2 Southern California teens, including daughter of OCFA firefighter, hospitalized after Utah off-roading crash
Two Inland Empire teenagers, including the daughter of an Orange County firefighter, were hospitalized with severe injuries after they were involved in an off-roading accident in Utah last week.
The girls were on a Spring Break trip with their families in St. George, Utah, when a caravan of off-road vehicles was heading back to their camp on April 2, said Bruce Hale, an Orange County Fire Authority engineer who was with the families and fellow firefighters.
He says that a Polaris RZR carrying the girls overturned and burst into flames. The group then sprang into action, rushing to pull them from the burning vehicle and extinguish the flames.
"We carry medical supplies with us in our cars. We have little packs that we purchased off of Amazon that we carry, so we ripped all those open," Hale said, noting that they all also had fire extinguishers. "They put them out with the extinguishers. That saved their lives, getting them out, and we used what we could on scene to cool the burns."
The girls, 15-year-old Brooklyn Mallet, whose father is an OCFA fire captain, and her friend from Yucaipa, were life-flighted to a burn unit in Las Vegas. Mallet, a member of the varsity dance team at Santiago High School in Corona, suffered burns to more than 40% of her body and has already undergone three surgeries, Hale said. Her friend suffered injuries to the left side of her face, neck, chest and arm.
"We train for this all the time, but for us to see people that we know that's hurt, but everybody came together and we got them off scene as quick as we could," Hale said.
Hale says they're already being located for further medical treatment.
"They did get into Ronald McDonald House, for at least, I think, 28 days," he said.
Online fundraisers have been established for both of the girls as they continue on their long road to recovery. Hale says that the families could be living in Las Vegas for the next three months.
"I would say prayers number one. Financial, they've already hit all of their maxes as far as insurances go," he said.
An GoFundMe fundraiser, which was set up by OC Firefighters Local 3631, the union that represents Orange County firefighters, for Mallet can be found by searching for the keywords "Support the Fallen Firefighter Relief Fund." A separate GoFundMe for the second girl can be found by searching for "Support for Elena's Recovery After Accident."
