Santa Maria City, Calif. Firefighters Extricate Driver

Santa Maria firefighters extricated a man from his vehicle on the evening of August 13, 2010.

Engine 3 was dispatched to a vehicle accident at the 200 block of East Grant, just east of Broadway. Once on scene, Engine 3 discovered the late model Lexus on its passenger side, with the male driver standing inside the vehicle and trapped. An additional engine was requested, bringing Engine 1 and Battalion 212.

Crews went to work stabilizing the car, extricating the driver and assessing his injuries. Since the driver was standing up inside the vehicle, crews had to be careful with their cuts to avoid injuring him. After about 30 minutes, the driver was removed and put onto a backboard, then loaded into a waiting medic unit. SMFD also dealt with a ruptured gas tank from a parked vehicle that was hit by the Lexus.

Units cleaned up the scene as Santa Maria PD continued their investigation of the crash. This was one of three accidents in a 45-minute period that SMFD responded to that evening.