Staff Reports
Three people were injured early Friday when a semi-tractor-trailer rig slammed into a bedroom where two girls were sleeping in a mobile home at the Holbrook trailer park.
One of the victims, a 16-year-old girl, had to be pulled from under the rig when the bedroom was sheared off the back of the trailer, said Douglas County Sheriff's Capt. Keith Logan.
East Fork Deputy Fire Chief Bobby Wartgow said the driver indicated to rescue personnel that he fell asleep at the wheel.
The driver of the rig and the 16-year-old were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno with injuries. The identities of the victims and the extent of their injuries were unknown.
The other girl is 12. The age of the driver was unknown.
Logan said Careflight in Reno was grounded because of the smoke from California wildland fires, but the victims were taken by ambulance to Carson Valley Medical Center and transported by helicopter from the Gardnerville facility.
Logan said the tractor-trailer was heading southbound on Highway 395 when it went off the east side of the road about 5 a.m. and into the park north of the junction with State Route 208.
"It hit the back end of a trailer that was closest to the highway where a family was sleeping, went through an adjacent vacant space and came to rest after hitting an empty trailer in the park," Logan said.
He praised the cooperative efforts of the sheriff's office, fire departments from East Fork fire and rescue personnel and California and Nevada Highway Patrol for their response.
"When they got there, they knew they had a missing child. They searched feverishly to find her and one of our deputies had to dig her out of the debris where she had been pinned. She was still talking, but had multiple point trauma," Logan said. "Give or take a few feet, it could have been a whole lot worse."
Wartgow said the 16-year-old was pinned underneath the semi for half an hour before she was extricated.
"Of the three, she has the most critical injuries," Wartgow said. "We found her kind of on the saddle tanks on the big rig."
The 12-year-old had a head laceration and foot injury, Wartgow said.
She was treated at Carson Valley Medical Center.
"The master bedroom at the end of the mobile home was totally taken off," Wartgow said. "The fact we don't have two fatalities is amazing."
Logan said the Nevada Health Department was reporting to the site because the tractor-trailer was carrying food.
Also, propane to the mobile home park was cut off because of a leaking tank.
Emergency personnel were expected to be at the site all day investigating the accident.
