Driver injured in logging truck rollover
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A logging truck driver was injured and flown out of county following a late Tuesday afternoon rollover crash near Upper Lake.
The solo-vehicle wreck was first reported just before 5 p.m., according to radio reports.
Larry Henry, a nearby resident, said the crash occurred on a private road approximately half a mile south of the Middle Creek Campground, about 300 feet from intersecting with Elk Mountain Road. The truck was just a short distance off the edge of the private road.
Fire units arriving at the scene found the truck had rolled off the road, coming to rest on its roof with the driver trapped inside the cab, according to radio reports.
Reports from the scene indicated that the response included Northshore Fire – with units coming from as far away as Clearlake Oaks, which sent a heavy rescue rig – along with the US Forest Service and the California Highway Patrol.
Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio, the incident commander, requested an air ambulance and reported that the driver was conscious. On the advice of his battalion chief, he ordered a heavy duty tow truck, as none of the fire equipment was reported to be strong enough to move the truck.
It took nearly an hour and a half to extricate the driver, who was taken to a landing zone at the nearby Conservation Camp and from there flown by air ambulance to an out-of-county trauma center.
Correction: The original story state that Cal Fire responded. The US Forest Service said it was their units, not Cal Fire, who responded along with Northshore Fire.
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