An eastern Kansas sheriff is calling a high school janitor a hero for pulling an elderly man from a burning car that had backed into a ditch.

Denny Gray and his wife, Lori, were headed home from the store earlier this month when he saw what he thought was a brush fire on the side of the road.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Gray, a custodian at Hiawatha High School, instead discovered it was a car that was on fire.

Gray ran to the vehicle and found 94-year-old Gerry Alkire of Hiawatha trapped inside. He pulled Alkire, who suffered only minor burns, to safety as tires started blowing out from the heat.

Brown County Sheriff John Merchant said Gray was a hero for risking his life to save another’s.