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Two of the three young men who died in a car crash on Skyline Boulevard this week had more in common than their schooling at Menlo-Atherton High: Two were Fire Explorers with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and one was the son of a district employee.
Menlo Park resident Andrew Rogelio Gonzales, 18, and Redwood City resident Ricardo Seneca Torres, 19, were members of the district’s Fire Explorer Post 109, and shared an interest in firefighting, according to district Chief Harold Schapelhouman. Mr. Torres was also the son of the district’s master mechanic, Rudy Torres, Chief Schapelhouman said in a press release.
The third victim was Matthew Edward Eric Cruz, 18, of Redwood City, who also attended M-A with his friends.
Relatives of the young friends organized a search on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 1, and found the teenagers’ bodies in a car that had come to rest 50 feet down an embankment on the west side of Highway 35, just south of the intersection with Bear Gulch Road in Sky Londa.
Chief Schapelhouman had been in contact with one of the men recently. “I just signed off on (Mr. Torres’) paperwork so he could attend the Fire Academy,” he said in a statement, “and we were able to spend a few minutes together talking about how excited and proud he was to take this next step towards his goal in becoming a firefighter. Sadly, that was the last time I saw him.”
The search for the men had begun early on Nov. 1 by the fathers of Mr. Torres and Mr. Cruz and the older brother of Mr. Gonzales. The young men had not returned from a trip the previous evening to look at a car that Mr. Gonzales was considering buying, the chief said.
The relatives began searching at about 6 a.m. in a fire district vehicle equipped with radios, the chief said. Along Skyline Boulevard, they discovered a phone belonging to one of the young men. They notified the county Sheriff’s Office and asked the fire district to organize a search-and-rescue mission, the chief said.
The mission began “immediately” with two fire district officers equipped with a drone, the chief said. The team, including deputies, assembled at Alice’s Restaurant and headed north toward Bear Gulch Road. About two miles south of the intersection, a deputy noticed skid marks on the road, the chief said.
Smart-phone tracking software confirmed that spot as the men’s likely location, the chief said. They were found, seat belts fastened, in the car. While the car was upright, its roof had been “completely crushed,” the chief said.
The family members held an “extremely emotional” vigil at the car, the chief said, after which a plan was organized to extricate the men from the vehicle.
Participating in the process were first responders from the California Department of Forestry and Fire, the county fire department and Woodside and Menlo Park fire protection districts as well as officers from the California Highway Patrol and deputies from the Sheriff’s Office, the chief said.
The family members were asked to leave the area during the extrication, which took about 45 minutes, the chief said. Coroner’s Office representatives, who had come to the site to transport the bodies, gave family members time to say their goodbyes, the chief said. Officers from the Menlo Park fire district then drove the family members home.
“There’s a lot of love, compassion, understanding and patience being shown to them,” the chief said, adding that the firefighters are there to lean on for support as the family grieves “and tries to come to terms with the devastating loss of these three fine young men.”
The Fire Explorer program that Mr. Torres and Mr. Gonzales participated in educates young adults about a career in the fire service, according to the Menlo Park fire district’s website. Members meet every two months for training sessions to gain a basic understanding of the skills needed to become a firefighter.
Related reading: Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman’s press release.
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Fire Explorers Andrew Gonzales, left, and Ricky Torres attended a recent open house at Fire Station 1. (Photo by Fire Explorer Steven Effesimo) -
Fire Explorer Andrew Gonzales, right, uses a metal cutting saw under the supervision of Firefighter/Engineer Eric Mijangos, the coordinator for Fire Explorer Post 109. (Photo by Explorer Steven Effesimo) -
A youthful image of Matthew Edward Eric Cruz, one of three young men who were found on Nov. 1 after the car they were traveling in crashed on Skyline Boulevard just south of the Bear Gulch Road intersection near Woodside. (Photo courtesy of the family of Matthew Cruz) -
Ricardo Seneca Torres, 19, of Redwood City and a recent graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School, was found dead in a crashed car off Skyline Boulevard on Nov. 1. (Photo courtesy of Fire Explorer Post 109) -
Andrew Rogelio Gonzales, 18, of Menlo Park, was found dead in a crashed car off Skyline Boulevard on Nov. 1. (Photo courtesy of Fire Explorer Post 109)
A loss. This was a moving account of this accident.
I hope they all loved and thrived greatly in their brief lives.
Very well and compassionately reported, Dave Boyce. What a tragedy to lose such upstanding young adults. My heart goes out to the families and friends of these good men.
Even though we’re an M-A family, I didn’t know any of the details of this tragic accident. Thank you for such a compassionately reported, moving account of the loss of these promising young men.
So sad. Well written articles. Photographs were excellent.
Tragic. Just tragic.