SEE MORE PHOTOS >>
Story by Brian Mutzabaugh
Photos by Bob Bartosz, Nash County (NC) Fire Photographer
On Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 at 1520 hours, Nash County (NC) communications dispatched units to the 12000 blk of NC 33 Hwy in Whitakers, North Carolina, for a motor vehicle incident with pin-in.
Nash Station 10 (Whitakers Volunteer Fire Department), Nash Station 3 (Stoney Creek Rescue), Nash County EMS, Nash County Sheriff’s Dept, and North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded. The first-arriving unit was a Station 10 member who responded by privately owned vehicle and confirmed there was a single vehicle on its side off the roadway with an entrapment.
Squad 10 and Engine 10, from Whitakers Volunteer Fire Department arrived at 1526 hours and assessed the scene confirming the entrapment of a passenger on the high side of a side-resting extended cab pickup truck. Emergency responders also identified a gasoline leak from the vehicles fuel tank.
Personnel from Station 10 stabilized the vehicle on both sides using a combination of lean-to buttresses and various types of cribbing. A 1 1/2-inch protection line with foam capability was deployed from Engine 10 and manned until the victim was removed. The driver’s door was removed to allow Nash County EMS personnel to access and assess the entrapped patient and begin patient care. Rescue 3, from Stoney Creek Rescue, arrived and deployed additional extrication equipment to assist with mitigating the incident.
Due to the extent of the patient’s injuries, it was determined that the front passenger seat would have to be removed along with the passenger door, windshield, and side and rear glass and roof. The patient was stabilized using a Kendrick Extrication Device (K.E.D.), removed from the vehicle and placed on a stretcher at 1616 hours.
While extrication operations were underway, additional personnel from Station 10 established a landing zone approximately 300 yards West of the incident to facilitate the landing of a Vidant East Care Helicopter. The patient was transported by air ambulance to an area trauma center for treatment.
Nearly a dozen emergency vehicles and more than 20 personnel responded to the incident. One firefighter was treated by Nash County EMS and transported to a area hospital for a nonlife-threatening injury. That firefighter was released from the hospital later the same evening and has since returned to full-duty status.
The overall success of the incident was a direct reflection of the ability of multiple agencies to respond and work together to reach a common goal.
BRIAN MUTZABAUGH is a 22-year veteran of the fire service and, since 2011, chief of the Whitakers (NC) Volunteer Fire Department. He is also an engineer with the Rocky Mount Fire Department, assigned to Rescue 2. He is a qualified level 2 instructor with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Office of the State Fire Marshal, and is a fire service instructor for Nash Community College.
MORE BRIAN MUTZABAUGH
Structure Fires Involving Hoarders
MORE BOB BARTOSZ
