Medical crisis on Burney area logging road leaves rig driver dead

December 30, 2020 Trevor Montgomery

BURNEY, Calif. — California Highway Patrol has confirmed a big-rig driver died while traveling on a remote dirt logging road in the Intermountain area near Burney, about ten miles south of SR-299E early this morning.

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CHP, Burney Fire Protection District, Cal Fire-Shasta and other emergency personnel were dispatched to Tamarack Road, south of SR-299E between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., after receiving reports of a logging “chip” truck that had left the roadway and struck a tree, CHP Officer Jason Morton told SCNS in response to an inquiry about this morning’s fatal incident.

The 911 caller, another big-rig driver according to Morton, told SHASCOM emergency dispatchers he had come upon the victim’s tractor-trailer combo just off the dirt logging road, where he discovered the big-rig’s driver without a pulse and unresponsive inside the truck’s cab.

The victim was brought down from the logging trail to responding emergency personnel, who confirmed the man had suffered a medical crisis and showed no signs of life.

Despite life-saving efforts, the victim, a 61-year-old man from Bieber, had already succumbed to his condition and he was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to Morton.

“There wasn’t really a crash,” Morton later told SCNS; explaining that the victim had just finished loading his trailer and driven a short distance away, when he suffered an unknown medical crisis.

“The truck drifted off the side of the road at about 10 mph,” Morton continued; adding that there was slight damage to front corner of the rig’s bumper.

Morton could not speculate on the type of medical crisis that led to the man’s passing and the victim’s name was not released, pending notification of his family.

“That information will have to be released by the coroner’s office,” Morton explained; adding that the case is being handled as a standard death investigation and not a traffic accident.

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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.