Washington State Firefighter Taking A Break From Woolsey Firefight Hit By Truck In Malibu
MALIBU (CBSLA) — A Washington State firefighter who came down with a crew to help fight the Woolsey Fire was airlifted to a Thousand Oaks hospital after being struck by a car while on a break.
The crash happened at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday along Pacific Coast Highway near Deer Creek Road, an area that was under evacuation. South Kitsap Fire & Rescue Firefighter Terry Geisleman was sleeping in a field next to his fire truck when a 2015 Dodge Ram collided with him, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The driver, identified as 50-year-old Clay Bush of Los Angeles, was the sole occupant in the truck and did not suffer any injuries, the CHP said, and alcohol nor drugs were not suspected to be a factor in the crash.
Geisleman was airlifted to Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. The CHP said he sustained crushing injuries to his chest and the left side of his body, but he is expected to survive.
The strike team from South Kitsap Fire and Rescue -- which is stationed in Port Orchard, Wash., across Puget Sound from Seattle -- arrived in Southern California Monday to help fight the Woolsey Fire. They were scheduled to be in California for at least two weeks, but in the wake of the Geisleman's injury, his crew has been taken off the fire lines and it's not clear if they will be put back on.
The Woolsey Fire, which erupted a week ago, is at 57 percent containment after burning close to more than 98,000 acres and destroying hundreds of homes. Three deaths have been blamed on the blaze.