Patterson’s firefighters union raises questions about response to fatal canal crash
Patterson’s firefighters union has requested a review of the West Stanislaus County Fire Protection District’s response to a crash in which a woman died in a canal near Westley on June 10.
Laura Cueva’s body was recovered from the canal after the Sheriff’s Office dive unit responded.
When the West Stanislaus fire district learned of the partially submerged vehicle, the occupant was alive and conscious, according to a press release from Patterson’s International Association of Fire Fighters Local 4577.
The Patterson Fire Department’s union said it has personnel specifically trained in water rescue who were available to respond but were not called in.
The WSCFPD responded with a public statement that it responded to the incident at 1:42 p.m. June 10 and reached out to several agencies, including the CHP, the Delta-Mendota Canal operators and the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Dive Team.
“First responders experienced a rapidly evolving and extraordinarily dangerous situation for all involved individuals, including the first responders,” reads a statement posted by WSCFPD Chief Jeffrey Frye.
Sheriff’s Dive Team duty is not a staffed position. Deputies respond on an as-needed basis to emergencies, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Detective Raj Singh. Additionally, it is not considered a rescue team, but rather a recovery team responsible for recovering bodies.
“We all have normal jobs in the Sheriff’s Office doing patrol or investigations, whatever the case, is and when we get requested for that specific function. We have to respond and then pick up our equipment and go,” Singh said.
The day of the incident, the Dive Team was contacted while at Woodward Reservoir near Oakdale and informed WSCFPD that its response time would be at least an hour.
“Just incorporating traffic to go from one, literally, far end of the county to the other end of the county, not even having to make a pit stop in the middle to pick up our trucks and roll out there — it’s definitely an extended response time for those guys,” Singh said.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the Dive Team was contacted at around 1:50 p.m. and responded to the scene at around 3:20 p.m.
Nicholas Jamieson, president of the Local 4577, said there have been multiple instances when Patterson Fire was available but was not called in or there was a delay in requesting assistance. This has been an issue for the better part of a decade, he said.
“We don’t want to place blame, that is not our intention,” Jamieson said. “We’re asking questions so then we can fix this — fix the mutual aid response and serve the communities around us to the best of our capabilities together.”
Recently, there has been a change in leadership at West Stanislaus Fire Protection District. Until January, Chief Jeffrey Frye was head of both the Patterson Fire Department and the West Stanislaus County Fire Protection District, but now heads only the WSCFPD. Jeffrey Hakola is Patterson’s interim fire chief.
“West Stanislaus County Fire Protection District maintains relationships with neighboring agencies to offer mutual aid, automatic aid, joint training, and regional cooperation, all of which were utilized in the rescue and recovery of this incident,” reads a statement by WSCFPD.
Jamieson said firefighters for both WSCFPD and Patterson’s Fire Department work well together and share a station.
The incident closed Howard Road between Stark Road and Interstate 5 for around five hours.
Frye did not respond to a request for details about what happened that day.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 11:57 AM.
