TC Down The Street

The tones went off (insert sounds here...maybe I'll have to try that sometime). We were being dispatched for a TC just down the street from the station. We jumped into our turnouts and pulled out of the station.

As we approached the scene we could see a four door late model sedan in the middle of the side street. Along the curb was a late model mid size pickup. There was moderate damage to the front and sides of both vehicles that happens when to cars try to occupy the same space at the same time. Airbags had deployed and both occupants had self extricated.

As the air brakes set I jumped off the rig and went to see what we were dealing with. I first came upon the driver of the car. He said that other than the minor cut on his hand, he was fine. He didn't want any medical attention. I then walked over to the other driver who was talking on his cell phone.

After convincing him to hang up (repeatedly) I did a quick assessment. While my engineer held c-spine I did a neuro check to see if the patient warranted full spinal immobilization. Fortunately, he did not. While I questioned my patient I noticed that he was a bit slow in answering my questions. He would answer everything correctly but just seemed a little slow. He was also complaining of a burning sensation on his forearm. This was probably from the airbag. Once AMR showed up we loaded him on the gurney and sent him to the hospital. The poor guy was probably just shaken up from the accident.

Once he was taken care of we turned our attention to the debris field around the scene. My engineer grabbed the push broom and I grabbed the shovel. While we were tending to the patient the engine crew put absorbent down on the fluids in the roadway. Now, we cleaned everything up. While it may look like we are just being helpful it actually serves to prevent an accident later on at that same location. Once everything had been cleaned up we headed back to the barn, leaving PD to wait with the wrecks for the tow trucks.