2023 ANNUAL REPORT-FINAL

87

UNIT CITATION

Personnel From

United Steam Fire Engine Company 3

Urbana Fire Company 23 Westview Fire Company 31 Spring Ridge Fire Company 33

Citizens Truck Company 4

New Market District Fire Company 15

DFRS Headquarters

On the morning of Friday, October 21, 2022, Frederick County’s 9-1-1 center received multiple calls for a motor vehicle collision with rollover and fuel spill in the Northbound lanes of I-270 near Baker Valley Road. Units responded and found a commercial dump truck rolled onto the driver’s side and resting against the bridge abutment for Baker Valley Road. The truck’s fuel tanks were leaking onto the roadway and fuel was running off the bridge onto Baker Valley Road. The dump truck’s 70-year-old driver was found lying inside the vehicle cab, under the driver’s seat, and pinned in position by the steering wheel; the driver’s seat had sheared from its mounts during the rollover and the dashboard was displaced. The driver was conscious and yelling in discomfort about his legs. While the condition of the vehicle’s interior made access difficult, an initial assessment of his injuries identified an open, compound fracture of his lower right leg; bleeding was controlled by a tourniquet that was applied by a bystander before the arrival of Frederick County units. As units on the initial assignment arrived, command was established and additional units were requested to address the fuel leak, provide medivac, and to address extrication safety concerns related to the vehicle’s proximity to the bridge abutment and barrier wall. Command was established and assignments were made to build out the EMS, extrication, HAZMAT, and Safety components of the rescue effort. Anchor points were established, struts and cribbing materials were set, and the vehicle was tied back and stabilized. A vertical anchor point and fall protection system were established using the aerial device of a ladder truck positioned below the incident on Baker Valley Road. HAZMAT personnel controlled the fuel leak and spread granular absorbent to provide safer footing for personnel operating next to the vehicle. The stabilization and extrication took 46 minutes from the arrival of the first Frederick County unit and removal of the patient from the vehicle. Medical care during the extrication was limited to continual assessment and the administration of oxygen. Once freed from the entrapment, and before removal from the vehicle, it was determined that the patient had extensive injuries to his legs. He was rapidly moved through the windshield of the vehicle to a backboard balanced on the jersey wall of the bridge, then to an ambulance. The patient was transported by ambulance to the airport Helipad for medivac to R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma by Trooper 1.