Task
Force 93 was part of a first alarm assignment
responding to an early evening, August 21, 1975, call from the Motion
Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, following a report that
a Molotov cocktail had been tossed into the complex housing retired
actors, actresses and other members of the Hollywood film community.
While westbound on Ventura Boulevard, Truck 93's driver, Auto Fireman
Kenneth R. Thompson, noticed a northbound Datsun sedan momentarily stop
at the intersection of Winnetka Avenue. The motorist then entered
the intersection directly in front of the old reserve aerial ladder
truck. Thomson miraculously avoided a collision, but the truck
jackknifed. Fireman Dominic A. Pascal, 50, who was standing on the
running board while clinging to a rail immediately behind Capt. Lewis J.
Miller, Jr. was crushed between the tractor and the aerial ladder.
The car's driver did not stop. Pascal died in Rescue Ambulance 100
while en route to Tarzana Hospital. The Woodland Hills alarm was
false.
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