July 15, 2009

Overturned SUV Leads to Complicated Extrication   

A sport utility vehicle overturned at a sharp curve on East-West Highway in Chevy Chase, pinning the driver in a way that required a complex operation to release her.

Rescue Squad 741, Medic 741, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center Engine 754 were dispatched at about 1030 hours on Wednesday, July 15 to a personal injury collision with a report of persons trapped at East-West Highway and Brookville Road, the location of a sharp curve that has been the scene of other serious collisions.  Units found the accident about a block away at Rocton Avenue, with an SUV that had hit a telephone pole and overturned onto the driver’s side door, partially pinning the driver underneath, and partially inside the vehicle. 

The Squad crew quickly performed operations that are typical for this type of an incident – cutting door posts to flap the roof and rolling the dashboard away from the seat (which required small tool operations because of cramped spaces).  They then cut and removed the steering column, which had pinned the patient’s leg against the seat.  This led to the discovery that the door apparently had opened during the accident sequence, and that the driver’s foot actually was pinned beneath the vehicle.  Crews then cut the doorstep and spread the door away from the rocker panel, ultimately freeing the patient and allowing her removal from the vehicle.  The entire extrication took approximately 30 minutes to complete.

The Montgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue Service medics who were staffing Medic 741 stabilized the patient and quickly transported her to the Trauma Center at Suburban Hospital.

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