8 OCFA firefighters injured as wildfire crew truck crashes on Irvine freeway

Eight Orange County firefighters returning from battling the Airport Fire were injured in a rollover crash on a freeway in Irvine Thursday night.

Officials say six firefighters suffered major injuries and two others had minor injuries when the hand-crew truck struck a guard rail and overturned.

It apparently was caused by a ladder that was in lanes on the 241 Freeway. A vehicle ahead of the fire truck swerved to avoid the ladder and the truck swerved too, striking the guardrail on the right shoulder and flipping over, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Seven of the injured firefighters were transported by ambulance and the eighth by helicopter to various Orange County hospitals.

"These are the toughest things to have to deal with. It breaks my heart," said OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. "I know my team and all the rest of the firefighters in the OCFA and throughout the region and the country ... are praying for our members. We just ask that anybody that's listening to this, please do keep our firefighters in thoughts and prayers."

The crash happened on the 241 near the Tomato Springs Toll Plaza in the Irvine area shortly before 7 p.m.

Such wildfire hand crews are made up of 20 firefighters.

The location of the crash is to the west of the massive Airport Fire, which has burned more than 23,000 acres since last week.

The firefighters were returning from a 12-hour shift battling that wildfire, the OCFA says.

Signage on the truck indicated it was an Orange County Fire Authority vehicle for Santiago handcrews.

AIR7 was over the scene, where the truck was on its side with debris scattered across the roadway. Traffic was blocked on the northbound side and backing up for miles.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash.