8 Calif. firefighters hurt in fire truck accident

They escape serious injury despite forces that snapped the cab from their vehicle as it rolled through pines near Big Bear Dam.

By Maeve Reston
Los Angeles Times

BIG BEAR, Calif. — Eight U.S. Forest Service firefighters escaped from a harrowing accident in the San Bernardino Mountains with minor injuries Monday morning after their truck hit a guardrail and rolled 230 feet down a steep mountainside, coming to rest against a pine tree.

The eight-man crew was headed east from the Big Bear area to do mop-up and monitor hot spots on the Butler 2 fire, a blaze that charred about 14,000 acres and forced evacuations in Fawnskin before it was contained Sept. 20.

The truck's driver lost control rounding a curve in a steep, mountainous area of California 18 known as the "arctic circle," where the highway drops off sharply from the south side more than 1,000 feet to Bear Creek, authorities said.

The 19,000-pound truck struck one guardrail and plowed through a second before tumbling through dense pines, California Highway Patrol Officer Gary Fernandez said.

As it struck trees and stumps, the truck's cab split from the rear portion of the truck, where six of the firefighters were sitting.

Emergency crews used ropes to steady themselves as they rescued the injured firefighters, some of whom were emergency medical technicians who tended to fellow firefighters before rescuers arrived.

Two firefighters, one with a dislocated shoulder, the other apparently unhurt, were airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman John Miller, who said both would be held overnight for observation.

The other six firefighters were treated for bruises and scrapes at Bear Valley Community Hospital in Big Bear Lake.

They were all wearing seat belts.

"That's why the injuries were minor," Fernandez said. "The guardrails are built to sustain collisions; however ... it was a very heavy piece of equipment, and based on that and the angle, there was no way the guardrail was going to hold that thing."

Officials feared far more serious injuries when they got the rescue call around 9:40 a.m.

"Eleven months ago, we lost five of our co-workers [in the Esperanza fire], so when I got this call this morning, the worst fears were running through my mind," Miller said.

"To get here and have a vehicle over the side that I couldn't even see — that was very frightening. So to have everyone come out as well as they did was great."

Officials shut down the highway between the Big Bear Dam and Snow Valley Mountain Resort for most of Monday to clear the road for medical evacuation helicopters. They used tow trucks with heavy cables to extract the parts of the truck from the trees late Monday afternoon.