Posted on 01/14/2007 12:04:23 PM PST by BurbankKarl
SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. Ice on the San Diego (405) Freeway in Sherman Oaks apparently caused a crash Sunday morning which led to a firefighter being injured and two lanes being closed for hours, authorities said.
The initial accident occurred about 1:10 a.m. on the southbound side of the freeway at the Ventura Boulevard onramp, when a driver apparently hit a patch of ice, lost control of the vehicle and went off the road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer David Porter.
A second vehicle that had spun out of control struck a responding firefighter of six years, on foot at the scene, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
A man and woman became trapped in a pickup that had hit black ice and collided with a car before careening off the roadway, according to a camera crew at the scene.
Firefighters were attempting to rescue the victims when a sport utility vehicle hit the ice and lost control, striking and pinning the firefighter against a fire truck, according to the camera crew, adding that the firefighter remained pinned for more than 20 minutes.
"I ended up hitting that other SUV that's there and and it hit the fire truck and pinned the fireman underneath," said Jana Brison.
"My car completely fishtailed. I couldn't keep control of it at all once I hit that," Brison said about the black ice.
The 33-year-old Los Angeles Fire Department veteran was apparently knocked momentarily unconscious before being transported to Los Angeles County-UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, where he was said to be in fair condition, Humphrey said.
Seven people in multiple vehicles became involved in the accident, Humphrey said, adding that two of them were transported to area hospitals in unknown condition.
CHP officers at the scene said a broken sprinkler shooting water onto the freeway caused the quarter-inch-thick sheet of black ice.
A SigAlert was issued at 1:30 a.m. and only the carpool lane remained opened, Porter said. At least two lanes were closed until shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday.
Good grief.
Time to buy some Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate options me thinks!
Can't be an ordinary patch of ice, oh, no. It has to be the widely feared, melodramatic, Hollywood-ready black ice.
Just stunning! That's quite a photo, Karl!
There are going to be a lot of out of worker "pickers" very soon....a lot of the growers didnt attempt to save their crops last night...it was too cold.
You're right. Wow. I am just amazed.
It was funny to see the neighborhood kids playing out on the sheet of ice in the street this morning, like it was a curiosity.
When I was growing up in upstate New York, a sheet of ice wouldn't really be a novelty.
If you hit a patch of ice in Tennessee and the vehicle slips a little, not going out of control, of course, it wouldn't become a nationwide news article. We hit slick spots at intersections here, too, especially during the cooler nine months of the year, and it is amazing some people wonder what happened.
Black ice causes lots of accidents in cold weather lower 48 states too. It usually forms on bridges, freeway overpasses and shaded places, is invisible, and drivers come upon it suddenly from dry ice-free pavement. It's deadly to the unwary, near Hollywood or anyplace else.
LA local news is the same level as any small town news. Around here we can mash three cars together at any given intersection any time and we don't need black ice to do it.
I hit some ice on the sidewalk yesterday....wasnt looking in the shadows! Reminded of me when I lived in Seattle.
well, it did hospitalize a fireman...
If the news broadcast pointed out that Leadfoot Lew will be having car trouble if he doesn't take it easy on ice and probably have to rent a car while his is in the shop it might do some good.
I've hit black ice before. Car did a 360 before I could gain control. My daughter and I were walking to school down the block, and she slipped on black ice wearing a dress. Had to pick all the gravel out of her, then dress her in sweats before she could get to school.
People out here are never prepared for weather.
The difference is that black ice on the 405 at Ventura Blvd. really IS news.
Yeah, I remember one time I was caught outside in LA when it not only began to rain but got down to 60 and I didn't have my windbreaker. Sure shattered my illusions about California.
The euros they interviewed at Manhattan Beach on vacation certainly didnt expect 28 degrees at night! It was 87 degrees here last week.
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