NORWICH, CT - At 5:06 A.M. on Saturday, December 2nd, Engine 2, Squad A, American Ambulance and the Norwich Police were dispatched to North Main Street, near Macaras, for a car accident called in by Subaru Collision Services. Engine 2 signed on and Norwich Dispatch updated saying they took a second call from a passerby who reported the car on its side, against a utility pole with smoke coming from the engine compartment.

Engine 2 arrived, finding the driver to be trapped in the cab with the engine compartment up against the utility pole. With the confirmed entrapment, Engine 2 requested Truck 1 for manpower. The crew made patient contact, stretched a 100’ one-and-three-quarter-inch hose line, and deployed their step chocks. Squad A was tasked with stabilization, so they set up a grip hoist, as well as two rescue jacks.

Once the vehicle was stabilized, Truck 1 took the rear window and a member crawled in to put a blanket over the patient. The windshield was then removed and the TNT cutters were used to cut the A, B & C posts. With a relief cut on the bottom, members folded the roof down. The patient was slid onto a backboard and carried to the stretcher, where care was turned over to an American Ambulance Paramedic. Battalion 1 had command and Norwich Public Utilities assessed the pole.