Story/Photos By Martin Grube
Virginia Beach VA - Captain Jerry Chiusano of Engine 5 and his crew were dispatched to the 2100 block of Holland Road Wednesday night around 9 pm for a vehicle accident. Once on scene, the EMS and Engine crew found a single car that had left the road, driven through a wooden fence, across a yard, through another wooden fence and into a private dwelling. Miraculously, no one inside the homes was injured, but the damage and the debris field was significant.
Fire and EMS workers found a lone driver, pinned inside the car with an eighteen-inch section of fencing lodged through his trachea. A neighbor, who happened to be a doctor, was instrumental in maintaining an airway and stabilizing the wooden object. The Virginia Beach Fire Department Technical Rescue Team responded and along with the crew from Ladder 16, they stabilized and shored up the outside bearing wall of the structure. The crew from Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue 14 used extrication tools to remove the roof.
The local air ambulance, Nightingale, from Sentara Norfolk, was dispatched and landed one mile away under the direction of Engine 18 at the Landing Zone. Once the victim was back boarded, he was swiftly taken to the waiting ambulance and to the landing zone.
Because this accident occurred at such a high speed, personnel had many factors to consider.
When the vehicle left the road, it struck a wooden fence and a pile of stacked firewood. Firewood was projected outward from the impact two hundred feet. It struck the house next door fifteen feet from the ground. This impact knocked the glass mirror off the bathroom wall and came crashing down. A piece of firewood and the cinderblock in which it was sitting on were propelled into the home and through windows into the living room and kitchen. As the vehicle continued on, the impact energy could be seen by seeing small sections of wood piercing though the metal body of the vehicle. Glass acted as shrapnel and stuck in sheetrock walls. A vase was embedded into the wall inside the living room, twenty feet from where it was first struck.
Lessons Learned:
- Always check the surrounding area for secondary damage. There may be injuries from glass breakage, flying objects. A person could be home alone and injured from flying debris. Get inside and check out the structures.
- Get additional resources on the road early. You can always turn them around. The ladder crew and Tech Team is always needed to shore up outside bearing walls when crews are inside. Not to mention when Police and wrecker crews are inside working around the vehicle.
- Call for a building inspector, utilities such as gas and electrical need to be secured.
- The Ladder crew set up a ventilation fan. This is important if gas vapors and dust are a problem.
- Stepping on nails from the wooden fence injured several workers. Cops and EMS workers do not wear firefighting boots. So be aware of this and watch your step. Lighting is important early into the incident. Set up flood light!
- Keep people away. A man with an eighteen-inch piece of wood embedded into his neck is not attractive and could traumatize civilians.
The man went into surgery later that evening.
