LUCERNE, Calif. – A Corning man suffered major injuries when the semi truck he was driving overturned on Highway 20 early Saturday morning, trapping him inside as thousands of gallons of milk from the semi's crushed trailer went into the lake.
Dana Montgomery, 57, sustained a head laceration and had a complaint of pain to his right left following the wreck, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP report said Montgomery was driving a 2008 Kenworth semi with a 1999 tank trailer hauling a load of milk.
Montgomery was headed westbound at an unknown speed on Highway 20 east of Lucerne at 3:30 a.m. when, for reasons that are not known, the truck went off the road to the north of the highway, the CHP reported.
The semi hit a roadside call box and continued out of control, hitting the embankment and overturning, the CHP said.
The truck's trailer ruptured and lost its load of approximately 5,000 gallons of milk. The CHP said the milk entered a culvert that led to Clear Lake and got into the water.
Montgomery was trapped in the cab until heavy duty tow trucks arrived at the scene to lift the truck so firefighters could free him from the wreckage, according to the CHP.
Northshore Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Pat Brown told Lake County News that it took firefighters from the district's four main stations – Clearlake Oaks, Lucerne, Nice and Upper Lake – two hours to extricate Montgomery from the crushed semi. Cal Fire from the Clearlake Oaks station also was involved in the rescue.
They used heavy rescue equipment to cut through the wreckage, as well as the large tow trucks and airbags to lift the truck, Brown said.
The REACH 6 air ambulance responded to Lucerne Harbor Park to pick up Montgomery. After landing at the park, Brown said the REACH crew responded to the crash scene to assist with advanced life support for Montgomery while he was being extricated.
REACH 6 subsequently transported Montgomery to an out-of-county trauma center for treatment of his injuries, the CHP said.
Due to the milk entering the lake, firefighters at the scene requested that Lake County Environmental Health and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife respond to the scene.
The CHP said Caltrans also responded to the crash site and provided one-way traffic control during the vehicle recovery, with CHP's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center notified of the traffic control.
Both lanes of Highway 20 at the crash site were reopened at 9:30 a.m., the CHP said.
Montgomery used his safety equipment, the CHP said.
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Corning man injured in Saturday semi rollover
- Elizabeth Larson
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