SAN DIEGO — A man says instinct took over when he saw someone unconscious inside a burning car on Interstate 15 Thursday.

Sean Dolan said he was on his way to his Aero Drive work site when he saw a car stopped in a lane of I-15 northbound just before 5:30 a.m. The driver looked to be unconscious, Dolan said.

“People were swerving around her. We stopped, I had my buddy call 911 and I tried to slow down traffic. That’s when the impact occurred,” Dolan said.

Dispatch records show the car was hit by another vehicle, causing a fire on the interstate near Friars Road. Dolan said he ran over to the burning vehicle and saw a man unconscious inside.

“I didn’t see the actual initial impact but when I turned around I saw a big ball of fire,” Dolan said. “I came around the side of the car, another gentlemen came up and helped me get him out of the seatbelt, pull him out of the car before it was almost engulfed.”

FOX 5 footage from the crash site showed one car with back end damage and a second vehicle mangled and scorched by flames. The window frame was bent where Dolan and the other witness pried it open. They pulled the man out through the window less than a minute before the car went up in flames, Dolan said.

“At that point it was a little hairy, the sounds the car was making from the fire. I believe it was the fuel dumping out. Shortly after that, the whole thing was engulfed,” Dolan said. “I believe the gentleman and I probably saved his life because no one else was approaching.”

FOX 5 is working to learn the extent of injuries resulting from the crash and how many cars were involved. Dolan said he hopes others would jump into action if they came up on a similar scene.

“It was just instinctive for me. I would like to think it’d be instinctive for anybody,” he said.