SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. — Joshua Radwan was in his office with his brother, Jason, chatting about latest business ventures and deciding where to have lunch when he felt an urge to leave.

“I have to go,” Radwan said.

“OK, we can leave in just a few,” Jason said. After all, the two brothers were both heading out to lunch together and would carpool anyway.

“No,” Radwan said. “I have to leave right now.”

He grabbed his keys, got into his car and began heading onto I-5 when he saw a five-car pileup. One car was on fire.

He pulled over and asked if anyone was in the car on fire. No one responded. So he pointed at each car and asked who owned it. When he pointed at the car on fire, no one responded.

Radwan ran to the car and saw an unconscious body inside. He motioned to the paramedics, who had arrived on the scene, that someone was inside. When help didn’t come, Radwan used a fire extinguisher from a nearby truck driver, broke open the glass and pulled out the unconscious driver himself.

With the help of two other passersby, Radwan pulled unconscious Tim Nelligan out of the car and delivered him to the paramedics – just as Nelligan’s car burst into flames.

Radwan later called Nelligan at the hospital to check on him. Nelligan thanked him for saving his life. “All thanks and praise be to Allah,” Radwan responded. “I am nothing, I am merely an instrument and a slave of Allah.”

The accident was March 9, 2007.

Two years later, on December 2, 2009, Radwan and Nelligan hosted a grand opening for their company’s first CNG (compressed natural gas) dispenser located at the Shell gas station in San Juan Capistrano.

“When Josh met me at the hospital and asked me what I did for a living, I told him I’m an environmental engineer. Josh said, ‘I’ve been praying for an environmental engineer,’ ” Nelligan said of how his business partnership with Radwan started.

Radwan founded Go Natural Gas, a company working to make alternative gas more accessible to California residents, and now Nelligan is president of the company.

Radwan said he is thankful for the partnership that formed between himself and Nelligan. “When you do things for the sake of Allah, He will always be on your side,” Radwan said. “I stopped to help someone for the sake of Allah, and now we have become business partners.”

Compressed natural gas is a fossil fuel substitute for gas. It produces greenhouse gases but is still a more environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline, whilst also being safer in the event of a spill.

For more information visit www.gonaturalgas.com