LEHIGH COUNTY, PA – Around 4:00 PM on Monday, August 22, Lehigh County 9-1-1 dispatched Stations 9 (Friedens), 29 (Walnutport) and 67 (NOVA EMS) to Interstate 476 (Northeast Extension of PA Turnpike) in the area of mile marker 64 South bound for a motor vehicle accident with rescue.
Medic 6791 responded and was advised of multiple calls being received for a vehicle rollover that traveled off the Turnpike and into a yard on Tannery Road. The callers were reporting one male trapped in the vehicle, unconscious.
Medic 6791 and Ambulance 6793 arrived on scene and accessed the scene from Tannery Road. They found a passenger car violently traveled off the turnpike, up a ten foot embankment and through fifty yards of grass before striking a fence, demolishing a shed and hitting multiple trees. The vehicle finally came to rest facing North with the rear end in a tree.
The patient was rapidly assessed and found to be semi-responsive with numerous cuts and bruises. The vehicle suffered major damage with the roof collapsed into the passenger compartment, the windshield busted and large dents covering the entire car.
Engine 912 arrived on the scene and requested North Whitehall units be dispatched. This request brought Engine 1611 (Neffs) and North Whitehall Rescue 2241.
The passenger door of the car was hyper-extended and rescue personnel were able to free the patient without using any hydraulic tools. The patient was moved to a backboard and taken to an awaiting ambulance. The patient was then transported to a local trauma facility.
With the patient being extricated, all units except 912 were recalled. The vehicle was quickly loaded onto a flatbed and everyone was available within an hour of dispatch. Some witnesses on scene reported that they believed the vehicle was traveling in excess of ninety miles per hour when the accident occurred. State Police are investigating the accident.
