02/05/2012 – Multi-vehicle MVC with Fire – “A” Shift
Incident # 12-00676 – A multi-vehicle accident injured nine people on I-95 near the 55 mile marker northbound Sunday morning 05-February. Fire-Rescue units were notified of the three vehicle crash at 00:02. A second caller advised one vehicle was a tractor trailer, which had over-turned and was on fire. Engine 1, Medic 1 and Battalion 1 arrived to find the vehicles in the median with heavy damage. The engine compartment on the tractor trailer was burning. A quick assessment revealed nine injured people. Two additional fire-rescue ambulances were requested as Medic 1 and Battalion 1 began to triage the injured. Engine 1 deployed one 1-3/4 handline to extinguish the fire. Crew members then searched the wooded median for additional victims. A fourth ambulance was requested approximately 10 minutes later. Firefighter-Paramedics treated the injured at the scene and immobilized the patients prior to transport. Eight of the nine patients were transported to Colleton Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The truck driver with multiple minor injuries, had been wearing a seatbelt. He denied the need for ambulance transportation despite the destruction of the truck cab.
A witness advised one of the passenger cars collided with the other car on the bridge, causing the vehicles to enter the path of the tractor trailer. The truck then struck both vehicles before entering the median just north of the bridge, striking several tress and over-turning. One lane on the northbound side of I-95 was closed for three hours while emergency crews and wrecker service personnel operated at the scene. Both north bound lanes were closed later in the morning so the wrecker company could pull the badly damaged truck and trailer from the woods. The refrigerated trailer broke apart, spilling the load of fresh vegetables along the roadside. The SC Highway Patrol is investigating to determine if alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash.
Engine 1, Medic 1, Medic 9, Medic 19, Medic 26, Battalion 1 and Car 12 responded. Engineer-Paramedic (Acting Battalion Chief) Chris Jones served as Incident Commander.
