SPFD: Multiple agencies respond to
Lake Piru area semi-truck incident
August 15, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Fire was among the responders to an incident Monday that left the cab of a semi-truck dangling over a 200-foot-high hillside in the Lake Piru area.
No one was injured in the accident according to a California Highway Patrol spokesman.
The incident occurred just before 11:30 a.m. August 11 when an 18-wheeler truck and trailer with a load of oilfield equipment was heading down an oil lease’s private road south of Lake Piru.
The CHP said the truck apparently lost its brakes and went over the side of the road, but a cable attached from the truck cab to the trailer - which was loaded with heavy equipment - prevented the cab from plummeting down the approximately 200-feet hillside.
The unidentified 51-year-old male driver, a resident of Taft, was able to jump out of the cab and crawl up to the hillside; he was not injured during the incident.
Ventura County Fire, along with Santa Paula and Fillmore fire departments, responded to the scene, as did units from Los Padres National Forest and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Airsquad.
The truck was secured overnight until Tuesday morning when a heavy-duty crane was able to bring the cab back up to the road surface.