One of the firefighters injured in a violent rollover crash on an Orange County freeway last month was met by a large procession of friends, family, medical staff and fellow firefighters as he was being transferred to a Colorado hospital that specializes in neurorehabilitation for patients with spinal injuries, officials announced Wednesday.
Andrew Brown was among eight Orange County Fire Authority firefighters, members of Santiago Hand Crew 1, involved in a terrible crash on Sept. 19 on the 241 toll road near SR-133 in Irvine as the crewmembers were returning from fighting the Airport Fire.
Just before 7 p.m., the driver of the truck swerved to avoid a ladder in the roadway. The maneuver caused the box-like firetruck to strike a guardrail and overturn, leaving eight firefighters injured.
Seven of the firefighters were rushed to the hospital by ambulance, while one was airlifted off the freeway by an OCFA helicopter.
The accident left the fire department shaken.
“We’ve got a tough road ahead,” OCFA Chief Brian Fennessy said at a news conference the morning after the crash. “Many of the injured are going to be hospitalized for a while.”