Norwalk — A Bridgeport trucker involved in last Thursday's crash on Interstate 95 says he pulled the driver of a Camaro involved in the crash to safety, as flames burned at the other car.

Hazeth Aracena was driving a flatbed tractor-trailer along the highway last week when he said he was struck by another tractor-trailer, which state officials said was hauling 8,500 of gallons of gasoline.

The tanker caught fire during the collision and ended up under the Fairfield Avenue bridge across the highway, where it burned furiously, shuttering the highway in both directions for days as the compromised bridge was demolished. State police said the tanker that hit Aracena had been struck by the Chevrolet Camaro that was merging left. That caused the tanker to also veer to to the left, into Aracena's lane.

"It was a regular day," Aracena recalled, reached by phone on Tuesday. He said he was driving the flatbed down to Philadelphia to pick up a load of lumber. When he looked he saw the tanker "on top of me," he recalled. Aracena said he tried to change lanes to the left, but the tanker already hit him.

The tanker continued on under the bridge. Meanwhile, the Camaro came to a halt just in front of Aracena's truck. Both vehicles also caught fire.

"Soon as I got out from the truck, I was looking, you know, to see that everything was OK," he recalled Tuesday.

He said he saw the driver of the Camaro trying to get out. He didn't say anything when Aracena tried to talk to him, he said, but rolled down the window. Aracena said he grabbed the other driver and pulled him from the wreck, then "dragged him" to a safe place, afraid the car would explode with flames near the gas tank.

He said the Camaro driver thanked him for saving his life.

"Basically the only thing I was thinking was, 'I want everybody to be safe,'" Aracena said, asked what he thought during the fire.

After the driver was out of the Camaro, Aracena said he called 911.

He said it was impossible for him to get close to the tanker, and the flames prevented him from seeing what had happened to the driver. He said the first thing he asked a police officer was whether the driver of the tanker was OK.

"He told me, 'yes' — that was the only thing that mattered to me," Aracena said.

After the tanker ignited, it burned furiously under the Fairfield Avenue overpass that spanned I-95, damaging it beyond repair. Crews working Friday and over the weekend demolished the structure piece by piece with heavy equipment. The work meant the highway was closed in both directions for days. It reopened completely on Sunday, in time for the Monday morning commute.

Videos of the scene were shared widely on social media that showed the fire consuming both sides of the highway under the bridge in orange flames, with a column of thick smoke rising into the air.

Aracena said he hurt his leg in the crash. A summary of the incident provided by state police said none of the drivers reported injuries at the scene, and none of the three men was hospitalized.

Aracena's lawyer, Dennis Bradley, said the crash was a "horrific accident," and that his client "is lucky to be alive."

"In the middle of his pain and and suffering he placed his fear, health and life to the side to to help a stranger," Bradley added. "Mr. Aracena represents the very best of what it is to be a citizen of this country."

State police said the crash was reported around 5:30 a.m. last Thursday in the southbound lanes of I-95 near the Route 7 connector on-ramp.

Aracena was behind the wheel of a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia 125 in the left center lane of four, according to the summary from state police. To his right, the driver of the Camaro merged into the right center lane, striking the front of the tanker, a 2011 Kenworth Construct T800.

State police said the tanker "subsequently veered into the left center lane," where it struck Aracena's tractor-trailer. The crash caused the tanker to burst into flames, the summary said.

Aracena asked for other drivers to think about what they're doing on the road and around trucks.

"We always pay attention to the road and everything," he said. But, "we can't stop that easy, like a regular car," he added.