A pickup rolled into a swimming pool on Nevada City Highway Tuesday morning. Nevada County Consolidated Fire Department personnel responded to the accident. (Photo by John Hart)

Hot and sunny, Tuesday was a good day for belly flops - unless you happened to be a truck.

An unoccupied Ford F-150 pickup plunged into an unoccupied swimming pool off Nevada City Highway in Grass Valley at about 9:45 a.m.

"Got to look on the bright side. It could've been worse," said Gene Pachio, who lives in the 19th-century house at 10217 Manor Drive, where the pool sits next to the highway. "We could've been playing in the pool, and it didn't land on our heads."

The pickup rolled about 40 yards along Manor Drive, hopped a curb at Pachio's house, slid between a mailbox and tree, and rolled another 10 yards, busting through a fence and dropping nose-first into the pool. It didn't appear that any oil or other fluids leaked into the water.

The truck owner, identified as Jim Francis by the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District, was installing flooring at a house up the hill.

"He said the (emergency) brake couldn't hold it, and it rolled," Consolidated engineer Randall Gross said.

The man identified as Francis declined comment. Kilroy's Towing pulled out the truck, which appeared to have a wrecked drive shaft.

Pachio, who wasn't home at the time, was discouraged because he just cleaned the pool at the former bed and breakfast, which once fronted former Lake Olympia. He said the house is owned by Roark Realty.

Back to NCCFD in the Newspaper