Bitterroot Hot Shot member Nicole Lustig was upgraded from critical to serious condition Thursday night with head injuries at University of New Mexico Hospital. Firefighter Jared Bohrman, also at the UNM hospital, was in guarded condition with chest injuries.
Seven others were taken to a Socorro hospital, where firefighter Mike King was in good condition Thursday. Crew members Jay Wood, Jude Waerig, Bill McMaster, Skylar Brown, Richard Griffin and Lisa Kurtzhals were treated and released.
The nine firefighters were injured when a recreational vehicle collided with their U.S. Forest Service truck Wednesday on U.S. 60 west of Socorro. The Bitterroot Hot Shots were in the Forest Service truck and headed to a wildfire in the nearby Cibola National Forest when the crash occurred.
State police said a tire on the recreational vehicle blew out, and the vehicle went into oncoming traffic. It missed one Forest Service vehicle and hit a second.
The driver of the recreational vehicle, Tim Schultz of Datil, N.M., was pronounced dead at the scene.
