On November 10,2006 at 1:30 pm in City of Chattanooga, Tennessee Firefighters and Hamilton County Paramedics were dispatched to an accident with injuries and entrapment in the 4000 block of Rossville Blvd. When rescuers arrived on the scene, they reported one person trapped in a mid size van and another full size van on fire.
Within minutes, additional crews with the City of Chattanooga Fire Department arrived on the scene. Hamilton County Paramedics arrived on the scene in short order and immediately started emergency care on the man trapped in the mid size van. Meanwhile, firefighters simultaneously worked on extinguishing the fire and starting extrication procedures on the trapped patient.
Firefighters with City of Chattanooga's Squad 1 and 4 worked quickly to extricate the trapped man. Paramedics worked aggressively to stabilize the critically injured mans injuries. Crews quickly loaded the man into an ambulance and rushed him to Erlanger Medical Center. The man in the van that caught fire was luckily able to quickly escape injury. Another driver of a semi was also taken to Erlanger Medical Center with minor injuries. Firefighters did extinguish the fire in the full size van extremely quickly.
All lanes of traffic on Rossville Blvd were detoured due to the amount of debris and wreckage scattered all over the roadway. Witnesses at the scene said the man driving the mid size van had caused the massive crash when he turned into the semi truck. When the mid size van struck the rear tandems of the semi, it bounced back and the full size van struck the rear of the mid size van. Witnesses said the semi truck swerved upon the curve trying to avoid the crash, but witnesses said the mid size van just kept coming. Witnesses also said the man driving the mid size van had been swerving back and forth for several blocks. Witnesses said that several people had called 9-1-1, but there was not enough time for police to arrive in the area and stop the van.
City of Chattanooga Police taped off the area with crime scene tape and started an investigation as to what and why the crash happen. Numerous witnesses gave statements to the officers and all of them agreed that the semi driver did all he could to avoid the crash. The semi truck driver was said to have been treated and released from the hospital. Charges against the driver of the mid size van are pending the out come of the investigation.
