Water tender rollover kills Ventura County fighter

The vehicle was en route to the Canyon Fire.

Water Tender rollover fatality

Above: Fatal water render rollover, September 21, 2016. Screenshot from KEYT video.

This morning the rollover of a water tender enroute to the Canyon Fire on Vandenberg Air Force Base resulted in the death of a firefighter. Ventura County Fire Department reported that Fire Engineer Ryan Osler, a passenger in the truck, lost his life in a line of duty vehicle accident while assigned to the fire. The driver of the truck self-extracted and was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

The water tender had designations indicating that it was a California Office of Emergency Services apparatus. OES vehicles are often farmed out to local fire departments, such as Ventura County FD.

KYET reported the accident occurred at about 6:20 a.m. on state Route 246 at Purisima Road in Lompoc which is near the fire burning on the military base on the southern California coast.

Unfortunately rollovers of fire vehicles, especially water tenders, happen far too often.

Our sincere condolences go out to the family, coworkers, and friends of Engineer Osler.

ryan osler

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

3 thoughts on “Water tender rollover kills Ventura County fighter”

  1. I have always maintained even when I was in Fire Fighting School in the Navy , that Fire vehicles should have rollover protection that is on a mercury switch when a truck or any Fire Vehicle starts to roll over either a hydraulic ram or an air bag needs to deploy to prevent the rollover from happening If they need an example look at the airbags on the side of the sponsons of a Sikorsky SH-3 Helicopter the same type design could be used,..

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