8 Orange County firefighters injured and hospitalized in emergency vehicle crash following wildfire on Freeway 241 in Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) — Eight Orange County firefighters were injured in a rollover accident on an Irvine freeway on their way home from responding to the airport fire Thursday evening.

According to officials, six firefighters suffered serious injuries and two others suffered minor injuries when the handgun truck hit a railing and overturned.

The accident was apparently caused by a ladder that was on the roadway of Freeway 241. A vehicle in front of the fire truck swerved to avoid the ladder, and the vehicle also swerved, striking the guardrail on the right side and rolling over, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Seven of the injured firefighters were taken by ambulance and the eighth by helicopter to various hospitals in Orange County.

“These are the hardest things to deal with. It breaks my heart,” said OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. “I know my team and all the other firefighters in OCFA and throughout the region and across the country … are praying for our members. We just ask that anyone who is listening to this please keep our firefighters in their thoughts and prayers.”

The accident occurred on 241 near the Tomato Springs toll booth in the Irvine area shortly before 7 p.m.

Such forest fire hand teams consist of 20 firefighters.

The crash site is west of the massive airport fire that has burned over 9,400 hectares of land since last week.

Firefighters were returning from a 12-hour shift battling the wildfire, the OCFA said.

Signage on the truck indicated that it was an Orange County Fire Department vehicle for Santiago emergency responders.

AIR7 was over the accident scene, where the truck was on its side and debris was scattered across the roadway. Northbound traffic was blocked and backed up for miles.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident.