July 31st, 2018 by WCBC Radio
FLINTSTONE- No firefighters were injured in a Monday afternoon crash, west of Flintstone, after a car collided with a piece of fire apparatus providing incident scene blocking, according to officials.
“No one was in the squad when the car struck the (apparatus),” Bedford Road Volunteer Fire Department Chief Eddie Collins said. “We had the shoulder and slow lane blocked for two separate incidents while (Flintstone Ambulance) was obtaining a patient refusal.”
Incident scene blocking is a term used when a large fire apparatus is used to protect the scene from dangers, for example, vehicles operated by distracted drivers that may not see first responders working alongside the road.
“This is why (incident) scene blocking is so important,” Collins said.
Units from Baltimore Pike and Orleans Volunteer Fire Departments, ambulances from Bowman’s Addition, Flintstone and Cumberland, Allegany County Department of Emergency Services and Maryland State Police responded to the 2:10 p.m. collision.
Collins said that a sedan got into the fast lane, slowed down and came to a stop.
“A dump truck that was following behind, rear-ended the sedan, pushing them into the squad,” Collins said. “Two patients were in the sedan and were assisted out of the vehicle by my crew.”
Two patients were transported to Western Maryland Regional Medical Center with minor injuries, according to Todd Bowman, public information officer for Allegany County Department of Emergency Services.
This crash was part of a series of crashes that started during a downpour of rain at approximately 1:30 p.m. Monday, Bowman said. Units were originally dispatched to I-68 near mile marker 50 for a reported crash. First arriving EMS units corrected the incident to mile marker 53, just east of the Street Road bridge.
Todd Bowman is the public information officer for Allegany County Department of Emergency Services. He can be reached at tbowman@alleganygov.org.
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