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SAN LEANDRO — Newark resident Andrew “Rudy” Limtiaco was driving to his job as a video editor with KTVU Channel 2 about 4:15 a.m. Wednesday when he saw a burning van upside down in the center median on north Interstate 880 near Marina Boulevard.

Limtiaco — who moonlights as a reserve police officer with the Hayward Police Department — pulled his car over onto the shoulder and made his way across the freeway.

“The vehicle was engulfed in flames,” he said. “No emergency vehicles were there. I called the assignment desk at Channel 2 to tell them I was going to be late for work.”

A woman at the scene told him there were people inside the van.

“Without even thinking I was basically tunnel-vision to the van,” Limtiaco said.

Two other men and a female UPS driver were at the passenger-side door of the burning van. He joined them. The groaning driver was trapped inside.

As the flames shot about 20 feet high from the undercarriage above them, they tried to open the door without success until one of the men returned with a bolt cutter. They then were able to pry open the door, allowing the driver to wiggle out, Limtiaco said.

“It happened within a few minutes. It was kind of surreal at first. Everyone was calm. We were thinking, we’ve got to find away to get him out.”

Personnel from the California Highway Patrol, Alameda County Fire and a KTVU news crew then arrived.

The solo vehicle crash blocked

two lanes and slowed traffic, CHP Officer Kevin Kroncke said. The lanes were reopened at 6:10 a.m. He did not know what caused the crash.

The driver, who was the only person in the van, sustained minor injuries and was not transported to a hospital, said an Alameda County Fire Department spokeswoman.

The driver of the van told KTVU that it was his 44th birthday, but he did not give his name.

The names of the onlookers who helped out were not released.

Jason Sweeney covers San Lorenzo. Reach him at 510-293-2469.