Colleton County Fire-Rescue

5/6/2011

05/06/2011 – “C” Shift – Multi-Vehicle Fatal MVC

Incident # 11-02531 – A multi-vehicle MVC on the county line resulted in one fatality and sent four other people to a Trauma Center, three in critical condition. The accident occurred during a thunderstorm at 14:53, Friday afternoon 06-May. Three vehicles collided on the busy four lane highway. The accident was originally reported to be in Colleton County on ACE Basin Parkway (US Hwy 17) about 2 miles south of Jacksonboro. Engine 6 and Medic 6 were assigned to the incident. As additional callers contacted 9-1-1, the information was updated to as many as eight patients, three being trapped and one with respiratory problems. Medic 1, Medic 9, Medic 104, Rescue 1 and Battalion 1 were then added to the response. Fire-Rescue units located the accident about 7 minutes later in the opposite direction, approximately ¼ mile north of Jacksonboro on the Charleston County side of the Edisto River. Engine 6 confirmed a three vehicle high speed MVC, with heavy damage with three people trapped in one vehicle. An adult male from another vehicle had been ejected and was lying in the roadway.

A small child was in a child seat with minor injuries. Bystanders had removed her from the car. Two people in the third vehicle received only minor injuries. Charleston County was notified the incident was in their jurisdiction. A Physician’s Assistant from MUSC, a Coast Guard Petty Officer and a former army medic were treating the injured when emergency units arrived. They continued to assist until the patients were transported from the scene.

All four lanes of Highway 17 were blocked. A four door, dual wheel Ford F-350 which was pulling a utility trailer loaded with building materials/tools was across two lanes. It had received heavy damage and appeared to have at least partially rolled over. The driver had been ejected and was lying in front of the truck on the pavement. A Honda Accord with heavy damage was off in the first northbound lane near the guard rail and contained three trapped adults. A Toyota 4Runner was against the guard rail on the southbound side with the rear blocking one southbound lane. There was construction debris littering the scene and thousands of nails, misc tools, etc. in the roadway. Two vehicles were leaking fuel which was spreading in the rain.

Engine 6 deployed one 1-3/4 handline to protect the scene. Colleton County Firefighter-Paramedics treated the injured patients, while others used a set of Holmatro Hydraulic Rescue Tools to perform the extrication on the Honda. St Pauls Fire Department arrived a short time later and assisted with the extrication. The passenger side doors and the roof were removed from the Honda to free the front seat female passenger and an adult female rear seat passenger. Both patients were extricated with full spinal precautions. Charleston County EMS arrived with two ambulances while the extrication was in progress. All of the agencies worked well together and had all of the trapped patients extricated and other patients off of the scene in less than 30 minutes. The four injured patients were transported to the Trauma Center at MUSC, two by Colleton County and two by Charleston County. The two patients in the 4Runner denied transport. The driver of the Honda was DOA and remained trapped in the wreckage until personnel from the Charleston County Coroner’s Office arrived. Charleston County agencies performed the extrication on the Honda’s driver.
The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office investigated the crash. Traffic on the busy Highway 17 was completely block until 18:00 and backed up for eight miles in Colleton County. Traffic also backed up several miles on SC Hwy 64 (Charleston Hwy).  

Engine 6, Medic 1, Medic 6, Medic 9, Medic 104, Rescue 1, Battalion 1, Car 110 and Car 111 responded. Lt. Brian Drew initially served as Incident Commander. Command was transferred to Battalion 1 later in the incident. St Pauls Fire Department responded with an Engine and Rescue. Charleston County EMS responded two ambulances and First Response Unit. Charleston County Rescue also responded.