Air Force firefighter saves family and their horse from burning truck

MELBOURNE, Fla. - A U.S. Air Force firefighter was on his way home from work back in May when he noticed a cloud of smoke coming out of a big, gold truck.

"Immediately, I noticed there was smoke there, but I was kind of curious how not only the driver as well as anybody passing them could not see something was going wrong," said Scott Travers.

Within a matter of seconds, he pulled off of Interstate 95 near Melbourne to help a mother, her son and their horse hop out of their burning truck.

From there, Travers made sure everyone was a safe distance from the burning car before they stood back to watch nine separate explosions.

"After the first one, the big loud bang, the entire truck was engulfed in flames. So we ended up moving back further than we were originally and it just took over that truck very quickly," Travers said. 

A few minutes later the local fire department team showed up to assist.

Now, Travers is being hailed as a local hero.

"When you leave the station, you think you are off work, but you are never really off work. If you can help, you can help and you want to help. It wasn't really a thought, it was just an action at that point," Travers said.

His supervisor, John Pope, is the assistant chief at Patrick Space Force Fire Department.  He said his character is a testament to the type of people he wants working on their team.

"He is that guy, the guy you want on your team. He is the first guy in, last guy out, he never brings attention on himself. He just works hard… Scott always seems to find himself in that hero position, he is always at the right place at the right time," said Pope.

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