SPFD: Jaws of Life needed to free trapped driver in Balcom Road rollover
July 11, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Fire personnel responded to a single vehicle crash Thursday afternoon that required them to work for more than a half hour to remove the severely injured driver from a pickup that had flipped.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the accident was reported at 5:23 p.m. July 5 along Balcom Canyon Road near South Mountain Road. Upon arrival, emergency responders found a pickup truck had rolled over and landed on its roof, crushing the cab compartment and trapping the driver who was alone in the vehicle.
It took firefighters using the Jaws of Life more than 30 minutes to release the trapped driver, who was treated at the scene before being airlifted by a Ventura County Sheriff’s helicopter to Los Robles Hospital-Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. The unidentified driver received severe injuries in the crash.
The rollover occurred on the well-traveled canyon road located east of Santa Paula and north of Moorpark, and the pickup was towed from the scene shortly after 6 p.m. The CHP is investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred outside city limits and was responded to by Santa Paula Fire as mutual aid.