A driver and two young passengers were seriously injured in a fiery wreck that shut down part of Highway 101 in San Rafael on Wednesday.
The adult driver and two children were headed north in an SUV on Highway 101 near the St. Vincent Drive exit at about 8:20 a.m. when the SUV swerved out of control for unknown reasons, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The SUV hit the center divide, sending the vehicle back across the freeway, where it collided with another car before veering off the right shoulder, rolling down a steep embankment and catching fire, CHP Officer Andrew Barclay said.
ONLY ON ABC7 – this dash cam video shows a Toyota SUV hit the center divider, spin out another car, and careen across the NB lanes of Hwy 101 in San Rafael this morning. The SUV caught fire in a grassy ditch, where commuters stopped to rescue the driver and her 2 young children. pic.twitter.com/xnryFyNw1t
— Kate L (@katelstories) September 19, 2019
Novato and Marinwood firefighters were called to render aid. The fire was quickly put out, Barclay said.
“We responded to a vehicle incident, the car caught fire and three people were treated and transported to area hospitals with injuries,” said Novato fire Capt. Don Fletcher.
The female driver and her two children, believed to be a 3-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl, were rescued from the burning car by passersby who stopped to help, Barclay said.
“Three good Samaritans stopped and extricated the mother and two children,” Barclay said.
Ambulances transported one child to MarinHealth Medical Center and the other to University of California at San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. The child taken to MarinHealth was subsequently flown to the Oakland hospital for treatment. Both children’s injuries were described as life-threatening, Barclay said.
CHP Officer Andrew Barclay gives updates from the scene of the wreck on Hwy101 near St. Vincent's Drive exit in San Rafael earlier this morning. pic.twitter.com/6cQ51hJLRH
— Marin IJ (@marinij) September 18, 2019
A medically equipped CHP helicopter airlifted the driver to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Barclay said.
It’s unclear whether the driver or the children were wearing restraints.
The driver of the other vehicle that was hit in its back end was uninjured, Barclay said.
Commute traffic ground to a near halt for much of the morning as two right lanes remained closed northbound near the St. Vincent Drive/Miller Creek Road Road exit. Lanes were reopened around 11 a.m.
