Oceanside firefighters responded to two major incidents early Saturday, including a fiery freeway crash that left one driver critically injured and a separate crash into a home just hours later.
The first emergency was reported on the northbound Interstate 5, where a vehicle left the roadway and collided with a tree on a steep hillside. When
Oceanside Fire Department
crews arrived, they found the engine compartment engulfed in flames and the driver trapped inside.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, stabilize the vehicle, and extricate the driver within nine minutes. The patient was transported and flown by Reach 16 air ambulance to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, a Level 1 trauma center. The driver remained in critical but stable condition as of Saturday morning.
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As crews wrapped up the freeway crash, a second call came in for a vehicle that had slammed into a home at 644 Elaine Ave. An SUV had veered off Vandergrift Road and crashed into a bedroom where a woman was sleeping.
No serious injuries were reported in the second incident. Firefighters secured the scene, shut off utilities, and awaited a building inspector to assess the structural damage.
Both incidents remain under investigation.
