The Camp Fire in California is now one of the deadliest and worst wildfires that the state of California has ever seen. It has cost many people their homes and many more to evacuate.

One of the people that needed to evacuate was 93-year-old Margaret Newsum. She says she got up and fixed her oatmeal and began watching the news just like any other morning. That’s when she realized that she needed to evacuate her home, but how was she supposed to do that? She had no nearby family and her caretaker was already gone for the day.

So Margaret stepped out on her front porch and prayed. She hoped someone would see her and have an extra seat in their car that would be willing to help her get to safety. It wasn’t long before a big green truck pulled around the corner and up to her curb. She had seen the garbage man before and couldn’t imagine what he was doing picking up trash when he needed to be evacuating.

But Dane Ray Cummings wasn’t just any garbage man. He had been running that same route for eight years and had gotten to know a bit about the people who he hauled trash for.

So despite the wishes of his boss, Dane went on about his route as usual. He knew where the elderly people along his route lived and he wanted to make sure they were either already evacuated or working on leaving.

That’s when he saw Margaret. He stopped to tell her she needed to leave and that’s when he found out she had no way to get to safety. With the help of some other neighbors, within minutes Margaret had grabbed her belongings and was loaded up in the garbage truck.

For the next five hours, Dane and Margaret got to know each other as he took her down the mountain to safety. The elderly woman had quite a story to tell and he was shocked when he heard it all.

She had been a back up singer for the Brat Pack, was an eye witness to the bombing at Pearl Harbor, and had went hang gliding at the age of 70. Dane says it was one of the best conversations he had ever had.

Check out the heartwarming video below to learn more about this story and be sure to share it with your family and friends. He may be “just a garbage man”, but he’s proof that anyone can be a hero.