Dramatic rescue in Riverbank car fire

A man suffered severe burns to much of his body Wednesday afternoon when a fire started around his car after he drove onto a riverbank.

Firefighters were dispatched to the riverbank off the west end of River Cove Drive about 4:45 p.m. for a report of a vehicle on fire.

Resident Mike Wagenhoffer was in his driveway carving pumpkins with his granddaughter when he saw the man drive his green sedan onto a dirt walking path that goes to the top of the riverbank.

He watched as the man made an abrupt left toward the Stanislaus River and the front end of his car went over the bank.

Wagenhoffer and two other bystanders went to the man’s aid. He said the other two went to the driver’s side but couldn’t get to the door because of the way the car was angled on the bank.

Wagenhoffer went to the passenger side door. “I said, ‘undo your seat belt, please, and give me your hand. I’ll get you out of here.’”

But the man, who Wagenhoffer said appeared to be in his 80s, seemed confused and didn’t respond.

“All of a sudden I started feeling heat on my feet and I look down and there’s flames there,” he said.

Wagenhoffer ran back to his house and got a fire extinguisher. When he returned he saw that the other two men had managed to get the driver out of the car but the flames had spread.

“He’s laying right there on the riverbank. He’s right outside the car door laying there, and we are telling him ‘climb up, climb up,’” Wagenhoffer said. “We can’t get to him because there’s flames coming out from underneath the car and then, boom, there’s an explosion and more flames.”

Wagenhoffer said Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies arrived and ordered him and the other men to get out of the way. Firefighters from Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District and Modesto Fire Department arrived shortly after and extinguished the flames in and around the car.

The scene was chaotic at first.

It was unclear to officials whether there was anyone else in the car because other witnesses reported seeing Wagenhoffer and the other men near the car, said Riverbank Police Chief Erin Kiely.

Firefighters launched a boat from Jacob Meyers Park and searched the river.

The victim was airlifted to the burn center at UC Davis Medical Center is Sacramento. His name and condition were not available Wednesday night.

Wagenhoffer had returned to carving the design his granddaughter had penned onto a pumpkin as firefighters packed up their gear.

He shook his head as he recalled again what had transpired.

“There were flames just shooting out from underneath his car and we were afraid to get too close. … The heat was so intense, and we were afraid the gas tank was going to blow any second,” he said. “I mean, my granddaughter was standing there watching me. I don’t want her to watch me roast. I don’t want to die today.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2014 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Dramatic rescue in Riverbank car fire."