Montana Hot Shot Team Involved In Crash

    June 30, 2004
    One man was killed and members of a firefighting team from Montana were injured when the man's recreational vehicle collided head-on with their U.S. Forest Service truck.
    SOCORRO, N.M. (AP) -- One man was killed and members of a firefighting team from Montana were injured when the man's recreational vehicle collided head-on with their U.S. Forest Service truck.

    State police said the accident happened around 9 a.m. Wednesday on U.S. 60 west of Socorro. The Bitterroot Hot Shots were headed to their last shift on a wildfire in the nearby Cibola National Forest when the crash occurred.

    Police said one of the RV's tires blew out, sending the vehicle into oncoming traffic. It missed the first Forest Service vehicle and hit a second, injuring six firefighters.

    One was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque and the others were taken to a Socorro hospital. Their names and conditions were not immediately released.

    Police said the driver of the RV, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

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