By Henry
K. Lee
Updated 4:17 pm, Thursday, June 4, 2015
A veteran Oakland firefighter rolled his fire truck at the Oakland
International Airport last year because he was swerving to avoid a wayward
airplane during a drill, according to a lawsuit he filed Wednesday.
Mitchell
Ow, 56, says in the lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court that the
Port of Oakland, which operates the airport, “allowed an aircraft to enter an
area where a known fire-safety drill was taking place” on June 24, 2014.
As a result, Ow had to make an “sudden maneuver in order to
avoid a collision with said aircraft,” the suit says. “In so doing, the vehicle
he was in was caused to tip, thereby causing his severe personal injuries.”
Ow’s attorney, Steven
Bell said the plane was a private jet whose pilot had not been told about
the drill by the control tower.
The suit accuses port officials of “gross negligence,
carelessness and failure to properly advise others of the time and location of
the drill” and of creating an “imminent danger” to drill participants and
passengers in the plane.
Keoni
Wagner, an airport spokesman, said he could not comment on the suit.
Ow was alone in an aircraft rescue rig when it tipped over
on a taxiway during a turn in front of the Oakland
Maintenance Center, authorities said.
Oakland
Fire Department officials said they believed the plane’s presence
distracted Ow and may have led him to brake his special rig, which is designed
to spray foam on aircraft during fires. In doing so, the weight of the
firefighting foam and water his rig may have shifted, causing the truck to tip
over, officials said.
Ow was taking part in a simulated red-alert drill to test
emergency response time to airport incidents.
Ow, a 29-year veteran of the Oakland Fire Department, “is
never going to work in any capacity” as a result of serious orthopedic injuries
and a traumatic brain injury, Bell said.
Ow was assigned to Station 22 at the airport, where drills
take place monthly.
Henry
K. Lee is a San
Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @henryklee