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Inmate Wildfire Crew Member Killed in Crash
Associated Press
GORMAN, Calif. -- Four inmate firefighters remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday after a head-on crash north of Los Angeles that killed a colleague and an elderly driver.
(AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
(AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
The four were among a dozen firefighters hurt Tuesday when a Subaru Forester sport utility vehicle veered into oncoming traffic on Highway 138 south of Gorman and hit a truck carrying members of the fire crew, authorities said.
Seven other inmates and a Los Angeles County firefighter who is the crew's foreman were treated at hospitals and released, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Matt Levesque said.
The crash killed inmate firefighter Fernando Sanchez, 25, who was ejected from the back of the truck, authorities said.
The Subaru's driver was identified as Milton Edward Bacon, 83, of Gardnerville, Nev.
Bacon was heading to Santa Barbara when the crash occurred, coroner's Capt. John Kades said.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
Sanchez was from San Diego County and had been sent to prison for possession and sale of narcotics, California prisons spokesman George Kostyrko said. He would have been eligible for parole in January 2012.
Three of the inmates were pinned underneath the truck when the first rescue engine arrived along the narrow rural highway, fire Capt. Mark Savage said.
A truck towing a forklift happened to be caught in traffic backed up by the crash. A firefighter asked the truck driver to unload the forklift, and he freed the trapped inmates.
"They saved those folks," Savage said. "It would have taken 45 minutes to get heavy equipment to that remote location."
The crew was headed back to their camp near the crash site in San Francisquito Canyon in Saugus after completing a project, Savage said.
They were riding in a crew-carrying vehicle or CCV, which has a cabin front and an enclosed back with air conditioning and bench seating.
Los Angeles County maintains 10 permanent fire camps, including five in conjunction with the California Department of Corrections. Inmate crews battle wildfires and work on brush clearing and construction projects.
"This is a bad day for LAFD. We lost an extended family member who worked hand-in-hand with our firefighting crews," Savage said.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
GORMAN, Calif. -- Four inmate firefighters remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday after a head-on crash north of Los Angeles that killed a colleague and an elderly driver.
(AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
(AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
Seven other inmates and a Los Angeles County firefighter who is the crew's foreman were treated at hospitals and released, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Matt Levesque said.
The crash killed inmate firefighter Fernando Sanchez, 25, who was ejected from the back of the truck, authorities said.
The Subaru's driver was identified as Milton Edward Bacon, 83, of Gardnerville, Nev.
Bacon was heading to Santa Barbara when the crash occurred, coroner's Capt. John Kades said.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
Sanchez was from San Diego County and had been sent to prison for possession and sale of narcotics, California prisons spokesman George Kostyrko said. He would have been eligible for parole in January 2012.
Three of the inmates were pinned underneath the truck when the first rescue engine arrived along the narrow rural highway, fire Capt. Mark Savage said.
A truck towing a forklift happened to be caught in traffic backed up by the crash. A firefighter asked the truck driver to unload the forklift, and he freed the trapped inmates.
"They saved those folks," Savage said. "It would have taken 45 minutes to get heavy equipment to that remote location."
The crew was headed back to their camp near the crash site in San Francisquito Canyon in Saugus after completing a project, Savage said.
They were riding in a crew-carrying vehicle or CCV, which has a cabin front and an enclosed back with air conditioning and bench seating.
Los Angeles County maintains 10 permanent fire camps, including five in conjunction with the California Department of Corrections. Inmate crews battle wildfires and work on brush clearing and construction projects.
"This is a bad day for LAFD. We lost an extended family member who worked hand-in-hand with our firefighting crews," Savage said.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Julia Miller on
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This is a sad day indeed for us here in LA County. My son told me about the accident shortly after it happened. The inmates that are on these crews are very close to the firemen that they work with and they do one heck of a job when wildfires break out.
The prayers of my family and our community go out to this young man. Also there were several other firefighters that were flown out to area trauma centers. Let us hope that they will be alright. God bless you and may you rest in peace.
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Permalink Reply by stacey leal on
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Prayers are with the LAFD....
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I don't mean to nit pick but this happened with an LA County Camp Crew. Los Angeles City Fire Department does not have the camp crews because they don't have as much rural territory to cover as LA County. Don't get me wrong I live about 1/8 of a mild from Station 70 in Northridge and those guys are always, always busy. I am very thankful that they are there and so close. In any event, it just makes my heart ache and every time I think about it I cry thinking that instead of sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, his family is having to plan his funeral. As the mother of a soon to be fire fighter, I guess this is something that we all have to face but I don't think there could possibly be anything worse. This also comes on top of a little over the 1 year anniversary of the deaths of Capt Ted Hall and Fire Fighter Specialist Arnie Quinones, that happened at the Station Fire. May all of you that answer that call today and in the future, return safely to your families. God bless each and every one of you.
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