DADE COUNTY, Georgia - Sunday, September 6,2009 - 12:30 pm - North Dade and
Trenton Fire Departments were alerted with medics from Life Guard EMS of a
multi car crash with injuries and entrapment on Interstate 24 Eastbound
between the Tennessee State Line and the 169 mile marker. Within seconds of
the first alert, the dispatcher updated the call with more information,
reporting critical life threatening injuries. A Life Guard medic unit that
was in route requested to check for an air ambulance from Chattanooga.
Meanwhile, several additional units from North Dade and Trenton started
responding to the scene.Within
seconds of the call, several Dade County first responders arrived on the
scene, finding a medic unit from DeKalb County Alabama already on the scene
trying to assist. The medic unit had been traveling the interstate with a
patient onboard, headed to Chattanooga. Luckily , their patient was not
critical and they had two medics onboard. One of those medics quickly jumped
into action and started assisting with aid. In short order, North Dade Chief
Chris Lowrance arrived on the scene and set up command, quickly followed by
another medic unit from Life Guard and Trenton Rescue 1.
With several people injured and one
entrapped, crews really had their hands full. Command quickly called for
more assistance from Life Guard EMS and the New Home Fire Department.
Rescuers were working all out and overtime on the man that was trapped. As
medics worked to keep him alive, rescuers worked diligently to cut the roof
and doors off the car. Before the man was able to be freed, crews also had
to use a hydraulic ram to roll the dash of the crushed wreckage.
Due to bad weather in the area an air
ambulance could not be used, therefore after about a 20 minute extrication,
medics quickly and swiftly loaded the man onto a backboard and loaded him
into an ambulance. Life Guard Medics rushed him to Erlanger Medical center
in critical condition. While the medics and rescuers had been working with
that man, other rescuers had been packaging and loading several other
patients into ambulances. They all had a variety of injuries and were all
also transported to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga.
Witnesses at the scene said he crash
occurred when the white pickup truck, that was headed west on the
interstate, collided with a white blazer and both vehicles traveled through
the median into the eastbound lanes. The blazer was said to have struck the
shoulder guard rail of the eastbound side head on, while the white pickup
truck struck the small Saturn head on. A Pontiac headed eastbound also
collided with the vehicles, however luckily the occupants of that vehicle
were not injured. Georgia State Patrol Officers are investigating the crash.
Story and photos by Bill Carson
