At roughly 9:41 am, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters responded to a reported vehicle into a canal on Golf Club Road near W. Leland Road in Pittsburg that left a 56-year-old male victim deceased.
Crews were on scene for several hours attempting a canal rescue while also trying to locate possible additional victims–at the time of this post, crews have not located additional victim. The mans identity or age was not released
During the rescue, the Contra Costa Water District worked with emergency crews to reduce the flow of the water to lower the water level so crews could continue their rescue efforts.
The incident caused a road closure as crews worked on W. Leland between Range Road and John Henry Johnson Parkway while also halting bus services until 2:30 pm.
Information Provided by Pittsburg Police Department
At 0930 hours this morning, Police and fire personnel responded to the Contra Costa County Canal on Leland between Range Road and John Henry Johnson Parkway for a vehicle submerged in the water. A water rescue was conducted by emergency personnel on scene. A male adult was found deceased in the driver seat of the vehicle. There were no other occupants located in the vehicle.
There were no witnesses to this collision and it appears that the vehicle has been at the location for several hours. At this point we are investigating this as solo vehicle collision and the roadway will be closed for the next several hours.
Update 12:28 pm via Pittsburg Police
A 56 year old Pittsburg resident was reported missing after not returning home from work yesterday. The missing person was identified as the driver of the vehicle that was located in the canal by officers today.
The victim contacted his family from the Pittsburg Bart Station at about 5pm indicating he was on his way home. When he did not arrive home by 11pm that last night, family members contacted Pittsburg Police and reported him missing. At the time of the missing person report officers searched the BART Station and surrounding areas for the victim and his vehicle. The missing person was entered into a nationwide database and officer kept constant contact with family. Notification was made to the family today once the victim was positively identified.
Traffic investigators are investigating this collision the roadway should be reopened within the hour.
Tri Delta Transit
Due to a vehicle accident on W. Leland Road in Pittsburg, the Pittsburg Police Department is detouring buses until approximately 2:30pm. Buses are detouring from Railroad to Highway 4 to BART. All bus stops on W. Leland Road between Railroad and Pittsburg/Bay Point BART are impacted, both eastbound and westbound.
We apologize for the inconvenience and will resume regular service to all Route 388 bus stops once the police have cleared the area.
CONIFRE
According to assistant Fire Chief Lewis T. Broschard III, this incident involved multiple units from throughout the Fire District due to the “technical rescue” aspect of a vehicle/person located in flowing water. A total of seven (7) crews and 25 personnel were assigned to this incident, including two specialized rescue units, two chief officers, a safety officer, and a public information officer.
Broschard explained that placing firefighters into a flowing canal to rescue people requires significant resource commitments for the safety of rescue personnel, but also to provide the support and technical equipment and rope systems to raise and lower firefighters into the water, secure the vehicle, provide for downstream rescuers, search for additional victims, provide for sufficient numbers of safety and contingency personnel for the victims and the rescuers, provide effective command and control of the incident, public information and media resources, and to provide a liaison with law enforcement and water district personnel.
“In this case, the incident was further complicated by needing to use heavy extrication equipment (jaws of life) to gain access to the victim in the water and remove him from the vehicle,” said Broschard. “The Fire District provides technical rescue capabilities including swift water/canal rescue, trench rescue, and confined space rescue. The fire departments are the primary providers of these types of emergency services to the public in Contra Costa County.”
