Firefighters respond to car in canal

An area woman on her way to a field where she worked picking lettuce was uninjured Thursday morning after she lost control of her car, causing it to go into a canal.

“She had a wet foot, but no injuries,” said Capt. Arturo Miranda of the Rural/Metro Fire Department. “When we arrived on scene, she was on the phone with her insurance company.”

According to Miranda, the woman was driving along a canal bank at County 1-1/2 Street and Avenue 7E and told them she lost control when she attempted to make a sharp turn onto a bridge over the canal.

Spokeswoman Charly McMurdie said that at about 8:44 a.m., Rural/Metro received a report of a car in an unknown body of water from the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, which was receiving the information from the car's onboard computer system.

“All the information we were getting was third-party,” McMurdie said.

McMurdie said Rural/Metro dispatchers continued to receive information from the sheriff's office about the incident until water finally caused the vehicle's electrical system to short out, at which point the onboard computer system quit sending information.

Miranda said the woman, who was wearing her seat belt, was able to get out of the car on her own and did not require any medical attention.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.