Yuma firefighter shares his rescue experience during a fatal car accident
A local first responder is sharing his experience after rescuing seven children in a car accident in Imperial County.
Donny Tipton works as a firefighter for station five in Yuma. Tipton, along with his wife, were on their way to San Diego to enjoy the weekend. It wasn’t until passing El Centro where they noticed an Expedition crashed in the median on Interstate 8 with children lying on the ground unconscious.
“I believe their ages ranged about 1 to 12-years-old and the child I started assisting was about 5 or 6-years-old,” Tipton said.
With his wife, Julia, a registered nurse for Yuma Regional Medical Center, they jumped into action by assisting authorities on the scene.
“Julia had found a baby that had been ejected and was in a police officer’s arms with a head injury, and her specialty is labor and delivery and helps in the NICU department, so she helped medical staff with the baby until helicopters arrived,” Tipton said.
The parents of nine were pronounced dead at the scene and the seven children are in hospital care until further notice.
“It was very traumatic to see, but we were doing good, so we didn’t dwell too much on how we were able to help.”
Tipton had a message for the children involved in the accidnet. “I hope they’re all okay and there are no long terms effects from this trauma . I hope you have a loving home to go to,” Tipton said.
