One of three San Diego firefighters injured in a crash has been released from a hospital in Louisiana

SAN DIEGO – One of three firefighters injured in a serious accident while dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene was released from the hospital this evening.

According to the San Diego Fire and Rescue Department, members of Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 8 were injured when their Ford F-350 crashed in East Texas on Sunday.

They were flown to Shreveport LSU Hospital, where two others are still being treated.

“When we were notified, we had to immediately begin mobilizing resources and providing that support to everyone involved,” said David Hunt, Health and Safety Executive.

He is the SDFD Health and Safety Office Cancer and Health Coordinator and helped mobilize the six peer teams, two chaplains and their assigned K9s, Kassie and Genoa. They also flew the victims' families to Texas and continue to support all those affected, including firefighters at home.

“It is extremely important to receive this kind of support. Research and data have shown that peer and spiritual support, as well as the opportunity to do these debriefings and stress management of critical incidents, is a huge benefit in processing the trauma and later alleviating these cases of PTSD,” Hunt said.

On Tuesday, the San Diego Fire Department announced that Capt. Greg Davies has been released from the hospital. Battalion Chief Adjutant Barbat and Capt. Jesse Schultz are still being treated for unknown injuries.

On Sunday, the three firefighters were injured when their Ford F-305 crashed on Interstate 20 near Highway 80 in East Texas, near the Louisiana state line.

CBS 8 has reached out to the Texas Highway Patrol for information about the crash, which remains under investigation.

“They were involved in a very, very serious accident and it is still very early in terms of medical treatment and everything that the doctors are currently doing to help them,” said Mónica Muñoz, public information officer for the SDFD.

The three firefighters are part of the 48-member task force sent to North Carolina to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The support is felt by President Joe Biden, who expressed his concern during a news conference on Monday.

“I want to thank everyone, all the first responders and everyone who worked around the clock. One of the brave teams that volunteered is from the San Diego County Fire Department, who will travel all the way from California to North Carolina to help.” But on the way there, they were in a terrible car accident. We pray for her full recovery, but it was a terrible accident. We will continue to provide resources, including food and water, communications and rescue equipment, as I said, will be there until this task is completed,” he added.

As the 45 other task force members in Texas wait to hear whether FEMA will send them back to San Diego, they too are receiving emotional support.

SDFD said Davies is a hazmat captain assigned to Station 45. He joined SDFD in 2009, became a member of CA-TF8 in 2017 and is currently a Plans team manager. It is unknown when he will return to San Diego.