Mechanical Issue Probed in Napa, Calif. Fire Engine Wreck

Accident investigators are looking into whether mechanical failure played a role in an accident that sent a fire truck with two volunteers plunging down an embankment east of Napa on Saturday.

The CHP is tapping a specially trained team to probe the Wooden Valley Road accident, which destroyed the Napa County Fire Department engine.

“Our department is looking into the possibility of there being a mechanical failure,” CHP spokeswoman Anna Paulson said Tuesday.

Such teams are brought in whenever “something doesn’t add up” in the preliminary investigation, Paulson said. In this case, the statements from the driver, April George, 34, of Napa, and the passenger, Donald Capalety, 35, of Vacaville, led investigators to suspect possible mechanical problems, she said.

The volunteer firefighters had been dispatched to a report of a motorcycle down when the engine’s tires left the right side of the winding, two-lane road and the engine crossed the opposite lane and plunged about 100 feet down an embankment, destroying the vehicle.

George said she and her colleague were “very sore” after their scare but suffered only minor injuries in the incident.

“It could have been a lot worse,” George said.

She said she suspected the CHP was exploring mechanical failure because she told officers of a possible problem with the engine’s brakes.

“I felt my brakes lock up, so I didn’t have control at that point,” George said.

The investigating CHP officer declined to release the names of the driver or passenger over the weekend, saying his supervisors instructed him not to release the information.

Paulson said a meeting was convened Tuesday to discuss that decision and “lessons were learned,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or [email protected]. On Twitter @srcitybeat.

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