Fire engine crash kills 3 California firefighters

HAPPY CAMP, California (CNN) -- A fire engine battling a blaze in northern California's Klamath National Forest rolled off a winding road and plunged 800 feet into a ravine Sunday, killing three firefighters and injuring two others, officials said.

Officials were investigating the cause of the accident, which happened just before 2 a.m. not far from the fire command post in Happy Camp, said Marty O'Toole, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center.

"It's very hazardous driving, even in the daytime," said Robert Ramirez, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in the Klamath forest. The area, about two hours west of Yreka, California, is filled with steep, rugged, and narrow roads, not all of which are paved.

The fire engine rolled off the ravine and landed upside down.

The firefighters were working for the U.S. Forest Service, based in Chester, California, Ramirez said. They had been patrolling the fire lines on the week-old Stanza fire, which grew to 1,350 acres Sunday and was 20 percent contained.

Killed in the accident were Capt. Steven Oustad, 51, from Westwood, California; Heather DePaolo, 29, of Redding, California; and John Self, 19, of Susanville, California.

The injured were identified as Alex Glover, 19, and Ryan Smith, 20, both of Susanville. Ramirez said Glover suffered bruises but was expected to be released from the hospital Monday, while Smith suffered a more severe head injury and is in intensive care.

The fatalities bring to 19 the number of firefighters killed since the summer fire season began.

Included in that number are five firefighters killed in a vehicle rollover near a fire outside of Denver, Colorado, and five others killed in two crashes of air tankers fighting fires in Colorado and California. Two others were killed felling trees.