AURORA | If Aswad Allen’s movie hadn’t been sold out — twice — forcing him to buy tickets for the latest showing, he wouldn’t have been on the road at 2 a.m. on May 6 to help save a man from a burning semi truck.

“A left turn here, a right turn there all put me at that place at the right time,” said Allen, an Aurora resident and parishioner of Colorado Christian Fellowship church.

Allen was honored with the Bill Daniels Neighborhood Hero Award at an Aurora City Council meeting June 11 and a $1,000 check for his courageousness that day. Two other men also received $500 each for their help on the scene, and the ceremony was attended by more than 100 family members and friends of the heroic residents.

Call it fate or coincidence, but Allen was the first person to see the semi truck burst into flames on Interstate 225 and crash into the median. Allen, a religious man, said he came to a stop and ran toward the burning truck because a spiritual voice told him to.

The driver’s side window shattered and Allen tried to pull out the hefty, unconscious man inside, but realized he couldn’t do it alone.

“I was very scared and crying and begging for help, but I was still following that voice,” he said.

Aurora residents Romulo Romero and Miguel Castaneda-Duque stopped to help, along with Aurora Police Officers Ryan Marker and William Grimes.

Together, they pulled 39-year-old John Fischbeck out of the truck, seconds before it exploded.

Fischbeck, the truck driver who is now recovering from a broken collar bone and some bad bruising, doesn’t remember much of the accident.

“I was driving fine and the next thing I knew I was being pulled from the vehicle,” he said.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said the truck caught on fire because of a ruptured gas tank.

An emotional Fischbeck described his gratitude to the strangers that came to his aid.

“I can’t thank them enough,” he said. “It’s hard for me to talk about because I get choked up about how somebody valued my life enough to risk their own.”

The Aurora residents were humbled by the recognition they received at the June 11 ceremony.

“My biggest award is that

(Fischbeck) is alive and he’s with his family,” Allen said.

Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.