FedEx driver with Miami Valley roots rescues driver from burning car on California highway

A FedEx driver in California who has roots and family in the Miami Valley, was caught on camera recently pulling a man from his burning car.

>> Teenager is OK after being injured in accident at Clark County Fair

Now that FedEx driver, Jonathan Rohrbach, who grew up in Preble County and now lives about an hour north of San Diego, is being hailed as a hero for fulfilling his role as a good Samaritan.

“I guess I downplay it. I don’t see myself as a hero,” he told News Center 7 Anchor-Reporter Gabrielle Enright in an interview Friday afternoon. " I just saw somebody that needed help and stopped,”

Rohrbach, who also lists Montgomery and Butler counties as places where he has lived (his parents still live in Montgomery County), said he’s uncomfortable with being called a hero.

Instinct prompted him to pull over, he said, because he grew up in a small town and checking on people is what you are supposed to do.

He saw no one else on the highway when he came upon the burning vehicle and grabbed the on-board fire extinguisher from his semitrailer.

When his attempts to put out the flames didn’t work, Rohrbach said he grabbed the driver -- who had suffered a leg injury -- and dragged him to safety.

It all happened so quickly he didn’t have time to plan his actions, he said.

Instead, Rohrbach relied on the training he received as a volunteer firefighter in the Preble County village of Gratis.

“I knew how to use a fire extinguisher,” he said, recalling the incident. “I had very limited basic medical experience, so whether that helped or not, or just you see a guy in obvious need and you stop to do what you can -- I don’t know.”

Rohrbach shares a home with his wife and their children, all three of whom think all this attention is pretty cool, he said.

What he hopes, he said, is that all of this attention makes people do two things -- look out for others. . . and learn how to use a fire extinguisher.

©2023 Cox Media Group