On Monday morning, November 16th, units from Crescent City Fire & Rescue, Del Norte Ambulance and CALFIRE were dispatched just before 9:00am to Elk Valley Road for a traffic collision with the driver still in the vehicle with unknown injuries.
While in route, first responders were updated that the vehicle was fully involved, and the driver was out of the vehicle.
On arrival, it was found that the burning vehicle was a large Enterprise delivery truck mostly off the west side of the road with heavy fire coming from the rear cargo box.
The upper third of a power pole was hanging in the air to the rear of the truck. As Crescent City Fire & Rescue and CALFIRE arrived, power lines began to burn through and dropped to the ground and the roadway was completely closed.
Fire crews pulled two hose lines and attacked the fire after Pacific Power and Light personnel were on scene and confirmed that the lines were de-energized. The driver was transported to Sutter Coast Hospital by ambulance with moderate injuries.
The main fire was knocked down within 10 minutes, but crews worked another 40 minutes to extinguish hot spots under the collapsed sides and top of the cargo box. It was found that when the truck hit the power pole, the transformer on the pole dropped through the roof of the cargo box and caught the interior on fire.
