Two killed when car veers into path of fire truck
By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
Two people were killed when their car veered into the opposite lane on Highway 178 and collided head-on with a fire truck.
The reason the Honda Civic carrying Melissa Hope Aguinaga, 36, and Arthur Alvarez Aguinaga, 35, entered the fire truck's path is not yet known, Bakersfield police Detective Blaine Craig said. The BPD is investigating the crash.
Craig said there was no immediate evidence that alcohol was involved. Autopsies and toxicology reports will be performed, and investigators will examine the car to see if it was functioning properly.
The Aguinagas were driving eastbound on Highway 178 just east of Rancheria Road when they hit a Kern County Fire Department ladder truck at 8:02 p.m. Thursday, according to a coroner's office news release. The Aguinagas died at the scene. No firefighters were injured.
Firefighter Darin Griffin, 39, the driver of the truck, and Capt. Gilbert Tinoco, 49, would not be commenting on the crash, Fire Capt. Brandon Smith said.
The truck had been returning to its station at Mount Vernon and Virginia avenues after being called off an earlier crash at the mouth of the canyon, Smith said. The ladder truck has heavy equipment that is sometimes necessary in rescues. Two fire engines -- one from the Bakersfield Fire Department and the other from Kern County Fire Department -- also responded to that crash.
The truck was called off because there were only minor injuries in the earlier crash and no rescue equipment was needed, Smith said.
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