Injury accident leads to another crash involving Ceres firetruck

A Ceres Fire Department ladder truck was rear-ended on a Highway 99 offramp Monday afternoon, minutes after its dispatch to another crash was canceled.

The initial crash occurred about 12:10 p.m. on southbound Highway 99 at Whitmore Avenue. A Caltrans worker who asked not to be identified said another Caltrans crew was removing a ramp closure after completing landscape work along the highway.

A driver reportedly made an unsafe lane change and slowed, and then was rear-ended by a southbound big rig and overturned, the Caltrans worker said. California Highway Patrol confirmation of the events in the crash was not immediately available Monday afternoon because officers still were in the field.

Two women were hurt in the crash. Initial reports on the dispatch scanner indicated serious injuries, but CHP Officer James Dixon said they turned out to be minor – primarily complaints of pain.

The No. 3 lane of southbound Highway 99 was closed at Whitmore, Caltrans said. Traffic backed up while the scene was cleared. It reopened about two hours later.

The crash involving the ladder truck occurred when the Ceres crew, not needed at the Highway 99 crash scene, took the Mitchell Road offramp because the Whitmore exit was closed, said Ceres Fire Department Battalion Chief Rich Scola.

Because of the Whitmore closure, the Mitchell offramp was congested, Scola said, and the firetruck was stopped in traffic about halfway down the offramp stretch.

A Nissan Altima was stopped behind the truck, the Caltrans worker said, but a Honda Civic LX coming down the offramp failed to note the congestion and rear-ended the Altima, pushing it into the truck.

The ladder truck crew was not injured, Scola said, and damage to the vehicle was cosmetic. The responsible driver was evaluated by an American Medical Response ambulance crew and taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, he said.

This story was originally published March 27, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Injury accident leads to another crash involving Ceres firetruck."