For the Reporter

Four bystanders helped a disoriented elderly man from his vehicle moments before a train struck and dragged his car down the tracks in Auburn late Friday.

No one was hurt in the collision, the Valley Regional Fire Authority reported.

The four citizens helped the driver to a nearby home where firefighters examined and treated the patient for non-life threatening injuries.

At 9:05 p.m., VRFA firefighters were dispatched to a serious car-versus-train collision on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks at Third Street Northwest. Firefighters arrived to find one car that had been hit and pushed approximately 150 feet down the northbound tracks.

The driver in the car was found on the front porch at a neighboring home in the 300 block of C Street Northwest.

Witnesses said the sedan turned left onto eastbound Third Northwest from southbound C Street Northwest. The vehicle then took another left onto the railroad tracks, the driver thinking it was a road. A witness called for help from his friends who ran over to the vehicle.

The four bystanders found an elderly driver who appeared disoriented and convinced him to open his door approximately 45 seconds before a northbound freight train stuck the vehicle. The citizens helped the driver to a nearby home where firefighters treated him.

The first to notice the stranded vehicle was Thuong Thach. He called over his friend, Daniel Soto, and his girlfriend, Cynthia Svendgard, and friend Richie Sanchez.

One of the rescuers shared his cellphone video that showed the vehicle moments before the collision.

Auburn Police are investigating.

The train blocked east-west traffic on Third Street Northwest and Main Street.