Firefighters from Anaheim and the City of Orange responded to a major accident on the southbound 57 freeway late Sunday night near the Big A just north of the Orangewood Avenue offramp.
According to witnesses, a car traveling at high speeds lost control, overturned, and caught fire in the fast lane of the freeway leaving the driver trapped in the wreckage. Additional collisions occurred as incoming cars were unable to avoid the overturned car. In all it appeared that at least 6 cars and 5 injured persons were involved.
The first arriving fire engine quickly assessed the scene that was spread over several hundred feet of the freeway and declared the crash a Mass Casualty Incident due to the number of patients and the severity of the injuries.
Additional Paramedic units and ambulances were dispatched to the scene, as well as a truck company from the City of Orange Fire Department that used its Jaws of Life to free the victim from the badly mangled overturned car that started the chain of events. The car was so badly damaged that it was difficult to determine the make and model initially.
The California Highway Patrol had to close all lanes of the southbound 57 freeway for about an hour as crews tended to the victims and cleared the wreckage.
The injured were transported by ambulances to nearby UCI Medical Center in Orange.
