Sunday evening was anything but routine for Golden Valley Firefighters. While returning from an emergency medical call in the Sohi area, the four person crew in Attack-115 encountered a wrong-way driver in a Toyota Forerunner traveling Northbound in the Southbound lanes of Hwy-93. Golden Valley Firefighter / Paramedic Jimmy Childers who was driving took evasive maneuvers and Acting Captain Duane Dunn activated the overhead red/blue lights and reported the incident to law enforcement officials. The driver and front seat passenger both jumped from the still moving vehicle and ran into the hills in the Sohi area. Firefighters reported the incident to DPS who was already looking for the vehicle along with MCSO deputies. DPS arrived moments later and began a foot search of the area and shortly thereafter discovered two additional occupants inside the backseat area of the Toyota that came to rest in the roadway. Fire Chief Tom O’Donohue said how proud he was of the crew that evening for not only avoiding a head-on collision with the fire apparatus, but for stopping this vehicle from colliding with other vehicles that would have encountered the wrong way vehicle, including a cluster of motorcycles that came up just a minute later. O’Donohue said: “If the firefighters hadn’t acted in such a professional manner to the incident, the outcome could have deadly for many innocent people”. DPS took two persons into custody that were still in the vehicle and continued their foot search with the aid of the Ranger helicopter.
