http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14278860p-15087640c.html
This happened maybe 10 miles from my house. One of the people whose house burned down goes to my church. The article doesn't say so, but the driver was presumed to be drunk when the accident happened. You have to register to read the article, so for those of you who don't want the hassle, I've copied and pasted it below.
Aerial tankers battle blazes
Fatal Highway 49 hit-and-run crash said to be linked to El Dorado fires.
By Walter Yost -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
Air tankers, helicopters and dozens of fire engines fought a series of grass fires Sunday in rural southern El Dorado County that destroyed two homes and caused evacuations of residents on two roads off Highway 49.
The fires were believed to have started after a 4 p.m. hit-and-run collision on Highway 49 and Crystal Boulevard between a pickup and a motorcycle, according to the California Highway Patrol Web site.
The cyclist, whose name was not released, died at the scene of the accident.
According to law enforcement and fire personnel, the truck lost a tire in the accident and the driver fled the scene south on Highway 49, with sparks from the metal rim igniting about 12 grass fires along both sides of the roadway.
El Dorado Sheriff's officials said the pickup driver, Tamara Wilson of El Dorado County, was taken into custody near the Amador County line. Officials said she had driven about six miles before she was found near the truck by a sheriff's canine unit.
She was being treated at Marshall Hospital in Placerville on Sunday night for injuries suffered when she was apprehended. Sheriff's officials said they expected her to be booked into the county jail but they did not say what charges she might face.
The blazes consumed approximately 40 acres and also destroyed two outbuildings, said Patrick McDaniel, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Residents on Monitor Road and Manganite Street were forced to evacuate their homes.
Highway 49 was closed from Pleasant Valley Road in the town of El Dorado south to the Amador County line and was reopened about 9:20 p.m. Sunday.
Bob Paganelli said he and his wife were traveling on Highway 50 when they saw smoke. They drove into the fire area to see if they could be of help.
"We live in Shingle Springs and that's our greatest fear," Paganelli said of the fast-spreading grass fires.
During the late afternoon, several residents temporarily evacuated their homes, seeking refuge wherever they could -- some at What About Bob's, a local convenience store, and others at Poor Red's, a restaurant and bar in El Dorado.
Rod Kinfer, a bartender at Poor Red's, said the fires were about three miles away. He said business was steady at the popular hangout.
Among the CDF units responding were firefighters from nearby Camino and crews from the CDF training academy in Ione. Engines from several other counties and aircraft from around Northern California also responded.
CDF spokesman Daniel Berlant said hot weather and dry grasses can make for a dangerous combination in the region.
"We're asking homeowners to increase their defensible space (clearing around homes) to 100 feet," Berlant said.
damn that sucks
I bet if they federally banned alchohol again, but legalized pot, there wouldn't be anywhere near the fight there was the first time around with booze prohibition... And there'd be no more drunk drivers...
Stoned drivers are nearly as bad... and believe me people would drive drunk even if alcohol itself was illegal. When you've got an addiction you don't care what's legal and what's not. Tragic that an innocent rider lost his life and so much else was destroyed as a consequence.
Quote from: sharkfin25 on July 17, 2006, 07:40:40 PM
She was being treated at Marshall Hospital in Placerville on Sunday night for injuries suffered when she was apprehended.
Hopefully, she fought her arresting officers hard so that they had to throw her face in the dirt and step on her to hold her down. :mad:
Quote from: pandy on July 18, 2006, 03:16:17 PM
Quote from: sharkfin25 on July 17, 2006, 07:40:40 PM
She was being treated at Marshall Hospital in Placerville on Sunday night for injuries suffered when she was apprehended.
Hopefully, she fought her arresting officers hard so that they had to throw her face in the dirt and step on her to hold her down. :mad:
That's exactly what happened. She didn't sustain any injuries from the accident that killed the cyclist, however since she was drunk AND high on meth, she thought it would be a good idea to fight the sheriff's deputies. There's no such thing as excessive force in that case.
Update
Trail of tragedy: Crash kills man, sparks house fires
Suspect in jail in lieu of $1 million bail
By M.S. Enkoji and David Richie -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
For Gregory Shannon, it was turning into the best of summer evenings.
After a motorcycle rally with his buddies, he was homebound on his beloved Harley-Davidson Dyna Glide, cruising alone on the rolling stretches of Highway 49 in El Dorado County.
Up ahead, a curve in the road, then home to Placerville and his best friend and wife of 24 years.
In an instant, everything changed: Shannon never had a chance. The oncoming white Silverado pickup crossed the line and slammed into him, witnesses told authorities investigating the Sunday hit-and-run crash. The collision killed the 58-year-old retired utility worker and led to a dozen blazes that left two families homeless and torched up to 75 acres.
Witnesses said the driver of the pickup never touched the brakes.
"A witness behind (the driver) said there was no pause whatsoever," said California Highway Patrol Officer Robbie Jeremica.
The wake of the hit-and-run collision tore through the rural community on Monday as a wife mourned for her constant companion, displaced families searched for a place to live, and firefighters mopped up after a blaze that caused at least $1.5 million in damage.
"He was coming home to me," Mary Shannon said Monday, in the midst of making funeral arrangements for her husband.
A retired senior electric estimator for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Gregory Shannon loved model trains. He and his wife took in railroad museums together, visited Harley-Davidson shops and did woodworking together.
"We did everything together; that's just the way it was," Mary Shannon said.
Except she wouldn't ride a motorcycle. Her husband started riding when he was a teenager and had always been concerned about safety, she said. Investigators said Shannon was riding on the correct side of the road.
Witnesses told Jeremica, who is investigating the collision, that the pickup lost a tire in the crash, but the driver kept going on the rim, spraying a 15-foot-wide plume of sparks.
Whitny Braun, 24, of Downey and her parents were driving home from a family reunion when they saw the pickup bearing down behind them, with chunks of metal and sparks flying off the axle. A posse of local residents had already formed behind, she said.
"She blew past us on three wheels. She was probably going 80," Braun said Monday.
As the driver kept going for almost six more miles, sparks from the truck ignited fires that spread in the heat-baked grass.
Just after 4 p.m., fire raced up the steep ridge toward Monitor Road.
Jerry Heitman was dozing in a chair when he awoke to see flames racing through the treetops near his back fence. He yelled to his wife, and by the time they got outside, the fire was blazing along the ground to their home of 21 years. It was gone in minutes.
"It swept up the hill so fast," said Denise Heitman, 49. "We left with what we had. My husband did not even have time to grab his wallet."
Jerry Heitman, 49, picked up a garden hose but the heat backed him off. Forced to watch, he noticed other small fires ignited by drifting embers and sparks.
"It was literally raining fire," Jerry Heitman said.
The pickup finally stopped near the Amador County line, with witnesses trailing behind. The female driver dashed from the grasp of witnesses into some bushes, Jeremica said.
When El Dorado County sheriff's deputies arrived, they tried to coax the driver out of the brush, said Sheriff's Lt. Marc Adams, but she refused.
Deputies sent in a dog, which bit her on the leg because she resisted, Adams said.
CHP officers arrested Tamara Lou Wilson, 48, of El Dorado, who was treated at a hospital for bite injuries. She was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run and felony drunken driving, manslaughter and evading a peace officer.
A blood sample taken at the hospital will be analyzed to determine if Wilson was impaired, Jeremica said.
Wilson was in jail in lieu of $1 million bail on Monday and couldn't be reached for comment. Her state Department of Motor Vehicles record shows she has a valid driver's license and a 2004 speeding violation.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is investigating the fire, said Ben Scott, battalion chief of the Amador-El Dorado unit. He will be recommending a felony charge of unlawfully causing a fire, he said Monday.
Wilson also faces civil liabilities for the cost of the fire, including an undetermined cost for fighting the fire, Scott said.
On Monday afternoon, the Heitmans were back, outside what was once their home. They have insurance, but they will be in motels for a while, they said.
Still missing are their 12-year-old yellow Labrador, Katie, and a pet cat.
It will be at least a week before the place cools down enough for them to pick through the rubble. But they could certainly look.
They saw their 24-foot pontoon boat melted into the driveway, the metal bones of a trailer, the skeleton of a greenhouse. The heirloom piano is gone.
The Heitmans couldn't even think about rebuilding.
"We are not sure. It is just too new," Jerry Heitman said. "You get gun-shy when you find out that you live at the top of a chimney."
This just makes me ill. There's a special place somewhere for a person who has so little regard for others and causes this kind of destruction.
RIP, fellow rider.