The mother of a man who nearly died in a crash that crushed his car under a big rig early Monday morning made it her mission this week to personally thank each and every firefighter who helped save his life.
Matthew Jacomb, who was airlifted to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital with injuries suffered after his car ran into a big rig in Canyon Country early Monday morning, found himself lucky to be alive thanks to the efforts of fast-acting firefighters, his mother Christina Nelson told The Signal.
The two-vehicle traffic collision occurred shortly after 11:20 p.m. Sunday on the 15700 block of Sierra Highway, Inspector Keith Mora of the Los Angeles County Fire Department told The Signal Monday morning.
Jacomb, 31, was flown to the hospital shortly after midnight after firefighters worked for at least 15 minutes to free him from the wreckage of his car.
“I am so happy he’s alive,” Nelson told The Signal.
On Wednesday, the woman left her home in Castaic, got on a bus and went to Fire Station #111 on Seco Canyon Road, she said.
On Thursday, her plan was to thank the firefighters at Fire Station #107 on Soledad Canyon Road.
“I feel I have to do this,” she said.
And, when she told The Signal of her intentions and her plan to visit each and every firefighter involved in the rescue, she asked for the phone number of fire officials so that she can phone them as well.
“I need to go and thank them,” she said.
“I was so devastated when I heard about the crash,” she added.
When she raced to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and was at her son’s bedside, he told her he knew he was going to crash and just closed his eyes.
The driver’s seat collapsed on impact, according to what he told his mother. The collision sheared off the top of the car.
Jacomb required 17 surgical staples to close the gash in his head.
He told his mother he remembers talking to firefighters cutting through the metal of his crumpled car with the hydraulic shears.
“He said he remembers being asked ‘Is there anyone next to you?’ and that was it. He does not remember being in the helicopter.”
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