'Heavy': firie sentenced over crash that injured crew
After losing his licence over a fire truck crash that injured five of his colleagues, volunteer firefighter Paul Larnach would ride his bicycle 11km to the station to join emergency call-outs.
Almost two years after the crash, in which the NSW Rural Fire Service truck he was driving landed on its roof near Bathurst, Larnach has been re-elected the deputy captain of his brigade.
These are the "extraordinary" circumstances the 53-year-old faced, having pleaded guilty to one count of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, Larnach's barrister Rebecca McMahon told a magistrate on Thursday.
"The heavy, heavy weight ... has been enormous," Ms McMahon told Bathurst Local Court.
Larnach was driving Eglinton brigade members to a grass fire at White Rock, about 6km south of Bathurst in central-western NSW, on September 30, 2023, when he lost control of the truck on a bend.
The vehicle veered off the road and into a culvert, landing upside-down and trapping all six firefighters.
Two of the volunteers suffered serious injuries requiring several surgeries, another was left with facial wounds, while Larnach and two other firefighters suffered minor injuries.
He pleaded guilty to the single negligent driving charge, admitting he should have slowed down to better navigate the sharp bend.
More serious dangerous driving charges were dropped, with the court told Larnach was abiding by the 80km/h speed limit at the time of the crash.
Ms McMahon said several victims wrote letters of support for him.
"The incident has had a serious impact on him," she said.
"He's shown accountability in every way by engaging with the victims, checking in on them constantly, doing what he can in terms of therapy for himself."
The incident was an outlier example of negligent driving, which was usually characterised by selfish driving behaviour like speeding, Ms McMahon said.
Larnach was instead "rushing off to a fire".
Ms McMahon argued that no conviction should be recorded, in part because Larnach had long shown a "deep commitment" to helping his community.
But magistrate Gemma Slack-Smith convicted Larnach, sentencing him to an 18-month community corrections order and disqualifying him from driving.
"He acknowledged that whilst he was driving at the speed limit, he should have slowed further while going around the bend," Ms Slack-Smith said.
"Given the nature of the injuries to the victims in this matter, it warrants a conviction."
Larnach was disqualified from driving for the minimum 12-month period, taking into account a nine-week suspension immediately after the crash.
"I note his contrition and remorse," the magistrate said.
Larnach was supported in court by his family and several members of the Eglinton brigade, one of whom wept.
They did not speak to media as they left the court house.
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