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Tehama County Fire Engine Accident Fatality 1969

  • Location:

    California
  • Date:

    07/27/1969
  • Incident Type:

    Engine Incident
  • Description:

    Gerald Davis, a 17-year-old student seasonal firefighter with the California Department of Forestry (now CAL FIRE) was killed when the engine on which he was riding rolled over into a creek when a culvert collapsed. The engine crew had been fighting fires all week in the Sierra Nevada foothills following a lightning bust that ignited 600 fires. While returning from checking fires in eastern Tehama County, the 8-ton, 1963 Chevy fire engine rolled upside down into a dry creekbed when the culvert on Carpenter Ridge Road on which they were traveling collapsed under them. Davis was seatbelted into the vehicle, but was crushed underneath it. An 18-year-old firefighter was also injured, while the 17-year-old driver and the foremen were uninjured in the accident.

    Engine Incident or Accident, Fatality, Driving