DADE COUNTY, Georgia - Saturday, April 4,2009 - 2:30 am - North Dade and
Trenton Firefighters were dispatched with Lifeguard EMS units to an accident
with injuries on Interstate 24 Eastbound at the 167 Mile Marker. Within
seconds, EMS crews and several rescue units were responding. First to arrive
on the scene was a Dade County Sheriffs Officer and a North Dade Fire Unit.
The North Dade Fire Unit quickly set up command and reported multiple
patients, several critical, and requested an air ambulance to the scene.
In short order, Lifeguard Medic and
additional rescuers arrived on the scene. Crews worked diligently to assess
the injuries and start treating the patients, two of which had critical,
life threatening injuries. North Dade and Trenton firefighters worked
together with medics to package and prepare the patients for transport. The
two extremely critical patients, a child and a woman were both loaded on a
Life Force air ambulance and flown to Erlanger Medical Center in
Chattanooga. Four other patients were also transported to Erlanger Medical
Center by ground ambulance.
Both vehicles were traveling in the
eastbound lanes when the crash occurred. A red Mustang had heavy front end
damage, while the pickup truck, that was pulling a U-Haul trailer, was
turned over on it's top with extremely heavy damage. The exact cause of the
crash is under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol. The Interstate was
blocked for over three hours due to the crash and debris.
Story and photos by Bill Carson
