San Diego Firefighters Injured in Vehicle Collision are on the Mend

In September 2024, three San Diego firefighters en route to North Carolina to support firefighters dealing with Hurricane Helene were in a serious car wreck in Texas. One of those firefighters is now out of the hospital.

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.

“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 management 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 injuries.

“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.

President Joe Biden shared his concern during a press briefing on Monday. “I want to thank all the first responders and everyone who’s been working around the clock. One of the brave teams who volunteered to be there, from the 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 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.