LUZERNE COUNTY, PA – Around 2:30 PM on Friday, August 31, Hazle Township Fire and Rescue was dispatched with APTS Medic 11 to Route 924 in the area of Interstate 81 for a motor vehicle accident with entrapment.
Rescue 101 went responding and was advised of at least one trapped and unresponsive. Multiple calls were being received and some stated one patient was possibly deceased. Two Medic 11 units were on the way and requested aeromedical be placed on standby for the injured.
The Rescue and Engine 102 arrived on the scene along with the medics and found a single vehicle accident off the roadway. The vehicle appeared to be traveling at a high rate of speed when it traveled off the roadway and struck a tree. The vehicle was wrapped around the tree with the middle of the car severely deformed.
Medic 11 reported one patient that was ejected and one patient trapped with agonal respirations. A helicopter was requested to a nearby baseball field. The ejected patient was quickly immobilized and brought to the roadway in a stokes basket by firefighters. The patient was transported to the ball field where a landing zone was set up by Hazle Twp. Engine 103. Lehigh Valley Health Network MedEvac landed and began to care for the patient.
The rescue tools were put in service to gain better access to the patient that was trapped. Once an assessment was performed, the patient was found to be deceased. State Troopers from the Hazleton barracks began to investigate the accident while fire crews shut down the roadway.
The highway was shut down for nearly two hours until the investigation was completed. All crews were clear of the scene by 5:00 PM.
