On Sunday 17 August at 0159 Hours, the Flemington - Raritan Rescue Squad, Raritan Township Fire Company and Hunterdon Medical Centers mobile intensive care unit EMS-1 were dispatched to Decker Corner Road in the area of Old Croton Road for a report of single vehicle motor vehicle crash with entrapment. BLS Ambulance responded almost immediately, followed minutes later by Heavy Rescue 495 and BLS Ambulance 4953. As units responded, updates from the scene indicated a possible impalement situation, so Quakertown Fire Company Rescue 91 was added to the assignment for additional manpower. BLS 4952 arrived on the scene and found a single vehicle crash involving a compact pickup truck that had left the roadway and struck a chain link fence and some small trees. The only occupant was the driver, who was conscious and alert, Closer inspection of the vehicles interior revealed that a steel fence post had punctured through the firewall, exiting through a heater vent in the dash and lodging in the drivers side door. But even more shocking was that the top rail of the fence had punctured through the vehicles grille, went through the engine compartment and firewall and entered the drivers area through the dash and right through the steering wheel. The 2 diameter pipe pierced through the drivers upper abdomen and upper chest, came out his back and continued through the drivers seat, rear wall of the cab, and through the front wall of the pickup bed before stopping. The crew of BLS 4952 began to stabilize the vehicle and use the TNT hydraulic tools carried aboard the ambulance to gain access to the vehicle, as both doors were jammed. The crew and EMS-1 paramedics immediately began to care for the patient, who was talking and alert throughout the incident. Heavy Rescue 495 arrived on the scene and completed vehicle stabilization. Both TNT spreaders and cutters were used to cut the A and B posts of the roof and move it forward out of the way. The passengers side door was popped and removed to create more room. A rotary saw was used to cut back various parts of the fenced wrapped around the truck, and some of the small trees were cut back as well with a chainsaw. Squad 21 stretched a protective handline, and both the crews from Squad 21 and Rescue 91 assisted personnel from Heavy Rescue 495 with the rescue operation. A portable electric bandsaw carried aboard Heavy Rescue 495 was then used to first sever the pipe near the steering wheel, releasing some of the stored tension in the bent pipe. An additional cut was then made about 1 away from the drivers chest. The portable bandsaw was added to the equipment cache of HR495 about two years ago for just these types of incidents. It can cut impaled objects with little vibration and almost no heat transfer. With the pipe still stick through all the way to the bed of the truck, personnel then used two reciprocating saws and the TNT hydraulics to cut away the back wall of the cab and the front wall of the bed. Enough steel was cut back to allow the bandsaw to fit right behind the sheet cushion. The remainder of the pipe behind the seat was then cut away. Raritan Township Fire set up a landing zone for a medevac helicopter at the County Complex on Route 12. BLS Ambulance 4953 went to the LZ and brought the flight medics back to the scene to assist with patient care. The patient was then carefully slid off the seat and placed on his side on a backboard due to the protruding ends of the pipe. (Impaled objects are never removed in the field - Only by medical personnel in a trauma hospital setting). He was carefully secured and moved to BLS Ambulance 4952 who transported him to landing zone. The patient was extricated from his vehicle in just over forty minutes from the time Heavy Rescue 495 arrived on the scene. The patient was loaded aboard New Jersey State Police NorthSTAR medevac helicopter for transport to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. The crash was investigated by the Raritan Township Police Department. The careful and rapid removal of the heavily trapped driver was a direct result of the cooperation of all of the involved agencies.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:34:54 +0000
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