Bus, fire engine crash; FF in critical condition(Ontario,CA)

[Guest]

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Tour bus, fire engine crash; firefighter in critical condition

By L.C. Greene and Annette Wells

Staff Writers

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - ONTARIO - One man was killed and a firefighter was left clinging to life after a casino tour bus packed with dozens of passengers collided with a fire engine on the 10 Freeway Tuesday morning.

Kau Leung was riding in the front of the bus when the cabs of the two vehicles slammed together, killing the 75-year-old Rosemead man.

Upland Fire Department Engineer Tom Barilla, 40, who was driving the firetruck, was ejected and suffered major chest and head injuries, according to California Highway Patrol officers at the scene.

With the eastbound 10 at Fourth Street closed down, Barilla was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. He remained in critical condition late Tuesday.

Paramedics turned the freeway's eastbound lanes into a triage center for the 55 mostly elderly bus passengers, many of who sustained mild to moderate injuries.

"They were just frantic," said California Highway Patrol officer Scott Stevenson, the first officer to enter the damaged bus.

Passenger Lee Yan, 67, of Los Angeles, said he was nodding off when the collision happened.  

"I was thrown," he said. Yan's left wrist was swollen and he suffered several minor cuts.  

The two other firefighters on the engine sustained minor injuries.

The vehicles collided at about 7:30 a.m. as the Upland fire crew was responding to an earlier accident on the westbound carpool lane of the 10 Freeway.

Barilla, who was headed eastbound on the 10, had planned to park his engine next to the freeway median to gain access to the westbound side and was gradually merging left into the carpool lane, CHP Officer Tony Nguyen said.

The tour bus, driven by 51-year-old Nam Jae Chung of Lakewood, was traveling eastbound in the carpool lane when it collided with the left rear of the engine, causing the engine to rotate counter-clockwise, Stevenson said.  

The right front of the bus struck the driver's side of the engine, Nguyen said.

The engine then veered right, crossing all lanes of the freeway, coming to rest on the right shoulder just west of Fourth Street.

The tour bus came to a stop in the carpool lane. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Firefighters were forced to cut through crushed metal to free the panicked bus passengers.

Twenty-six people, including the three Upland firefighters, were taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for treatment.

Of the 26, 19 had minor injuries. Others' injuries ranged from moderate to critical. By 4:30 p.m., all but Barilla and a Chinese tourist, also listed in critical condition, had been released from the hospital.

"(Barilla's) family doesn't want the details of his condition released but I can say he sustained injuries to his chest, face and head," said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, the hospital's medical director.

Mike Barilla, 41, said Tuesday afternoon that his brother Tom was still in intensive care and that the family was waiting.

"He's very critical right now," he said by cell phone Tuesday from Arrowhead Regional.

Mike Barilla said Tom has a wife, Dora, and two young daughters, and has been with the Upland Fire Department for 18 years.

"He comes from a background of firefighters," Mike Barilla said. "My dad was a firefighter, I'm a firefighter in Pasadena and my brother is a firefighter in Phoenix."

He said the family, from New York, moved to Rancho Cucamonga in 1975.

"We were just interested in this from the start," Mike Barilla said about the brothers becoming firefighters. "It's our personalities. We're all athletic and have this interest in helping other people."

Mike Barilla said his brother is known as the handyman in the family.

"He's always over at my house fixing things," said Mike Barilla, who is a firefighter/paramedic at Pasadena.

GnanaDev said the hospital was put under a code orange alert as a result of the collision.

About 150 hospital personnel were called in, including physicians, nurses and support staff.

Most of them were sent back home because of the low volume of patients and injuries.

"Those who stayed to help were individuals able to speak Cantonese and Mandarin languages," GnanaDev said.

Loma Linda University Medical Center treated about 25 passengers, with one admitted in unknown condition, according to hospital sources.

Five were treated at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, with one admitted in fair condition.

Doctors Hospital in Montclair treated and released one patient.

The bus, operated by H&C Paradise Tours Inc. of Los Angeles, was heading to the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, company attorney Damien Morozumi of San Francisco said.

The 55 passengers, who were of Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean descent, were residents of the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles, he said. The passengers were mostly middle-aged and elderly.

The tour company has been in business since 1997, he said. "We've never had a serious accident."

For the collision to be so serious, the fire engine must have swerved sharply into the bus, Morozumi said.

However, Upland interim fire chief Jim Bowman, while not commenting on the specifics of the accident, said engineers and other fire personnel are trained to the highest safety standards.

The firetruck had its emergency lights on when the accident occurred, according to the CHP report.

[JBE 328]

Say a prayer guys....

[Guest]

Accident Photos:

http://lang.dailybulletin.com/socal/galler...31605_bus_crash

[ja3kfd 34]

I will as well as my family , Thank God no one else was hurt, unfortunetly This is a reminder to us all when we respond to alarms, That is one busy and congested roadway at that time of day usually 6 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic. That is where we stayed and traveled on that Roadway when we were there with Jimmy, we even checked out that firehouse with him, I do not recall everyones name we meet that day but God Bless them all

[Guest]

Good news!!!!!!

Upland Firefighter's Condition Improves

Driver in fatal collision with a tour bus is upgraded. He had nearly 6 hours of surgery.

By Lance Pugmire

Times Staff Writer

March 17, 2005

An Upland firefighter injured when his fire engine collided with a tour bus on the San Bernardino Freeway was upgraded to serious condition Wednesday after undergoing nearly six hours of surgery, medical authorities said.

Tom Barilla, 40, sustained "significant head trauma'' in Tuesday's collision and underwent a procedure that was similar to operations designed to relieve pressure on the brain, said Dr. Dev A. Gnanadev, medical director of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where Barilla is hospitalized.

"It was a pretty dramatic injury, but it's a correctable injury," Gnanadev said.

Barilla also suffered chest and abdominal injuries when his Upland Fire Department engine collided with the bus loaded with 58 mostly senior citizens who were headed to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio. The bus had picked up passengers in Los Angeles' Chinatown and the San Gabriel Valley.

One bus passenger, Kau Leung, a 75-year-old retired chef from Rosemead, was killed.

A 70-year-old passenger, who was not identified by hospital authorities, was upgraded to stable condition Wednesday after undergoing surgery for fractures, including in the leg, Gnanadev said.

Barilla, Upland's Firefighter of the Year in 2004, has been able to communicate only minimally with his family and hospital personnel.

"Simple things," said Mike Barilla, his brother. "A thumb's-up … he's squeezed my hand … he's opened an eye once or twice on command. It's not that he knows me, but it's a command he can follow."

California Highway Patrol officials said the investigation was ongoing. Of the 58 bus passengers, 54 were taken to hospitals. Two other firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Barilla was driving the fire engine, which was responding to an earlier accident on the other side of the freeway. The engine was merging into the carpool lane with it collided with the bus, CHP officials said.

"I explained to [Tom] what had happened, that the other members of the crew were OK and that everyone was praying for him," Mike Barilla said. "He squeezed my hand."

The family is asking the public to donate blood to the San Bernardino Blood Bank at (909) 885-6503 or the Riverside County Blood Bank at (951) 687-2530.

[ja3kfd 34]

Great news I am sure a long road to recorvery but I know we will keep praying for them all

[x648eng119 2]

A tragic reminder of how careful apparatus operators need to be nowadays. Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved

[Guest]

Crash update: Upland firefighter remains in critical condition  

Recovery slow after crash with tour bus

By Edward Barrera

Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - UPLAND - Firefighter Tom Barilla continues to slowly recover from the major head and chest trauma he sustained when his fire truck and a tour bus collided this past week.

The 40-year-old being treated at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center remains in stable but critical condition in the intensive-care unit. He recently was weaned from a respirator and is breathing on his own.

"He continues to make steady improvements and is responding to visitors, opening his eyes a little bit," said Arrowhead spokesman Jorge Valencia, though he wouldn't comment on Barilla's long-term prognosis.

The March 15 crash occurred while Barilla, fire Capt. Joel Cascadden and Firefighter-paramedic John Ruppert were responding to a minor accident on the 10 Freeway.

As the Upland firetruck was merging into the eastbound car-pool lane in Ontario, a casino tour bus slammed into the fire engine.

One of the bus passengers was killed and another was critically injured. Cascadden, Ruppert and 53 bus passengers were treated for mild to moderate injuries and later released from area hospitals.

The critically injured bus passenger, whose identity was not released, was released on Sunday.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

In the days after the crash, local fire departments, including Ontario and Montclair, offered fire personnel and equipment to assist the Upland department. Chino Valley firefighters donated their free time to help staff stations.

"The fire service is a strange animal," said John Fowler, president of the Upland Firefighters Association. "Whenever something happens like this, so many people help. It's been overwhelming."

The Blood Bank of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties is still accepting blood donations in Barilla's name, and the union has set up a fund to help the Barilla family defray costs.

Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 605, Upland 91785. The union asked that all checks be made payable to the Upland Firefighters Association.

The association also is updating its Web site, www.upff.org , with information about Barilla's condition and future fund-raisers to help the family.