Sipesville Volunteer Fire Company

In the early morning of June 13, Stations 608, 607, and 900 EMS were called for a vehicle accident with unknown injuries on Watson Ave. near Lape Rd. in Acosta. Rescue 607-4 (Kovach) responded with a crew of six on board. 608 Chief arrived on scene and reported one passenger was trapped. The vehicle had left the roadway and struck a rock culvert, which caused heavy damage to the front passenger's side of the vehicle. Rescue 608-3 arrived on scene and its crew began setting up for extrication. Rescue 607-4 arrived on scene and crew members began extrication operations to remove the passenger's side door. During the extrication the Acosta's Holmatro spreaders and Sipesville's Holmatro cutter were placed in service. Firefighters popped the front hinges of the passenger's side door and cut the B-post to lay the entire passenger's side down to access the patient. Engine 608-1 and Ambul 605-6 also responded for support operations on scene. Access to the patient was gained within 7 minutes of arrival at the scene. The patient was rapidly extricated and turned over to the crew of Medic 957 for care. The driver of the vehicle was self extricated and sustained minor injuries and was cared for by Medic 954. Due to weather MedSTAR 1 was unable to fly, so both patients had to be transported by ground to the nearest trauma center. PSP assisted with investigation at the scene. The driver of the vehicle underwent testing and was found to be intoxicated at the time of the crash.