Firefighters hospitalized after fire truck crash on Southern California freeway: "A tough road ahead"

Orange County firefighters were hospitalized Thursday night after their fire truck rolled over and crashed on a Southern California freeway as they were returning from a 12-hour shift battling a devastating wildfire.

They were coming back from the front lines of the Airport Fire, a massive blaze that's torn through two counties, when the Orange County Fire Authority truck overturned along northbound State Route 241 at about 6:50 p.m. local time Thursday, authorities said. The crash happened in the Portola Springs area, which is 10 miles east from the city of Irvine. 

"We got a tough road ahead," Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessey said. "Many of the injured are going to be hospitalized for quite a while."

According to California Highway Patrol, a ladder in the roadway caused the fire truck and another vehicle in front of it to swerve, and that's when the truck collided with a nearby guard rail and overturned. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

One of the firefighters was airlifted to a hospital while paramedics rushed the others to local trauma centers, according to Fennessey. Twelve ambulances and three helicopters were dispatched to the scene.

"Our crews, as you can imagine, are devastated," Fennessey said during a Friday morning news conference. "As you can imagine how traumatic it would be to see your fellow firefighters that injured in the middle of the freeway."

Six firefighters suffered serious injuries. Two others were minorly hurt and released from the hospital on Thursday night.

The current conditions of the six firefighters hospitalized range from "stable to critical," he said, not disclosing further details about their injuries. 

Dr. Humberto Sauri, director of trauma services at Orange County Global Medical Center, said two of the wounded firefighters came into the Santa Ana hospital in critical condition the night before. Now, Sauri said, one of the men is in "critical but stable" condition while the other firefighter "remains quite critical still."

"Our team is doing everything they can to continue to get them better," Sauri said, adding that hospital staff "pulled out all the resources for these guys." 

Two of the seriously injured firefighters were released on Friday afternoon. 

The firefighters are all part of the Santiago Handcrew, a crew on the front lines that faces grueling shifts sometimes lasting up to 24 hours. According to Fennessey, handcrews "tend to be younger in age, extremely physically fit and very well-trained" as they're tasked with going into "extremely steep, extremely inaccessible" terrain that even bulldozers and other machinery can't reach. 

The crew has been battling the Airport Fire since it broke out on Sept. 9.

"It is the most challenging assignment that anybody can be assigned to, and our firefighters have been working nonstop with very few breaks in helping to contain the Airport Fire," he said, referring to the wildfire that has destroyed dozens of homes and injured 13 firefighters and two others as it scorched tens of thousands of acres in Orange and Riverside counties.

"As we stand here today, I think we're all still in a little bit of shock," Fennessey said, saying he met overnight with families of the wounded and their fellow firefighters, who have been pulled off the line. "They're in tough shape right now... they're gonna get the time they need."

The night of the crash, just hours after it happened, Fennessey told reporters all the families had been notified.

"We ask that you pray for our firefighters and their families," he said then. "This is the beginning of a long road for many of those firefighters and our fire department."

On Friday, the fire chief said he has faith in the "resilience" of Orange County's firefighting community.

"This is devastating for me, personally, devastating for everybody in the fire service here in Orange County," Fennessey said. "We're heartbroken, we're devastated but there's no doubt in my mind that the crews, firefighters, our professional staff — everybody involved are going to rally around each other and we're gonna be stronger because of it."

The roadway in the Portola Springs area remained closed overnight as crews worked to clean up debris. Just after 5:30 a.m. Friday, all northbound lanes of SR-241 from Portola Parkway to SR-133 had reopened after CHP officers issued a five-hour closure of the northbound lanes.

On Thursday night, CHP officials said 12 firefighters were injured but later said only eight were hurt in the crash.

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To help the injured firefighters in Orange County, visit the OC Professional Firefighters Association website.