SAN DIEGO — One of three firefighters hurt in a serious crash while responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene is out of the hospital tonight.
The San Diego Fire and Rescue Department says the Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 8 members were hurt when their Ford F-350 crashed in east Texas on Sunday.
They were airlifted to the Shreveport LSU Hospital, where two others are still being treated.
“Right off the bat, when we got notified, was to start mobilizing resources and get that support to everybody involved,” said David Hunt, Health and Safety Office.
He is the Cancer and Health Coordinator for SDFD Health and Safety Office and helped mobilize the six peer teams, two chaplains and their assigned K9’s, Kassie and Genoa. They also flew the families of the victims out to Texas and continue to support everyone affected including firefighters back home.
“It’s extremely critical to be able to have this kind of support. Research and data have shown that having the peer support and the chaplains and being able to conduct these debriefings and critical incident stress managements provides a huge benefit to processing the trauma and relieving those cases of PTSD down the road,” said Hunt.
On Tuesday, the San Diego Fire Department announced that Captain Greg Davies was released from the hospital. Battalion Chief Aide Barbat and Captain Jesse Schultz are still being treated for undisclosed injuries.
On Sunday, the three firefighters were injured when their Ford F-305 crashed on Interstate 20 near Highway 80 in East Texas near the Louisiana state border.
CBS 8 has reached out to Texas Highway Patrol for information about the crash that is still under investigation.
“They were involved in a very, very serious crash, and it’s still very early with regard to the medical treatments and all of the things that the doctors are doing to help them at this time,” said Mónica Muñoz, SDFD Public Information Officer.
The three firefighters are part of the 48 member task force that was headed to North Carolina to assist in the Hurricane Helene aftermath.
The support is being felt by President Joe Biden who shared his concern during a press briefing on Monday.
"I want to thank all, all the first responders and everyone who's been working around the clock. One of the brave teams who volunteered to be there is from San Diego County Fire Department set to travel all the way from California to North Carolina to help. But on their way, they were in a, in a terrible car accident in Louisiana, we pray for their full recovery but it was a bad accident. We know there's more to do. We'll continue to surge resources including food, water, communications and lifesaving equipment will be there, as I said before, and I mean, it, as long as it takes to finish this job,” he added.
While the 45 other task force members wait in Texas to hear if FEMA Will send them back to San Diego, they too are getting the emotional support.
SDFD said Davies is a Hazmat captain who is assigned to Station 45. He joined SDFD in 2009, became a member of CA-TF8 in 2017 and is currently the Plans Team Manager. It is not known when he will return to San Diego.