Eight firefighters were injured – six critically – after their fire truck rolled over and crashed on a California freeway as they were returning from a shift battling a devastating wildfire.
The group of firefighters were returning to the station after battling the exhaustive 23,000 Airport Fire during a 12-hour shift, when the truck unexpectedly overturned on an Irvine, California, freeway around 6:50 p.m. local time Thursday.
The crash left eight people hurt, one of them needing to be airlifted out of the scene.
Six of the eight crash victims were critically injured and taken to local trauma centers.
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Photos and videos from the scene showed the devastated fire truck on it’s side after the crash.
Authorities did not specify what led to the accident, but it remains under investigation.
Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said in a press conference on Thursday night that the vehicle “did swerve for whatever [reason] and did roll several times. What caused that, again, I have some thoughts, but I don’t have any factual information.”
During a press conference on Friday morning, Fennessy provided an update on the injured firefighters, saying that they had a “long road” of recovery ahead of them.
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“We ask that you pray for our firefighters and their families,” Fennessy said. “This is the beginning of a long road for many of those firefighters and our fire departments.”
Fennessy said Friday morning that the six firefighters injured in the crash remained hospitalized in conditions ranging from “stable to critical.”
He said “many of the injured are going to be hospitalized for quite a while,” but he did not provide specifics about the injuries. Two other firefighters injured in the crash were treated and released on Thursday evening.
“Our crews, as you can imagine, are devastated,” Fennessey said. “As you can imagine how traumatic it would be to see your fellow firefighters that injured in the middle of the freeway.”
The California fire chief said that the community was hurting after the incident, but that he was confident that they would “rally around each other.”
“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 going to be stronger because of it.”
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