Firefighter Andrew Pontious was killed when a massive tire exploded. L.A. County Fire Department officials said they had no idea such an explosion was possible.
No one knew the burning construction vehicle could become a bomb. Not the driver who tried to douse it with an extinguisher. Not the workers who sent water gushing onto the engine. And not Andrew Pontious, an L.A. County firefighter dispatched to the Palmdale quarry on June 14. Pontious had sprayed water near the vehicle for about two minutes when one of its nearly 7-foot tires exploded, according to a Fire Department analysis completed this month.
But the station was known for the intensity of its calls — grassland fires, stabbings, a cat stuck in a tree that turned out to be a mountain lion. For nine years, the brothers worked together, David as the captain and Andrew the perennial firefighter, never interested in moving up the ranks. Andrew just wanted to fight fires until his planned retirement next year. And he was usually the first to arrive. Pontious and his crew pulled up to the quarry at 2:06 p.m.
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