A Yucca Valley woman was honored by the Town Council Tuesday night for her heroic and life-saving actions following a horrific fiery head-on crash on Avalon Avenue in March. Jack Pennington, 37, was driving his Nissan van northbound on Avalon about 3:20 p.m. when he tried to pass a slower-moving vehicle and crashed head-on into a pick-up truck towing a trailer that was traveling southbound. Neither Pennington nor a 4-year-old boy in the back were wearing a seatbelt. A fire started in the van’s engine compartment following the crash and filled the van with smoke. Tuesday night, the Yucca Valley Fire Department, Town of Yucca Valley, and the County Board of Supervisors all honored a Yucca Valley woman who witnessed the crash and stopped to help. In this follow-up story to the town council meeting, managing editor Tami Roleff has more on Cleo Ross…
“It’s very rare that someone stops and takes the opportunity to help another person.”
Council member Rick Denison, a retired county fire battalion chief, spoke of the brave efforts of Cleo Ross of Yucca Valley, who came upon a fiery head-on crash on Avalon Avenue and Songbird Lane on the afternoon of March 22. Neither the driver of the van nor a 4-year-old boy inside the van, were wearing their seatbelts; when Ross stopped, the driver had been partially ejected from the van, and the boy was on the floor behind the front seats.
“The passenger compartment was filled with smoke from the associated engine compartment fire. Without consideration for her own safety, she helped to extricate the child from the van and moved him to a safe location. Throughout the incident, Cleo Ross stayed with the child, keeping him calm by holding him, reassuring him.”
Denison explained because the fire department doesn’t have a mechanism to recognize civilians who show outstanding bravery, the Yucca Valley fire stations, the town, and the county’s Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe provided Ross with special recognition certificates at Tuesday’s meeting of the Yucca Valley Town Council.
“Through her quick and decisive action, Cleo Ross saved the 4-year-old male victim from further injury. She remained with him until he was transported, comforting him and soothing his fears. Her actions getting him out of the van were nothing short of heroic.”
Supervisor Rowe also recognized the outstanding work done by the Yucca Valley firefighters and paramedics in stations 41 and 42.
