By Liz Leamy
More than ever, highway safety is a growing concern for many due to the rising number of first responders and Department of Transportation (DOT) personnel who have been injured on the scene, with the Greenwich Fire Department (GFD) experiencing this first hand.
The night of June 26th had started off like any other shift for the dedicated GFD members.
At 1130pm, a 911 call then came in reporting a crash on Interstate 95 by exit 4 in which a tandem tractor-trailer had swerved on the wet highway and gone off the road causing it to overturn.
In turn, companies from multiple districts in town then responded, including Engines from Downtown Greenwich, Byram, Cos Cob and Old Greenwich stations.
Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters proceeded to mitigate the emergency, which included stabilizing the vehicle, extricating the driver and then transferring the patient for transport to Stamford Hospital by a Greenwich EMS unit.
At around 110am, while awaiting the arrival of CT-DEEP, Engine Co. 1, a 45,000-pound Pierce Arrow XT that was parked with its emergency lights on and road flares out in a blocking position covering the center and right lanes to protect the police officers and other emergency personnel was unexpectedly hit at a high rate of speed by the operator of an unregistered car carrier truck that also struck two passenger vehicles.
“I95 has become one of the more dangerous aspects of the job and we’re on the highway all the time,” said Jason Jeracka, GFD Lieutenant Engine 1. “The construction and design (to include multiple passenger airbags) of the Pierce fire engine really protected us that night. I’m grateful to the Town of Greenwich for providing us with such great equipment.”
The impact caused Engine 1 to be pushed almost 130 feet, spun around and tossed off the roadway facing the wrong direction, totaling the engine.
The three firefighters inside Engine 1 at the time of the crash, including Jeracka and GFD Firefighters Ellery McFarland and Forrest Edelman all sustained significant non life-threatening injuries.
Edelman had to be extricated from the driver’s seat of the truck before he could be transported to a local trauma center while the driver of one of the passenger vehicles and the car carrier also sustained injuries.
In total, five people were transported to the Stamford Hospital Emergency Room as a result of this crash.
Although these three firefighters who were honored, along with 14 of their GFD colleagues for their involvement in October, did not experience any life-threatening injuries, Jeracka and Edelman sustained a series of serious injuries that kept each of them out of work for an extended period of time and required extensive rehabilitation and physical therapy.
Due to his injuries and rehabilitation, Jeracka missed a month and a half of work, while Edelman underwent treatment for three and a half months, having returned to work just recently on October 16th.
This terrifying incident highlights the dangers of I95 and other highways in the area as Jeracka and his colleagues have become adamant about the importance of highway safety for everyone in the community and on the highways.
According to Jerack and members of the GFD, this is a time in which people need to pay greater attention than ever when they are driving.
“People aren’t paying attention and there is a lot of distracted driving,” said Jeracka. “It takes its toll and the effects can be long lasting and life changing.”
Most certainly, this is a time in which people seem to be busier than ever and are running around driving to a whole different range of destinations in the course of a day.
That, in tandem with the fact that cell phones have become the norm and play such an integral role in people’s lives today has completely transformed the whole concept and experience of driving.
Subsequently, it is critical for drivers to always be as mindful, aware and respectful toward one another as ever when they are behind the wheel so everyone works together in harmony and gets to wherever they’re going in safe fashion.
“People need to always pay attention when they’re driving,” said Jeracka. “It’s for their own and everyone else’s safety.”
Meanwhile, there are also drivers who tend to be resistant when the GFD, Greenwich Police Department or EMS vehicles are driving through town headed to an emergency call, a situation that poses a big challenge to their effectiveness and safety of their work and everyone’s health and safety.
“Please slow down and move over for the firefighters, police and EMS,” said Jeracka. “It can be hazardous if people don’t, we just want to do our job safely.”
Ultimately, it’s all about people working together and being as alert and respectful as possible when driving to back the notion that teamwork most definitely helps make the dream work.
TIPS ON DRIVING SAFETY:
-Please be alert and aware
-Please pay attention at all times on the road
-Please don not look at or use cell phones while driving
-Please try to work together and flow with the traffic
-Please stop at lights, follow the speed limits and always respect the rules
-Please do not rush and make time for wherever you are going
-Please be considerate and patient when driving, especially of fire trucks that also might be coming in and out of their parking bays at their fire houses as it only takes 30 seconds or so.
