Good Samaritan Rescues Dick Van Dyke From Burning Car

CALABASAS (CBSLA.com) — Actor Dick Van Dyke escaped his burning car unharmed after a good Samaritan came to his rescue Monday.

Van Dyke was driving eastbound on the Ventura Freeway (101) when his four-door Jaguar caught fire around 2p.m., according to the CHP.

The 87-year-old actor pulled over to the side of the freeway, when Jason Pennington spotted smoke coming from the car and a man hunched over the steering wheel. Pennington reportedly pulled the man out seconds before it became fully engulfed in flames.

"I'm all 'you gotta get out, you gotta get out' and he goes: 'I'm okay, I'm okay," Pennington told KCAL9's Brittney Hopper in an exclusive interview. "So I just pulled him really hard."

As the two were walking away from the car, Pennington realized it was entertainment legend Dick Van Dyke.

"It's still not a big deal, because it was just scary," said Pennington, a soccer coach at Agoura High School. "It was just helping some guy get out of the car."

Three weeks ago, Pennington's wife was in a horrible hit-and-run motorcycle accident on the 405 Freeway. Good Samaritans saved her life and pulled her to safety.

"It was just really my husband's turn to be a hero and you know, to really pass that on to someone else," said tk. "It really moves me a lot."

Pennington said the actor was very nice, but seemed a bit out of it. He and his children say they are huge fans, but would have come to the aid of anyone.

"I'm just glad we got the guy out of the car, regardless of who it was," he said.

Pennington was driving on the freeway when

The actor's wife, Arlene Van Dyke, tweeted a video of the actor speaking to CHP officers and wrote, "He's fine thank God!!"

No other details were immediately available.

(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)