By Jeremy Walsh — Staff reporter
KELSEYVILLE — A 70-year-old woman sustained major injuries Tuesday after her car veered off Highway 29 and hit two trees.
Rosetta Forrest of Finley was traveling southbound on Highway 29 at 11:45 a.m. approximately one-half mile south of the Highway 175 intersection in Kelseyville when her Pontiac sedan left the roadway, clipped one tree and slammed into another, according to California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer M. Crutcher.
The impact crushed the front right side of the car. Forrest was the sole occupant.
Keith and Dawna Brice said they were driving northbound on the highway and stopped to help the woman, who was trapped inside the car and drifting in and out of consciousness as grass below the Pontiac began to catch fire.
“I felt so helpless. I didn”t have a fire extinguisher. I didn”t have a knife,” Keith said.
The Brices said more than 20 people stopped at the scene and tried to help get Forrest out of the car.
“It was just awesome to see that kind of support,” Keith said.
“None of us were going to let that girl burn,” Dawna said. “We thought that thing was going to blow.”
Passersby soon cut Forrest”s seatbelt, broke the passenger-side window and got her out of the car, the Brices said. One man who stopped worked for Caltrans and brought over a fire extinguisher to suppress the flames, they said.
“It was just a great team effort from everybody,” Keith said.
Emergency personnel got to the scene within five minutes of Keith”s call to 9-1-1, according to the Brices.
Keith said the Kelseyville Fire Protection District response time was “the fastest I”ve ever seen anybody get there.”
The CHP, Lake County Sheriff”s Office and medical personnel also arrived.
Forrest was loaded into an ambulance and transported from the scene by 12:10 p.m. She sustained major injuries and was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, where she went into surgery Tuesday afternoon, Crutcher said.
The Record-Bee had not received an update on Forrest”s condition as of Tuesday”s deadline.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and it appears the Pontiac was traveling at around 55 mph at the time, according to Crutcher.
Dawna said one witness told her it appeared Forrest looked to the side just before drifting off the road.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
