SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PA – At 3:45 PM on Monday, May 14, Schuylkill County 9-1-1 dispatched Ringtown Valley Fire & Rescue, Ringtown Ambulance and Shenandoah ALS to Ringtown Boulevard and Pattersonville Road for a motor vehicle accident with entrapment.
Medic 6401 responded and was advised of a two vehicle accident with at least two patients and one entrapped. Medic 6404 was quickly added to the assignment. While enroute, aeromedical was requested to be placed on standby. All flight services declined due to weather.
Medic 6401 arrived on the scene to find a two vehicle accident, car verus SUV head-on, with one female trapped in the car. After a quick assessment, crews found the patient to be severely trapped under the dashboard. A second rescue was requested to be added to the box. Mahanoy City West End Rescue 993 was dispatched.
Medic 6404, Ambulance 944 and Ringtown Rescue 30-50 arrived on the scene and personnel began to stabilize the vehicle and work on gaining access to the patient. EMS personnel entered the vehicle to begin patient care and IV therapy.
Crews began to gain access by taking the doors of the vehicle followed by removing the roof. As the roof was being removed, Rescue 993 arrived on the scene. After the roof was gone, rescuers were able to assess the situation more easily and found the dash would need to be moved quite a bit to free the patient.
Multiple hydraulic rams were pulled off the rescue as well as the Hurst spreaders and chains in order to roll the dash. After nearly 45 minutes of cutting and prying, the patient was able to be freed from the wreckage. The patient was swiftly packaged and loaded for transport to Geisinger Medical Center as a trauma alert.
Another patient was treated and transported to the trauma center by Medic 6404. Fire police assisted with shutting down Ringtown Boulevard for the duration of the incident.
