Fresno County Fire crews said that two people were killed and one person was airlifted to the hospital with major injuries after a crash on Highway 168 near the Beal fire road. (KFSN)
ABC30 Web Staff
Updated 33 mins ago
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A disoriented victim told rescue crews the vehicle had gone over the cliff about eight days ago.
Fresno County Fire crews said that two people were killed and one person was airlifted to the hospital with major injuries after a crash on Highway 168 near the Beal fire road.
(Fresno County CalFire)
Cal Fire said when they arrived at the scene, they found two men who appeared to have been ejected from the vehicle had died. A third man in his twenties was alive and pinned inside the vehicle about 200 to 300 yards from the road down a steep embankment.
Crews used the jaws of life to cut the man out and he was airlifted out with major injuries.
A Cal Fire spokesperson said the man who survived told them he had been their for about eight days. Cal Fire said they could not confirm that because the man was disoriented, however they did say the engine of the vehicle was cold when they arrived.
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Two dead after truck tumbles down embankment on Highway 168 below Shaver Lake
Fresno Bee Staff
Two men in their 20s died and a third survivor was airlifted to a Fresno hospital Tuesday after a large pickup truck tumbled down an embankment in the Fresno County foothills on Highway 168 on the four-lane section between Auberry and Shaver Lake, according to Fresno County Emergency Medical Services.
A motorist stopped firefighters about halfway up the four-lane, about 40 miles east of Fresno, to report a vehicle over the side.
Two were dead at the scene, ejected from the Chevrolet Avalanche. The third man, also in his 20s, was extricated from the vehicle after the roof was removed, Cal Fire Capt. Jeremiah Wittwer said.
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Cal Fire firefighters required rappelling equipment to get to the crash site, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Wittwer said the vehicle fell about 200 yards down the embankment, the first 100 feet filled with “rocks and boulders.” He said U.S. Forest Service crews helped chainsaw down brush and trees for firefighters to reach the vehicle, which was on its side and crushed.
A helicopter airlifted the rescued man to Community Regional Medical Center, according to Fresno County Emergency Medical Services.
Officials don’t know when the truck crashed.
Don Bare, who lives nearby, said he saw the truck “went way down the hill.”
He added: “If it had been there for days, you’d never see it.”
The crash was reported about about 10:52 a.m. Tuesday.
Point Breeze blaze ruled arson; $10,000 reward offered
POINT BREEZE (WPVI) -- A massive fire in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia has been ruled arson, and now reward of up to $10,000 is being offered as the investigation continues.
That money is for the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said on Tuesday.
"Acts of arson are dangerous crimes and threaten the community. ATF is committed to keeping the public safe from those who maliciously set fires," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Sam Rabadi said in a statement.
The fire destroyed several residential properties at 20th and Wharton that were either complete or under construction early Monday morning.
Firefighters not only had to deal with the flames, but also a collapse as the flames consumed the buildings.
They were able to contain the blaze and place the situation under control within an hour.
Investigators have not said what a possible motive could be for setting the fire.
Residents said on Monday that the neighborhood in general was excited, but not everyone was welcoming of the new development.
"The developer is a friend of ours," said resident Chris Payne on Monday. "It's kind of been under contention because of gentrification issues. Some people who've lived in this neighborhood for a long time were not looking forward to seeing this development go in."
Anyone with information is asked to call the ATF 24/7 hotline at 1-888-ATF-FIRE (1-888-283-3473), email: ATFTips@atf.gov or submit a tip anonymously by using the ReportIt App on your mobile phone.
Fire destroys homes in Pt. Breeze: Jeannette Reyes reports during Action News at noon on May 1, 2017.
Fire damages homes under construction in Point Breeze. John Rawlins reports during Action News at 5 p.m. on May 1, 2017.
Updated 2 hrs 40 mins ago
LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) -- A New York state correction officer is dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound after authorities say she opened fire on her boyfriend on a Queens street, causing a brief panic Tuesday morning.
The incident happened around 7 a.m. on Van Dam Street in Long Island City, outside the Queensboro Correctional Facility.
Police say the 47-year-old woman got into a dispute with her boyfriend, also a corrections officers, and fired a shot at him. She missed, hitting a car instead.
She then turned the gun on herself, shooting herself in the chest, according to authorities.
"The correction officer was chasing a guy, I don't know who it was," said a witness who was sitting in the car that was struck by the bullet. "She took about five shots. One of the bullets hit the car I was in...then she followed him down the block, then she came back about five minutes later and shot herself."
She was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.
Queensboro Correctional Facility is a state-run facility, and the state Department of Corrections spokesperson Thomas Mailey issued the following statement:
"This morning there was a tragic incident outside of the Queensboro Correctional Facility involving two correction officers. At no time was security to the facility breached. As a precaution, the facility is operating on a modified schedule. The Department is assisting the New York City Police Department in its investigation."
The victim's identity has not been released.
Infographic. | National Council for Safety and Health
Among the companies the Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) identifies as this year’s Dirty Dozen are a Boston contractor whose indifference to safety led to the deaths of two workers in a trench collapse and a Lansing, Illinois, tanker cleaning service that did nothing to prevent fumes from filling a tank car and killing an employee.
COSH, is a coalition of labor unions, health and technical professionals, and others that advocates for worker health and safety. National COSH released its report in advance of Workers Memorial Day, this past April 28, unveiling it at a press conference April 26.
At the press conference, Jordan Barab, a deputy assistant OSHA director during the Obama administration, said “The Dirty Dozen shows the need for more enforcement” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and by federally approved state OSHAs.
Dedicated TCS, an Illinois-based tank cleaning firm made the list because it did not check the air quality in a rail tank car located in New Orleans before the work began. As a result, Armond Stack died and his two co-workers almost did.
The three lacked harnesses, and the confined space lacked oxygen, the New Orleans coroner said. OSHA proposed fining Dedicated TCS $226,310. The firm had prior repeated confined space violations in other locations, including in Lansing and Channahon, Illinois.
The Boston trench collapse occurred when a nearby water main broke, throwing dirt, mud, gravel and water on top of trench diggers Robert Higgins and Kelvin Mattocks.
Mattocks and Higgins were killed because their employer, Atlantic Drain, did not follow basic safety rules. The Boston district attorney indicted both the firm and its owner on two counts of manslaughter and other charges.
Furthermore, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance barring construction firms with a history of serious and repeated OSHA violations – like Atlantic Drain – from getting city permits. Now the state senate is considering similar legislation. And the city council is considering amending a 200-year-old law that now limits fines in such cases to $1,000. The bill under consideration would raise fines to $250,000.
Along with Atlantic Drain and Dedicated TCS, the Dirty Dozen include:
California Cartage of Long Beach, California: Because the company did not provide machine safeguards, and because there were faulty brakes on its trucks, driver William Vasquez was killed.
Speakers at the COSH press conference said that the firm treats its drivers as “independent contractors” unprotected by workplace laws, including labor laws.
Dollar General in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. The Dirty Dozen report calls all the chain’s stores “a fire disaster waiting to happen” because exits were blocked. OSHA cited the chain more than 100 times and fined it more than $1 million combined for that violation alone in its stores nationwide.
Environmental Enterprises, Inc., of Spring Grove, Ohio, where a chemical explosion killed employee Zachary Henzerling. An OSHA report describes the company as having a “complete disregard for employees’ safety.” The firm was indicted for involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide.
Fuyao Glass America of Dayton, Ohio. The firm operates the world’s largest auto glass plant but doesn’t provide its workers with gloves. Workers were exposed to broken glass and risked amputation. OSHA cited it for 23 serious violations.
The Nissan USA auto plant in Franklin, Tennessee: Four workers died over a four-year period. Safety violations are rampant, one speaker at the press conference said, because workers fear losing their jobs if they complain, despite the fact that federal law bans retaliation against whistleblowers. OSHA has fined Nissan $99,000.
The Pilgrim’s Pride poultry processing plant in Greeley, Colorado: One worker died and another lost fingers in a machine “because management did nothing” to address amputation risk, the Dirty Dozen report says. Workers are also exposed to toxic ammonia.
PrimeFlight of Nashville, Tennessee exposes its workers to blood-borne pathogens. OSHA said PrimeFlight had 22 violations in the last three years. Conditions there are “likely to cause death or serious harm.”
TransAm Trucking of Olathe, Kansas: In minus 37 degree weather, after reporting that his cab had frozen brakes and receiving no help, driver Alphonse Maddin left the vehicle on the side of a road to seek assistance. OSHA and its appeals board ruled for him after TransAm fired him for protecting his own life. The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Every member of that court upheld OSHA’s ruling except Judge Neil Gorsuch, the newest U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Valley Garlic and X-Treme AG of California: Four migrant workers died in the crash of an illegal transport van. Following a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Labor, the contractor was enjoined from transporting agricultural workers.
The Dirty Dozen report also cites one foreign firm: the South Korean computer/phone chip maker Samsung.
The report says that more than 200 Samsung workers became seriously ill, and 76 died, from fumes released while making the chips. The firm also retaliates by a secret plan to “dominate employees” and “punish leaders,” the report says. Samsung’s CEO is now awaiting trial in South Korea’s wide-ranging presidential bribery scandal.
Fremont County Coroner confirms drowning as cause of rafter's death
Posted: 05/01/2017 04:01:02 PM MDT
FREMONT COUNTY, Colo.:
The identity of the man who died Sunday in a rafting accident is still undisclosed.
Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said the victim is from out of the country and that family members are still trying to be reached.
Keller confirmed the victim died of drowning rather than any other medical condition.
According to a news release from Sgt. Megan Richards of the Fremont County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched at 12:38 p.m. Sunday to the river near the end of CR 61 for a report of a commercial rafting accident that left three people in the river.
Upon arrival, FCSO found all parties out of the river and OK, except the one male who was unresponsive. CPR was attempted on the victim but was unsuccessful.
Keller said he believed the rafting company did everything they could to save the victim and should not be held at fault.
Keller would not say which rafting company was involved and the Daily Record has reached out to FCSO for the name but has not received a response.
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FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - One man has died after a commercial rafting accident in Fremont County Saturday afternoon.
On Monday, the Fremont County coroner released the cause of death as "accidental drowning" following an autopsy. The man was visiting from outside of the country and his identity has not been made public. Authorities are still trying to notify his family of his passing.
According to the Fremont County Sheriff's office, they got a call for a commercial rafting accident on the Arkansas River near Sunshine Rapid around 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The report said that three people had fallen into the river.
When deputies got on scene they found that everyone was out of the river, but, one man was unresponsive and not breathing. Medical crews couldn't access the scene, so a rail truck with the Royal Gorge Route Railroad was called to take the man to them.
CPR was performed but the man was pronounced dead.
In addition to the sheriff's office and Royal Gorge railroad, the Cañon City Fire Department, AMR, Flight for Life and Colorado Parks and Wildlife were all involved in rescue efforts.
The rafting company involved is Royal Gorge Rafting out of Cañon City.
