Caltrans Maintenance Supervisor

Department of Transportation

8/20/1991

Special Act Award (Gold)

Caltrans Maintenance Supervisor Warren M. Williams, on August 20, 1991, performed an extraordinary act of heroism at great risk to his personal safety and life in the rescue of a paraplegic trapped inside a burning van. While working at the corporation yard on Palm Avenue near Valley Bible Church in Hercules, California, Caltrans Maintenance Supervisor Warren Williams heard the persistent honking of a vehicle. Looking up a steep slope, he saw a van with smoke rising from beneath it, struck in the weeds. Williams yelled at the driver, “Are you okay?” The driver replied that his vehicle was on fire and that he was paralyzed. A fence and deep ravine separated Williams from the vehicle and its occupant. Williams ran approximately one-half mile through the corporation yard, down the street, and to the van. Although exhausted, Williams managed to pull the paralyzed man from his specially equipped van to safety before it became fully engulfed in flames.