Tracy fire Division Chief Germane Friends speaks about the dangers of driving in hazardous road conditions Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the semi behind him drove into Engine 93 in heavy smoke while crews fought a grass fire at highways 33 and 132. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Smoke from the 300-acre roadside fire, which started about seven miles southeast of Tracy, had blinded drivers and brought traffic to a standstill when the driver of a semi drove into the sooty cloud.
The Old Dominion Trucking Co. driver ran into the fire truck — which was parked on the side of the road and faced oncoming traffic — at about 25 mph, causing "significant damage," Division Chief Bramell said on Friday.
The truck driver and one firefighter were sent to the hospital and treated for minor injuries "as a matter of policy," Bramell said. "But no one was seriously hurt."
Insurance investigators are still looking into how badly the 11-year-old $300,000 truck was damaged. Bramell said it’s likely it was smashed beyond repair.
Until the department buys a replacement, the city will use one of its three reserve engines for rural Station 93 off Durham Ferry Road — the station that responded to the grass fire earlier this week.
Minutes after firefighters showed up to the fire, the California Highway Patrol arrived to direct cars around the blaze area along a nearby dirt road near an irrigation canal.
But the truck rammed the fire engine before the highway patrol showed up.
Shortly afterward, a driver headed in the opposite direction rear-ended a pickup, also because of the dense smoke.
Driver Navo Guzman was on his way from his home in Patterson to his job in Sacramento when he saw the plume of smoke.
"I started to slow down, but not fast enough," he said. "We couldn’t see anything."
Bramell said that the crashes could hardly have been avoided — unless the driver didn’t jump the gun and start driving into the billowing smoke — and that the highway patrol showed up as quickly as it could.
"We have a very good working relationship with them," he said. "Like us, they have limited resources, and depending on their location at the time of a call, it’s hard to say how long it should take them to get somewhere."
Tracy branch CHP officer Adam Shelton, who was assigned to investigate the Wednesday crashes, agreed that little could have been done to prevent the accidents.
The fire engine lights were on, flares couldn’t have been set out because they’re a fire hazard and the firefighters were busy fighting the blaze, Shelton said.
"We just did what we could," he said. "There was zero visibility at some point, and the wind was definitely working against us. A lot was, actually."
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1. The traffic was NOT at a standstill.. vehicles were still moving and CHP was not on the scene prior to the accident to redirect traffic.
2. correction: The Old Dominion Trucking Co. driver ran into the fire truck — which was parked on the (WRONG SIDE) of the road and faced oncoming traffic -
3. "Minutes after firefighters showed up to the fire, the California Highway Patrol arrived to direct cars around the blaze area along a nearby dirt road near an irrigation canal.
But the truck rammed the fire engine before the highway patrol showed up."
First of all, this is and example of poor writing. Secondly, if it was only MINUTES after the firefighters showed up that CHP were on the scene (but still enough time for this accident to occur), then I would think that the FD could have waited a little longer to CONFIRM that traffic was completely stopped before positioning their vehicle in the wrong lane. But, I guess what's done is done. The wind shifted and the "sooty cloud" was sent directly toward the truck driver, blinding him enough so that he could not see a big red fire engine up ahead. And within seconds (because it has to be quicker than minutes), kaboom!! a red fire engine rests almost in his passenger seat.