FRESNO, Calif. — The California Highway Patrol is currently delving into a tragic highway collision that involved 17 vehicles amid a thick fog in Fresno on Sunday morning.
Authorities have confirmed that a 61-year-old man lost his life in the accident, while several others, including children, sustained varying degrees of injuries. Those affected were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.
The catastrophic accident occurred on Highway 99 and involved a large rig truck, contributing to the severity of the incident.
Visibility was severely limited, with drivers able to see only 10 to 15 feet ahead when the pileup happened.
Preliminary findings suggest that the collision began when two vehicles slowed down, but several vehicles behind them were unable to reduce speed in time, resulting in multiple crashes.
As the investigation unfolds, more insights are being gathered about the diligent work of the first responders on the scene.
“The natural disasters we’ve gone to in the past have played a huge part in us getting experience to do that and work on it, to make decisions without enough information, without enough time, that are critical,” says Battalion Chief Lupe Fernandez. “The more and more we flex that muscle and we train and practice, the better we get at it.”
Sunday’s disaster demanded every ounce of experience that the California Highway Patrol, Fresno Fire Department and medical crews had to offer.
The line of damaged cars stretched seemingly without end, due to the dense fog.
As rescue teams scrambled to remove victims from their vehicles, Fernandez’s quick thinking saved them precious time.
“When I arrived, firefighters were actively helping people out of their cars,” he said. “They were searching cars. We had to establish some means of making sure we weren’t duplicating our efforts so we could be as effective as we could.”
Footage from the scene shows cars marked with orange X’s and O’s.
“An X means we’ve searched it and it’s clear,” Fernandez said. “A circle means we’ve searched it the second time and it’s clear, and the second time is more. It’s a deeper search. It’s under, on top, in between.”
What may seem simple to some could have been the difference between life and death.
“There’s always something to learn from every incident,” Fernandez said. “We could do something better each time, but we were comfortable with how things went.”
The sheer volume of cars involved in the accident may look catastrophic, but nearly 20 years ago, a similar sight blanketed Highway 99 in the area.
A 100-vehicle crash killed two and sent 39 others to the hospital.
Chief Fernandez says disasters like these are what make his unit stronger and more capable when they are called.
“It doesn’t happen every day, for sure, but I’ve had experience doing it — it absolutely helped,” he said. “The fact that we had several of the people who have been on those deployments with me there really made it go well.”
Many of the surviving victims in this case, which included children between the ages of one and four years old, were transported by bus, adding another layer of collaboration to this life-saving effort.
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