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Man pulled from burning truck
Garbage truck crashes, nearby resident rescues driver
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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A trash truck ran off Broomes Island Road on Friday afternoon, striking a tree, and then the full load of the trash caught on fire and a man who saw the accident pulled the driver, Ronald Stout of Prince Frederick, out of the truck to safety.
The trash truck, which was carrying 12-15 tons of rubbish, was in flames when the Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene around 1 p.m. responding to the report of a trash truck fire with one person possibly trapped, a fire department press release stated.
The owner of the house near where the trash truck landed on the 3300 block of Broomes Island Road went to the driver's rescue and helped get him out the truck, said senior firefighter Michelle Sigona.
"He was trapped and definitely not getting out. He jumped right in and got him out. He did an amazing job," Sigona said. Officials, however, were not able to provide the man's name.
Stout was flown out with serious injuries, the press release stated.
Because the truck was on fire and next to a home, Chief 2-A Brian Ficke alerted units from Prince Frederick, Huntingtown, St. Leonard and Solomons as a precautionary measure so they would have the proper equipment, manpower and water on the scene in case the house caught on fire, according to Sigona. The house was not damaged.
The hydraulic control that enables workers to gain access to the trash was not working because of the crash, so the Prince Frederick volunteers worked quickly to cut a hole in the side of the truck to gain access to the trash and extinguish the fire, according to the press release. Broomes Island Road was shut down for almost two hours.
