A team of firefighters from around San Diego County were expected to return home Thursday night after a harrowing vehicle collision that injured three of their colleagues put a stop to their Hurricane Helene search and rescue mission. San Diego Fire-Rescue Capt. Greg Davies, Battalion Chief Aide Barbat and Capt. Jesse Schultz were injured on the way to North Carolina as part of the California Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 to help in hurricane relief efforts. While the three were hospitalized, the remaining team members stayed at nearby Shreveport, La., hotels, officials said. They were expected to land at San Diego International Airport on two separate flights Thursday and head home. Davies was discharged from the hospital Tuesday but was not on one of the flights back, Fire-Rescue spokesperson Mónica Muñoz said. Barbat and Schultz remained in a Louisiana hospital as of Thursday. “This has been a difficult week for the members of CA-TF8, their families and the department as a whole,” Muñoz said. “Of course, we are still praying for Chief Barbat and Capt. Schultz to recover and come home.” The three firefighters were injured after the Ford F-350 they were riding in, a Fire-Rescue vehicle, was involved in a collision with a civilian vehicle on Interstate 20 in East Texas early Sunday. The three were life-flighted to a nearby hospital following the crash. The firefighters were among 48 Task Force 8 members, including firefighters from several different county agencies, emergency-room doctors and support staff heading to assist with water rescue work and other assistance in Charlotte, N.C. The team, along with several other groups from other Southern California agencies, were deployed last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency decided after the crash to replace the team and send them home, Muñoz said. The firefighters union set up an account to support the three injured firefighters that has raised about $64,000 as of Thursday. Funds donated will go to a nonprofit organization, Firefighter Aid, to be distributed to the families, according to a campaign website.