2 separate crashes - one fatal - reported in Bonsall Saturday night

BONSALL - Two separate crashes within minutes of each other Saturday night in Bonsall required responses from emergency personnel — with one starting a fire and the other leaving a driver dead.

A report came in of the first crash at 9:01 p.m. along Olive Hill Road east of Via Puerta del Sol, according to information from North County Fire Protection District spokesman John Choi.

Dispatchers were told a car had gone off the roadway and erupted into flames, Choi said.

The driver of that vehicle was uninjured and was able to climb out unassisted. Fire crews were at the scene of the crash working to contain the vehicle fire for little more than half an hour, Choi said.

The fire district also had to work with a county hazmat team to clean up fuel that spilled from the vehicle.

Less than 20 minutes after the first crash, a report came in of a head-on crash on state Route 76 near Mission Road, less than a mile to the east.

Fire crews arrived at the scene to find that three vehicles had been involved in the accident — a white Honda Civic apparently struck one vehicle, then went into opposing traffic on Route 76 and crashed directly into another vehicle, Choi said.

The two vehicles from the head-on collision had major damage, and the driver of the Civic died at the scene. The identity of that driver was not immediately released by medical examiner’s officials.

A passenger in the other vehicle was taken to Palomar Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, Choi said. No one from the first vehicle that was struck by the Civic was injured.