BOISE-- A fiery, multi-vehicle wreck that occurred late Saturday night on Interstate 84 is one of the most horrific accidents the Treasure Valley has seen in recent years.
Four people died in the crash.
During the aftermath of the accident, two brothers, who were just feet away, quickly jumped into action to help. Josh and Matt Thompson were just east of the Cloverdale overpass in the construction traffic when they heard a crash.
“We start hearing big crashes,” Matt said. “We're looking in the rear-view mirror and we just see this diesel plowing through cars coming straight at us.”
Josh pulled the car to safety and the brothers quickly jumped into action.
“I don’t even think the car had fully stopped,” he said. “I jumped out just started running back. There wasn't a thought about it like should I do this or not.”
“It was extreme. [The fire] was covering the entire overpass. It was just a massive inferno,” Matt said.
The brothers, along with a few other Good Samaritans, checked cars making sure no one was trapped and comforting survivors.
“We go to pull a bunch of people out the wreckage and all that stuff and the driver of the semi, the front semi… he ushered his children to a van that was right next to the crash,” Matt said. “We'd seen that there was fire.”
They said knew they needed to get those kids and others in the area to safety.
“I got them back over by the cars that were over by [our] vehicle,” Josh said. “And I went back for the lady, picked her up, carried her to this other gentleman's truck.”
The whole time the fire continued to grow.
“That's when the fuel tanks started erupting, and that's when the tires started exploding,” Matt said. “While this was happening, people were getting out of their vehicles just onlookers to take pictures and what not.”
They say they shouted at people to get back and they did. By this time, the brothers say firefighters, police and EMS arrived.
“It's tragic that there was death involved,” Josh said. “But it’s amazing to me that every single kid involved, there wasn't a scratch on them.”
“That crash could have been a thousand times worse,” Matt said.
Even after first responders arrived, the bothers stayed to help in any way they could, like offering rides to the people involved in the crash.