorists who want to go east on I-30 are being diverted at Colorado Boulevard.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office managed to get the burned-out truck removed by 6:45 a.m., but traffic continued to be heavy.
Stay tuned to FOX 4 News and myfoxdfw.com for further information as it develops.
Firefighters battled and 18-wheeler fire at 4:30 a.m.
The truck's driver, in red, sat dazed on the side of the road.
Good Samaritan Terry Sims pulled the driver through the window.
