ROCKFORD, Illinois — A Monroe man died after an accident in a construction zone on U.S. 20 in Rockford at about midnight Sunday, Sept. 1.

Robert “Robby” J. Strong, 32, was driving a street sweeper truck between the Main Street and Montague Road exits when he hit a concrete barrier, WREX News 13 reported. The truck flipped and caught on fire. Strong later died from his injuries at a local hospital.

His mom told the news station that several people, including a retired EMT, stopped and tried to get her son out of the fire.

Strong grew up in Freeport and worked as a driver and as a landscaper with Nature’s Touch in Janesville, according to his obituary. He is survived by his two daughters, two stepsons, fiancé and large extended family and remembered as a loving father and “a big Teddy Bear.”