UPDATED: Trucker remains in serious condition

An Anderson truck driver whose clothes and cab caught on fire after a collision on Interstate 5 Thursday afternoon remains in critical condition, said a nursing supervisor at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Two California Highway Patrol officers and a passing motorist are being called heroes for rescuing the man.

CHP officers Jason Smith and Rod Richards, along with 55-year-old Perry Nitz of British Columbia, pulled James McDonald, 39, out of his burning truck cab seconds before the tractor exploded in flames, Lt. Jeff Lee, the Mount Shasta CHP commander, said in a news release.

"If it were not for the unselfish acts of heroism and split-second decisions by both CHP officers and our concerned citizen, Mr. McDonald would certainly have perished in this accident," Lee said.

McDonald, who suffered third-degree burns to more than 35 percent of his body, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and released to the care of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Lee said. McDonald was first taken to Mercy Medical Center in Mount Shasta, but was flown to the Sacramento hospital because of his severe burns.

The two CHP officers and Nitz, a truck driver who had been driving south on I-5, were taken to the Mount Shasta hospital and treated for severe smoke inhalation before being released. Smith also was treated for minor burns to his hands, Lee said.

The rescue unfolded after the big rig driven by McDonald rear-ended another big rig at 2:27 p.m. on northbound I-5 north of Mott Road in Siskiyou County, Lee said.

The impact ruptured the fuel lines in McDonald's Peterbilt tractor, causing it to erupt in flames.

McDonald was trapped behind the wheel in the burning tractor when officers Smith and Richards arrived along with other CHP officers.

"I thought the semi was going to blow," said CHP Sgt. Annie Garcia, who arrived on the scene as the two officers and Nitz were struggling to get the cab door open.

"We were trying to scramble and get people away from it," she said.

Officers were spraying fire extinguishers as the rescue was taking place, Garcia said.

"Both CHP officers and a passing motorist all put themselves in immediate peril while working feverishly to extricate the driver from the vehicle as flames had begun to engulf the interior of the cab," Lee said in the statement.

With one of McDonald's legs on fire, the three got the driver's door open and pulled him away before flames engulfed the tractor, Lee said.

The cause of the collision is still under investigation, Lee said.

The driver of the other truck, a man from Tulare, was not injured.

Assistant City Editor Mike Chapman can be reached at 225-8214 or at mchapman@redding.com.