By Katie Dowd
SFGate
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An investigation is underway after West Sacramento firefighters ran over two people, killing one while responding to a brush fire on Friday.
Firefighters from the West Sacramento Fire Department responded to a call for a brush fire near train tracks along Jefferson Boulevard and Sacramento Avenue on Friday morning. According to the West Sacramento Police Department, the location was “debris-strewn,” and a firefighter on the ground was helping a brush rig make its way through the area.
“While passing along a dirt trail, the brush truck drove over a carpet, where two people were later found,” the police department said in a statement. “This incident is believed to have resulted in the death of a male subject and serious injuries to a female subject.”
The woman was transported to a local hospital. The deceased man has not yet been identified.
It’s not clear why they were under a carpet, though the Sacramento Bee reports the area is the location of a homeless encampment. Jerry Delgado , who was interviewed by KCRA, said the injured woman is his mother, Katie Petrina Mota . Delgado said Mota has been homeless for over a decade.
“I want to know what happened. My family wants to know what happened,” Delgado told KCRA. “It was a tragic accident here. A life was taken that was worse as it gets. And I haven’t heard back from anybody, [not even] from a doctor.”
California Highway Patrol is leading the investigation, and the firefighters involved have been put on paid administrative leave.
“We are grieved any time that an emergency response results in a death or injury of someone we are sworn to assist,” West Sacramento Fire Chief Steve Binns said in a statement. “We will fully cooperate with the CHP to help determine exactly what happened.”
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