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EMSCloseCalls.com.....   News and related Updates (Also check the most current issue of THE SECRET LIST for related News and Updates-Click Here) Ambulance Wrecked in Forsyth Crash - Georgia Saturday, December 12, 2015  By Justin Ove An ambulance operating in Forsyth County was totaled in a wreck as it was rushing to the scene of a motor vehicle accident, fire officials said Friday. The ambulance, operated by a private company that has a contract to provide emergency services to Forsyth County, was using the callsign ”Med 13” on Friday morning en route to an accident at Ga. 400 and Settingdown Road, Deputy Chief Jason Shivers told Patch. At 8 a.m., the ambulance approached the intersection of Spot Road and McCoy Circle with lights and sirens on and attempted to turn left. One of the stopped vehicles attempted a left turn at the same time and pulled out in front of the ambulance, Shivers said. After the two vehicles collided, they both went down an embankment, according to Shivers. Nobody was injured in the collision, and no injuries were reported in the accident on Ga. 400 to which the ambulance was responding, Shivers said. The company that owns the wrecked ambulance has a spare ambulance that has since been pressed into service to keep the fleet at full strength, Shivers said. “At no time was there any compromise in care,” he added. The driver that pulled out in front of the ambulance has been arrested and charged with failure to yield and driving without a license, Shivers said.         Two-car crash on Mercury Boulevard involved a Newport News ambulance - Virginia Saturday, December 12, 2015  HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — A two vehicle accident on West Mercury Boulevard in Hampton is causing a slight traffic back-up for motorists traveling eastbound. Hampton Police tweeted about the accident shortly after 1 p.m. on Friday. An investigation into the accident revealed that a blue Ford Explorer was stopped in the lane turn lane near Coliseum Drive on the eastbound side of Mercury Boulevard when the ambulance rear-ended it. At the time of the accident, the ambulance was transporting a non-emergent patient. The three occupants in the Explorer were transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the ambulance was issued a summons for following too close.         4 Dead After Medical Helicopter Crashes in Heavy Rain, Fog - California Saturday, December 12, 2015  A medical helicopter carrying a patient to a hospital crashed amid heavy rain and fog in California's agricultural San Joaquin Valley, killing all four people aboard, officials said. The SkyLife air ambulance had a pilot, a nurse, a paramedic and a patient aboard when it went down in a remote field about halfway through its planned 50-mile trip Thursday night, American Ambulance President Todd Valeri said at a news conference. The Bell 407 helicopter was headed from Porterville Municipal Airport south to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield when it crashed, Kern County fire officials said. Officials did not say why the patient was being taken to the hospital. There was dense fog and heavy rain in the area and it wasn't clear whether that caused the crash, but "weather conditions are always a factor," Valeri said. The weather also made it difficult to find and reach the site, and rescue crews didn't get there for more than two hours after the helicopter went missing. The helicopter went down amid rolling hills of cattle-grazing country east of the town of McFarland, 135 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The wreckage was 2½ miles from the nearest highway. Kern County sheriff's deputies secured a road leading to the site. The helicopter's cabin was fairly intact but the tail was broken off and lay 30 yards away while debris was scattered over a 50-square-yard area, according to a description by sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt. The crew notified flight dispatch that it was leaving Porterville at 6:52 p.m., according to Dan Lynch, EMS Director for Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties. At 7:05 p.m., dispatch tried to raise the helicopter for a routine check in but got no response, Lynch said. After checking with nearby airport towers, the dispatch center notified authorities that the aircraft was missing and provided its last GPS reading. A sheriff's helicopter crew reported finding the debris field on private property around 8:35 p.m. Rescuers reached the crash site around 10 p.m. and confirmed the fatalities. There was no distress call from the crew, and investigators were gathering data on the weather, the aircraft's mechanics and the pilot's history to see if any of them were factors, Joshua Cawthra of the National Transportation Board said at a briefing Friday. The power lines in the area did not appear to have an effect, Cawthra said. His team will take the wreckage to Sacramento for a long-term investigation, he said. "Hopefully at the end we'll be able to say what happened, why it happened and ultimately prevent this type of accident from happening again," Cawthra said. The helicopter was staffed by a "seasoned crew," Lynch said. "They had been a team for quite some time". The pilot was Thomas Hampl, 49, the nurse was Marco Lopez, 42, and the paramedic was Kyle Juarez, 37, Valeri said Friday. The patient was a woman, but her name was not yet being released, Valeri said. Air Ambulance's Skylife Air Medical service operates three helicopters out of the Fresno and Visalia airports. Valeri said that SkyLife has never had an aircraft crash since it partnered with Rogers Helicopters Inc. in 1991. The air ambulance transports about 1,000 patients a year, he said. Medical flights have repeatedly drawn safety scrutiny, including a 1988 NTSB study that found a need for safety improvements. Again, in 2006, the board published a study of 55 accidents involving emergency medical helicopters and airplanes between January 2002 and January 2005, a period in which the number reached levels not seen since the 1980s. The study urged evaluation of each flight's risk before each mission and formal procedures for dispatch and monitoring of flights, using a dispatcher with specific aviation knowledge and experience to provide the pilot "with consistent and critical weather information, assisting in go/no go decisions, and monitoring the flight's position." Another recommendation urged use of terrain awareness and warning systems and night-vision imaging systems. The study also noted that more than half of the accidents occurred when no patient was aboard and the flights could operate under less stringent rules. It urged that all emergency medical service operations be conducted under the stricter requirements.          4 KILLED IN MEDEVAC HELICOPTER CRASH IN KERN COUNTY - California Saturday, December 12, 2015  KERN COUNTY. (KFSN) -- American Ambulance released the identities of three of the four victims in the crash as Pilot Thomas Hampl, Nurse Marco Lopez, and Paramedic Kyle Juarez. The Kern County Fire Department confirms a SkyLife helicopter, which took off out of Porterville, has crashed killing four people on board. The fire department said a debris field has been found near Sherwood and Highway 65 in Kern County. A reporter from our sister station KERO in Bakersfield took pictures in the area where the crash occurred which shows it being very foggy. The Fresno County Department of Emergency Medical Services said the SkyLife crew departed Porterville airport with a critical patient and were transporting to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield. On board was the helicopter pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic and the patient. According to the FAA the tail number of the helicopter matches that of an American Ambulance Helicopter out of Fresno. Action News shot video of that same helicopter just this past September after it nearly crashed into a drone. The Fresno County EMS Dispatch Center was unable to make contact with the helicopter at 7:05pm. Dispatchers then contacted Kern County fire and the sheriff's office to let them know of the missing American Ambulance Helicopter. A press conference was held where the CEO of American ambulance, Todd Valeri, spoke about the tragedy, "We have a gather of our-- we call it the SkyLife family. The people who work at SkyLife are a very close knit group. Tonight we're gathering and consoling each other, and sharing memories."         Medical helicopter crash kills 4 - California Friday, December 11, 2015  The Associated Press FRESNO, Calif. — A medical helicopter carrying a patient to a hospital crashed amid heavy rain and fog in a rural area of central California, killing all four people aboard, officials said. The SkyLife air ambulance had a pilot, a nurse, a paramedic and a patient aboard when it went down in a remote field about halfway through its planned 50-mile trip Thursday night, American Ambulance president Todd Valeri said at a news conference. The Bell helicopter was headed from Porterville Municipal Airport south to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield when it crashed, Kern County fire officials said. Officials did not say why the patient was being taken to the hospital, and the names of the dead are being withheld until family members can be informed. There was dense fog and heavy rain in the area and it wasn't clear whether that caused the crash, but "weather conditions are always a factor," Valeri said. The weather also made it difficult to find and reach the site, and rescue crews didn't get there for more than two hours after the helicopter went missing. The crew notified flight dispatch that it was leaving Porterville at 6:52 p.m., according to Dan Lynch, EMS Director for Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties. At 7:05 p.m., dispatch tried to raise the helicopter for a routine check in, but got no response, Lynch said. After checking with airport towers in Fresno and Bakersfield, the dispatch center notified Kern County authorities that the aircraft was missing and provided its last GPS reading. A sheriff's helicopter crew reported finding the debris field on private property near the town of McFarland around 8:35 p.m. Rescuers reached the crash site around 10 p.m. and confirmed the fatalities. The helicopter was staffed by a "seasoned crew," Lynch said. "They had been a team for quite some time". The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate, officials said. Air Ambulance's Skylife Air Medical service operates three helicopters out of the Fresno and Visalia airports. Valeri said that SkyLife has never had an aircraft crash since it partnered with Rogers Helicopters Inc. in 1991. The air ambulance transports about 1,000 patients a year, he said.         Visalia medevac helicopter crashes near McFarland, killing four - California Friday, December 11, 2015  By Troy Pope Four people are dead after a medical evacuation helicopter based out of Visalia crashed east of McFarland Thursday night, said Dan Lynch, EMS director for Fresno County. The SkyLife medevac helicopter was transporting a patient in critical condition from Porterville to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield when it crashed near Highway 65 and Sherwood Avenue, said Lynch, who oversees emergency medical services in Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties. SkyLife Air Ambulance is a partnership between American Ambulance and Rogers Helicopters, and they operate three air ambulance helicopters out of the Fresno and Visalia airports. Todd Valeri, President and CEO of American Ambulance, said SkyLife has never had a helicopter go down since the partnership was formed in 1991. At 7:05 p.m., contact was lost with the helicopter, and it wasn’t until 8:35 p.m. that a debris field was located, Lynch said. Kern County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department lost air support due to fog, and rescue personnel couldn’t get to the debris field until 10 p.m. Once they arrived on the scene of the crash, officials confirmed that all four people were killed. The people killed were the pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic and the patient. The names have not been released and the cause of the crash remains under investigation. “Weather conditions are always a factor,” said Todd Valeri, President and CEO of American Ambulance. But Valeri said the cause of the crash is still unknown. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article49184455.html#storylink=cpy         Hillsborough paramedic's fatal heart attack came after he tried to save a life - New Jersey Friday, December 11, 2015  James V. Maguire, a paramedic with the Hillsborough Rescue Squad, died in the line of duty on Monday. Maguire had responded to a call near his home on Sunday afternoon and performed CPR for an extended period of time. Less than 20 hours later, he apparently suffered a heart attack, the squad announced. He was 57. Visiting hours will be on Sunday, 2-6 p.m. A Mass will be held Monday at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph's Church, 34 Yorktown Road in Hillsborough. "Jim was our coworker and our friend," squad Chief David Gwin said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "It's a very difficult time for all of us, particularly the crews that responded to Jim's house on Monday. We deeply appreciate the outpouring of sympathy and support from around the state as well as the offers of coverage from neighboring squads." Maguire's "entire adult life was dedicated to public service — as a United States Marine, as an EMT and paramedic, and as a police officer," Gwin said. He joined the Hillsborough Rescue Squad in 1979 and was active with it ever since. "I had the pleasure of working with Jim for over 35 years," Gwin said. Maguire also worked as a paramedic at Hunterdon Medical Center in addition to working on the Hillsborough EMS day crew. He held many positions serving the Hillsborough community over the years. He was a Somerset County sheriff's officer and then served as a police officer with the Hillsborough Township Police Department from 1984 until his retirement in 2008. During his tenure with the police he held many positions, including patrolman, detective, hostage negotiator, police liaison to the township Office of Emergency Management, and undercover narcotics officer.         Police: Sleeping ambulance driver caused Emory bus crash - Georgia Thursday, December 10, 2015  DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. --  Several people were injured after an Emory University bus crashed into a building at Candler Rd. and Glenwood Road Tuesday morning. DeKalb County police say an ambulance driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel.  The ambulance, which was transporting a patient, went through a red light and hit the bus.The driver was cited for running the red light. Captain Eric Jackson with DeKalb County Fire Department said there were  several injuries ranging from minor to moderate. At least 10 people were transported to local hospitals, including the bus driver. Nine are reported to be in good or stable condition. One has been discharged. The bus driver is said to have the most serious injuries and was listed as critical. The damage to the bus and ambulance is extensive. Jackson said firefighters had to assist riders out of the bus but said everyone was able to exit. There were 15 people on the bus during the accident. The building the bus careened into houses the ATC income tax company and 360FIXX. Firefighters had to pop the back of the ambulance to get a person out because it was jammed shut. Both the ambulance attendant and the patients were transported to the hospital as was someone in the third vehicle involved. According to Emory University, the "Emory shuttle" was heading from a Park and Ride location at South DeKalb Mall and was transporting Emory employees and students when it was struck just after 6 a.m. For a time, the entire area was shut down.         At least 12 hurt after ambulance, university bus crash near Atlanta Thursday, December 10, 2015  Fire officials say at least a dozen people were hurt after a crash that involved a university bus, an ambulance and another vehicle just east of Atlanta Tuesday. Authorities say that the wreck happened around 6 a.m. and that the Emory bus crashed into a building. Crews had to pop open the back of the ambulance to rescue the patient inside, Fox 5 reports. DeKalb County fire Capt. Eric Jackson tells WSB-TV that at least 12 people were injured. Video showed the intersection completely blocked by several ambulances and emergency vehicles as traffic was detoured through a parking lot. Jackson tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the crash involved the bus, a "non-emergency transport" ambulance and a private vehicle. He says officials don't know how the vehicles collided at the intersection. At least nine of the injured had been riding the bus, Fox 5 adds. Further information on the injuries was not immediately available.           Sources: Driver fled the scene after hitting ambulance - New York Thursday, December 10, 2015  By Maura Grunlund | grunlund@siadvance.com  STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A driver fled from the scene after hitting an ambulance and sending four people to the hospital in West Brighton on Tuesday night, according to multiple sources. Police said that no arrests have been made yet in the accident that occurred at Forest and Dubois avenues at about 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. The driver, whose identity remains unknown, struck another vehicle, caused injury and then left the scene without providing insurance information, according to police. Richmond University Medical Center confirmed that one of its ambulances with no patients inside was hit. "Our ambulance was operating, with lights and sirens, westbound on Forest Avenue en route to a call in Mariners Harbor when it was struck by a vehicle which emerged from a side street," according to William Smith, director of public relations for the medical facility. All of the ambulance crew members were treated and released from Richmond University Medical Center. The crew included a 40-year-old male EMT, a 37-year-old female EMT and a 37-year-old female intern, Smith said. A person from the car that struck the ambulance also was taken to Richmond University Medical Center, Smith said. A source with knowledge of the accident said that after striking the ambulance, a driver and a passenger in the car ran from the scene. A male back-seat passenger had to be extricated from the car by emergency response personnel. The car that struck the ambulance did not have any license plates and was missing a registration sticker, according to a source with knowledge of the accident. Police confirmed that there was an issue with either the license and/or registration.         After ambulance theft, fire chief demands changes - New York Thursday, December 10, 2015  By Cody Combs Geneseo, N.Y. - "Frankly we've had about enough of this," said Geneseo Fire Chief Andrew Chanler, referring to a 22-year-old SUNY Geneseo student accused of stealing an ambulance. "This goes beyond a prank and it was definitely an attempt to really cause some havoc," he added. According to a Geneseo police report, SUNY Geneseo student Colin Dahlberg attempted to drive away with an ambulance that was responding to an intoxicated student who needed assistance near Genesee Hall early Saturday morning. The fire chief also said that Dahlberg spoke into the 2-way radio while driving the ambulance, and said "God bless America." He has since posted bail, but remains charged with DWI and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property. Chanler said that the crew was wheeling out the person needing assistance on campus, only to find that the ambulance was gone. "It delayed the transport of the victim," he said, adding that the consequences could have been much worse. "Had this truly been a life threatening call, that could have made the difference in the outcome of the patient." "Fortunately the Geneseo Village Police were very fast to apprehend him." According to police, they spotted the ambulance more than one mile away from the campus, and Dahlberg attempted to run away. The police report goes on to say that Dahlberg was driving the ambulance with more than double the legal limit allowed for DWI. The fire chief said it's just the latest in what has become a huge problem of antics stemming from young people in and around Geneseo drinking.  "It puts a strain on our first responders," he said, estimating that alcohol fueled incidents take up most of his crew's activity from Thursday night through weekend. "It puts a strain on first responders and then when you have shenanigans like this it puts a lot more stress on it." Chanler said until there are changes made in the mentality of young people in and around Geneseo, alcohol fueled incidents like this will continue to take place. "What it comes down to is that we're trying to help people and alcohol gets in the way," he added. He acknowledged that standard protocol of "locking down" the ambulance was not followed, and that it will be re-emphasized in the future. "We now have to tell our people to expect the unexpected," Chanler said. Geneseo Police Chief Eric Osganian said that ultimately, the transport of the patient needing assistance was completed, but that the whole incident is worrisome. "Just when you think you've seen it all..." he wrote in an email to 13WHAM News. "Something else happens."         At Least 12 Hurt in Georgia Crash Involving Bus, Ambulance Thursday, December 10, 2015  Fire officials say about a dozen people have been injured after a crash that involved an Emory University bus, an ambulance and another vehicle just east of Atlanta. Authorities say that the wreck happened around 6 a.m. Tuesday and that the bus crashed into a building. DeKalb County Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief Garrett Smith says at least one injury is considered critical. Smith says 10 people were taken to hospitals. Smith says the Emory bus and the ambulance, which he described as a medical transport vehicle, somehow collided at an intersection. He says the cause is still being investigated. Emory University spokeswoman Elaine Justice says the shuttle bus had begun its route from a park-and-ride stop at a mall and was taking people to campus.          Suburban firefighter dies while performing CPR - Illinois Thursday, December 10, 2015  BY GAYNOR HALL AND MIKE LOWE MATTESON, Ill. – A firefighter in south suburban Matteson died while performing CPR on a shopper at Wal-Mart. The firefighter, identified as 49-year-old Mark Zielinski, was called to the store at 21410 S. Cicero Avenue in Matteson Friday afternoon for a medical emergency. He had been with the Matteson Fire Department for 13 years, after spending many years working for the fire department in Harvey. His cause of death has not been determined. The condition of the person he was helping is not known.         Police: York City man stole ambulance, took joyride - Pennsylvania Saturday, December 5, 2015  Sean Philip Cotter, 505-5437/@SPCotterYD The call for a breathing problem early Friday morning in York City was a pretty standard one for the EMT and paramedic who dealt with it until they brought their patient outside and realized their ambulance was gone. Someone had stolen it when no one was looking — or, at least, no one besides the in-vehicle camera and a vehicle tracking device. The latter led to a quick recovery of the ambulance, and the former showed a cheerful young man apparently quite pleased with his exploits. "He seemed to be having a good time," said Jim Arvin, the president and CEO of White Rose Ambulance, the York City company that owned the vehicle. "He seemed excited." York City Police allege the ambulance joyrider was Leonard Eugene Smith, 21, whose last known address was 953 E. Princess St.; he took the vehicle at 2 a.m. Friday for only a few minutes, according to charging documents, just driving it a few blocks away before ditching it. He's been charged with felony theft, a misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering another person — that's for allegedly taking the ambulance while it was out on a call, putting the patient's wellbeing in jeopardy — and a summary offense of driving while his license was suspended. He was arrested a short time after the theft and remains in York County Prison on $75,000 bail, according to prison records. Everything ended up just fine; they patient got to the hospital without much delay, and the ambulance — a unit called a mobile intensive-care unit, or MICU, to be specific — was tracked down within minutes of the theft, which allowed Arvin to laugh about it a little bit Saturday afternoon, mostly about how bad an idea it is to steal an emergency vehicle. "It should make that stupid-video show," he said. What happened: Emergency responders were called just before 2 a.m. to the 500 block of South Queen Street for reports of a breathing problem. As is protocol, Arvin said, two MICU units went — a primary and a backup, each an ambulance carrying an emergency medical technician and a paramedic. When they got there, the responders saw they wouldn't need that many people so one of the MICUs left, he said. That was just fine, Arvin said, until the ones who stayed came back outside of the residence, patient in tow, and found no ambulance waiting for them. "When they came down, the truck was gone," he said. They had to call in a third unit to bring the patient to the hospital. As far as Arvin knew, the patient was fine. The backup MICU and the police quickly went out to look for the missing ambulance, with the help of the tracking device. They found the thief had only driven it south down the block, around the corner, and down another street a few more blocks before ditching it, Arvin said. Authorities tracked the vehicle down around the intersection of West Boundary and Cleveland avenues, according to charging documents. Neither the ambulance nor anything inside of it was damaged, which is a big relief for the company. Arvin says the last MICU his company bought was more than $130,000, and he estimates the equipment inside the vehicle is an additional $75,000 or so. "It was a great outcome, all things considered," he said. He said it's usually not that easy to steal an ambulance — it's never happened to White Rose Ambulance before. There's usually multiple emergency personnel around the scene of any incident, often police, so you can't really just walk up to an emergency vehicle and hop in without someone noticing. But, Arvin said, sometimes there are short periods of time when no one is looking at the ambulance, as happened this time. He said protocol will likely change to make sure incidents such as this one don't happen again. "I guarantee there will be safety measures put in place next week," he said. — Reach Sean Cotter at scotter@yorkdispatch.com.         Paramedic describes crash that totaled ambulance - Kansas Saturday, December 5, 2015  ELLSWORTH — At first when he felt the driver hit the brakes, paramedic Rick Soukup, who was riding with a patient in the rear of an Ellsworth County ambulance headed to Salina, wasn’t concerned. Although it’s not uncommon to encounter deer, they usually scatter when they hear the sirens. “Then all of a sudden I heard all the tires locking up and squealing on the road, and I knew at that point it probably wasn’t a deer,” Soukup said. The ambulance, which was running with its lights and sirens Tuesday morning as it carried a patient in critical condition, had encountered a Ford F-350 pickup truck hauling a large, round hay bale on Kansas Highway 140, just west of Brookville. The eastbound truck had slowed, but not to let the ambulance pass, as had the other vehicles encountered on the road. Instead, the truck driver — apparently unaware of the ambulance approaching fast from behind — had slowed to turn left into a field. The ambulance, which had pulled out into the oncoming lane to pass the truck, was on a path to T-bone the truck on the driver’s side. But then, ambulance driver Jeremiah Brown, 34, swerved back to the right to avoid hitting the cab of the truck, instead striking the rear of its flatbed, Soukup said. Perhaps as a result of that, Donald Goddard, 52, who was driving the truck, was not injured. Goddard could not be reached for comment Thursday. Quick reactionHowever, Brown — an advanced emergency medical technician — was injured. He remained in serious condition Thursday at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis, in Wichita. A hospital spokeswoman said a change in Brown’s condition from fair on Wednesday to serious on Thursday was related to treatment he was receiving and did not indicate a decline in his health. “Thank God my driver reacted the way he did — he took a horrible situation and just made it bad,” Soukup said. “That guy in that pickup definitely wouldn’t have got out and walked away the way he did. My driver did an exceptional job of putting things together. I commend him on that greatly.” Kathryn Whitmer, 57, of Wilson, who was being transported in the ambulance to Salina Regional Health Center, died Wednesday, according to a website for Foster Mortuary, of Wilson. Soukup said Whitmer, who was on a gurney attached to the ambulance and held in place by at least three seat belts, received no trauma in the crash. Kansas Highway Patrol representatives investigating the crash did not return phone calls Thursday from the Journal. Happened in slow motionSoukup said this was the first crash he’d been involved in in 17 years of transferring patients to Salina on K-140. He said he typically travels to Salina about once a day, although one day he made the trip seven times. When the crash occurred, he was wearing a lap belt in the rear-facing “captain seat” in the box of the ambulance, where he could assist the patient if needed. During the collision, his right shoulder hit a cabinet “and from that point on, everything went very, very much slow motion for me,” Soukup said. He said his back scraped on the doors of the cabinet and it looked like his shoulder was about to go through a window, so he stuck his foot in the door well and stopped himself. He said when the ambulance came to a stop, the cab was full of smoke from the air bags of the totaled vehicle. He called to Brown and asked if he could radio for help, but Brown said there was no power. Ambulance driver pinnedSoukup said he had been on his cell phone giving the hospital an update on the patient when the wreck occurred, and the phone flew out of his hand. He searched on the floor until he found it and then called a dispatcher, asking for two ambulances and a rescue truck to be sent from the Salina Fire Department. Soukup said after he took care of his patient, he got out and went to see if he could free Brown, whose left leg was pinned in the cab of the ambulance. “Once I got outside the truck, I knew there was nothing I could do with my bare hands to relieve him, so I stuck my hand down inside the window where his leg was pinned to make sure he wasn’t bleeding,” Soukup said. Soukup said when Salina firefighters arrived, they pulled the wreckage away, freeing Brown’s leg. Soukup said he has a doctor’s appointment today to see if he is cleared to return to work. He still was sore on Thursday. That steel bumperHe said after being treated in the Salina hospital’s emergency department, he returned to the Ellsworth County EMS building and studied the crumpled front of the 2012 ambulance, which had been one of three operated by the ambulance service. He’s convinced that the crash might have killed Brown if not for a steel bumper added about a year ago after the vehicle hit a deer. He said the heavy, steel bumper was made by ThunderStruck Bumpers, a company that had constructed its bumpers in Salina before recently relocating to Abilene. Dale Jones, who owns ThunderStruck Bumpers with his partner Casen Brown, said Thursday that the ambulance crash was “not the way we like to get advertising.” He said the company’s customized bumpers for law enforcement and emergency vehicles are designed to “protect the protectors.” They also make steel bumpers that mainly are purchased for construction and farm vehicles, and for trucks and vans that operate in areas with deer. He said that currently the company manufactures about 4,000 bumpers a year, which are sold across the United States. Have to pay attentionSoukup said he understands how easy it is to get into a routine while driving the same route every day. He said for farm vehicles, it’s common for turn signals to become obscured by mud. “I guess the advice that I have not only for farmers but for absolutely everybody — including kids — that are driving: Pay attention,” Soukup said. “Stay off the cell phones. Turn down your stereo. If you’re going to turn, that’s why they put mirrors on vehicles. Look at your mirrors.”           Prev1234Next        1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9        10        11        12        13        14        15        16        17        18        19        20        21        22        23        24        25        26        27        28        29        30        31        32        33        34        35        36        37        38        39        40        41        42        43        44        45        46        47        48        49        50        51        52        53        54        55        56        57        58        59        60        61        62        63        64        65        66        67        68        69        70        71        72        73        74        75        76        77        78        79        80        81        82        83        84        85        86        87        88        89        90        91        92        93        94        95        96        97        98        99        100        101        102        103        104        105        106        107        108        109        110        111        112        113        114        115        116        117        118        119        120        121        122        123        124        125        126        127        128        129        130        131        132        133        134        135        136        137        138        139        140        141        142        143        144        145        146        147        148        149        150        151        152        153        154        155        156        157        158        159        160        161        162        163        164        165        166        167        168        169        170        171        172        173        174        175        176        177        178        179        180        181        182        183        184        185        186        187        188        189        190        191        192        193        194        195        196        197        198        199        200        201        202        203        204        205        206        207        208        209        210        211        212        213        214        215        216        217        218        219        220        221        222        223        224        225        226        227        228        229        230        231        232        233        234        235        236        237        238        239        240        241        242        243        244        245        246        247        248        249        250        251        252        253        254        255        256        257        258        259        260        261        262        263        264        265        266        267        268        269        270        271        272        273        274        275        276        277        278        279        280        281        282        283        284        285        286        287        288        289        290        291        292        293        294        295        296        297        298        299        300        301        302        303        304        305        306        307        308        309        310        311        312        313        314        315        316        317        318        319        320        321        322        323        324        325        326        327        328        329        330        331        332        333        334        335        336        337        338        339        340        341        342        343        344        345        346        347        348        349        350        351        352       Page 1 of 352 [ Total items: 5270]   Search for news stories : Select Year      Select Year     2015     2014     2013     2012     2011     2010     2009     2008     2007     2006     2005     2004     2003     2002     2001     2000     1997     1972     1940     1938  Select Month      Select Month     Jan     Feb     Mar     Apr     May     Jun     Jul     Aug     Sep     Oct     Nov     Dec  Select Category      Select Category     News Firefighter Close Calls     Pass It On     The Secret List     News Ems Close Calls     Close Calls - 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