Los Banos-area CHP responds to two fatal crashes during weekend

The Los Banos-area California Highway Patrol responded to two separate fatal crashes over the weekend — incidents which claimed the lives of three people total.

The most recent incident was a head-on crash involving two trucks, reported Sunday morning on Highway 33, north of Douglas Avenue, south of the City of Firebaugh in Fresno County.

CHP received the call at 5:48 a.m. and officers responded to the scene, discovering both drivers were killed in the crash.

According to authorities, Caltrans responded to the scene and closed Highway 33, routing traffic around the area at Hudson and Douglas avenues while the CHP investigated the collision.

In the other incident, officers responded at 8:08 a.m. Saturday to a report of a collision west of the City of Mendota in the area of southbound Interstate 5 north of California Avenue, according to a CHP news release.

Authorities said a 60-year-old man driving a 2002 Ford vehicle was traveling southbound in the number one lane of Interstate 5, north of California Avenue, at an unknown speed.

The CHP said there was a vehicle stopped ahead of the driver’s location and in an attempt to avoid a collision, the driver of the Ford steered to the the left, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and travel onto the median.

The vehicle then traveled to the right, out of control and across the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, before traveling down the right shoulder and overturning into a dirt embankment.

Authorities said the vehicle came to a rest on its roof with the driver still in his seat. As a result of the collision, the driver suffered fatal injuries, according to the CHP.

The name of the driver has not been released pending notification of next of kin, the CHP said.