The Abridged version:
- After a helicopter crashed on Highway 50 Monday night, first responders were able to avoid traffic snags because they were at another vehicle crash near the helicopter site.
- Emergency vehicles from three agencies arrived on scene within 10 minutes of the crash.
- Back-ups on Highway 50 due to construction continue to pose a challenge for emergency vehicles.
Traffic snags and construction barriers are frequent on the stretch of Highway 50 that cuts through Sacramento’s central city, often causing delays for first responders trying to get to roadway emergencies.
When a medevac helicopter crash landed on the eastbound lanes near Stockton Boulevard on Monday night, conditions were primed for firefighters and officers rushing to the site to experience delays. Those challenges, however, did not materialize, thanks to a bit of good luck.
“(Highway) 50 is always a concern, but the stars aligned,” said Captain Justin Sylvia with the Sacramento Fire Department.
Sylvia said that an engine was already en route to another roadway emergency, and was able to access the crash site by driving on the opposite side of the highway. Emergency vehicles from both the Sacramento Fire Department and the Sacramento Police Department were able to arrive at the scene about three minutes after the first emergency calls were made to dispatchers, according to Sylvia.
California Highway Patrol officers took a similar route to quickly arrive at the scene.
Back-ups along Highway 50 have posed a challenge for CHP officers, as road shoulders and medians that officers would normally use become blocked or filled with heavy machinery, according to Officer Mike Carrillo, spokesperson with CHP’s Valley Division.
“Due to these narrowed lanes and limited access, emergency vehicles that are bigger, like a firetruck, are not able to get through,” Carrillo said.
CHP has been regularly posting officers within the construction site, in addition to officers on geographic beats, to look after the safety of construction workers and drivers along the Highway 50 construction site.
On Monday night, however, officers on the construction detail had not set up, Carrillo said.
The first CHP officer arrived at 7:18 p.m., or about 10 minutes after the first call of the helicopter crash was reported. When CHP arrived at the scene, the Sacramento Police Department and two rigs from the Sacramento Fire Department were already there, Carrillo said.
“It’s just the luck of the draw. Sometimes you’re there, and sometimes you’re not,” Carrillo said.
Davyd Bychkoviak had been stuck in a traffic snag trying to head home on westbound Highway 50 for nearly 30 minutes when he spotted a helicopter nearing the highway. He took out his cell phone and started recording.
“I saw it getting lower and lower, and then it crash landed,” Bychkoviak said. “That was pretty scary, it took me some time to process it.”
Further down the road, he could see there was another crash involving three cars and a motorcycle, where first responders were already attending to the site. He watched some of the emergency vehicles from that site move toward the helicopter crash.
He watched as people tried to get out of their cars to help the crash victims.
“I just thank God I’m okay, and I just hope those people who got into the crash are okay,” Bychkoviak said.
Three people were transported to the UC Davis Medical Center after the crash. All three had been staffing the helicopter, which had just finished offloading patients at UC Davis Medical Center. The medevac helicopter is operated by REACH Air Medical Services, and had completed a flight from Redding shortly before the crash, according to flight data from FlightRadar24.
Helicopter crash timeline
7:05 p.m. Medevac helicopter operated by REACH Air Medical Services left the helipad at UC Davis Medical Center. The helicopter lost transmission about 21 seconds after departure at an altitude of 400 feet, according to data from FlightRadar24.
7:08 p.m. Dispatchers receive first call of a crash with smoke.
7:09 p.m. Sacramento Fire Department dispatched. CHP moves to shut down both directions of Highway 50 at Stockton Boulevard.
7:11 p.m. Sacramento Fire Department and Sacramento Police Department vehicles arrive on scene after driving “the wrong way” down the highway to access the crash site. Fire Captain of Engine 5 calls on bystanders to lift the helicopter off of an ejected person from the helicopter. Fire crew starts working on three helicopter passengers.
7:18 p.m. California Highway Patrol officer arrives at crash site.
7:31 to 7:36 p.m. All three victims in the medevac helicopter transported to UC Davis Medical Center.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets. Rob Stewart of Abridged contributed to this story.