Boy Hurt in Collision With Firetruck Fighting for Life

An Anaheim boy remained in extremely critical condition Friday with head and internal injuries, one day after his father’s pickup truck collided with a speeding fire engine at a San Juan Capistrano intersection.

As Orange County Fire Authority officials began their own investigation into the midday crash, statewide reports show that accidents involving emergency vehicles are rare, accounting for less than 1% of collisions in Orange County.

A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said alcohol may have played a role in Thursday’s crash, which also critically injured the boy’s father and a landscaping co-worker.

When extracting the three Anaheim residents from the crumpled 1973 Ford pickup, emergency crews discovered a screw-top vodka bottle and a beer can that had apparently fallen from the vehicle’s cab.

“Right now we don’t know whether the driver was under the influence, but we’re looking at alcohol as a possible factor,” said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Doan. A blood test will determine whether the driver--identified by police as Antonio VelasqueOrtega, 44--had been drinking. No charges have been filed in the incident.

The collision occurred about 2 p.m. Thursday, as Ortega, his 11-year-old son and co-worker Juan Lomendez, 45, were heading northeast along San Juan Creek Road, from a landscaping job. As the worn pickup entered the intersection of La Novia Avenue, it collided with a firetruck speeding southeast along La Novia, en route to a reported structure fire.

Fire officials and sheriff’s investigators said they do not know which vehicle had the green light. However, they said the 20-ton pumper truck was using its lights and siren at the time. The front driver’s side of the pickup smashed into the front passenger side of the pumper truck. The three firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Investigators say the boy, out of school on holiday, was sitting between his father and the other man. They said the boy suffered a fractured skull, a ruptured spleen and other abdominal injuries.

“The boy is the one who’s worst off right now; the other two look like they’ll make it,” Doan said. The boy’s father suffered head injuries, while the other man sustained cuts and a broken rib.