Van carrying 10 contract firefighters involved in crash

From the sound of this story that appeared on the KTVZ web site, this accident, which occurred at 2:15 am on Tuesday, could have been a lot worse.

We hope the seriously injured firefighter recovers quickly.

Here is an excerpt from the site:

The driver of a van carrying wildland firefighters fell asleep and the van collided nearly head-on with a semi-truck on Highway 126 west of Prineville early Tuesday, critically injuring one passenger, Oregon State Police reported.

The other nine firefighters in the van were treated and released, and the van driver was cited, troopers said.

The collision occurred around 2:15 a.m., as a 2000 Chevrolet van carrying 10 people was en route to the John Day area, responding to assist firefighting efforts at a wildfire, troopers said.

The van driven by Jeremy Miesner, 35, of Salem, was eastbound on Highway 126E near milepost 12, negotiating, a curve when Miesner fell asleep, troopers said.

The van drifted into the westbound lane and crashed into the left front side of a Freightliner truck driven by Scott Ramage, 48, of Washington.

The van sustained major left side damage and all 10 occupants were taken by ambulance or helicopter to Bend, Prineville and Redmond hospitals. The truck’s driver and 39-year old male sleeping passenger were not injured.

 
Thanks go out to Chuck and Shaun.

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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.

2 thoughts on “Van carrying 10 contract firefighters involved in crash”

  1. First and foremost, I am very glad it was not worse and hope for the best for the seriously injured firefighter. I have to comment on the time – 2:15 am. I don’t know the circumstances and maybe there was a very good reason to be traveling in the middle of the night, but I am grateful that those of us who travel under NWCG guidelines are not allowed to travel in the middle of the night. I wonder how many more tragic accidents have been avoided due to the NWCG rules? My heart goes out to those involved in this accident.

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