Weather Leads to Crashes on Route 896 & Route 1, on a Busy Saturday for Calls
 
January 6, 2024
 

A weather system moved across the area on Saturday morning with winter's first snow and freezing rain, and it didn't take long for the roads to get slippery. That resulted in a numbers of crash dispatches for West Grove Fire Company.

The first dispatch was for an accident with entrapment just past 10am, with the 911 Center receiving calls of a large pickup that had overturned with three subjects inside. WGFC responded with Engine 22-1, Rescue 22, and Engine 22-3, along with both ambulances and fire police.

Engine 22-3 went on scene and found a pickup up on the road bank having rolled over, and a large, attached utility trailer upside down blocking Route 896, between Flint Hill Roads and London Tract Roads. Fortunately, there were no trapped patients, and Engine 22-3, Rescue 22 and EMS crews attended to injuries and helped block traffic. Ultimately, Ambulance 1 transported several patients to the Christiana Hospital.

Fire police and Engine 22-3 remained on scene for more than hour as tow crews worked to remove the trailer and pickup and reopen the highway. PennDOT also sent a plow truck down to provide salt and sand to that section of the roadway which was quite slippery. WGFC crews were on scene for nearly two hours.

Three additional accidents were dispatched on Saturday. One call was for a vehicle that left the road along the US Route 1 Bypass and another emergency for a crash for a vehicle that hit the median arresting cable -- both in the area of Route 796 in Penn Township. A fourth emergency was for an accident along Old Baltimore Pike in London Grove that came in as a possible vehicle fire but turned out to be a property damage accident near Lake Road not needing fire department services.

And, in the midst of those other crash incidents, the WGFC handled reports of a burning smell inside a store in the shopping center in Jennersville. The odor turned out to be an issue with an HVAC system, with Ladder 22 and Engine 22-2 handling the investigation call.

 
Units: Engine 22-1, Rescue 22, Engine 22-3, Ambulances 1 & 2, Fire Police, with Engine 22-1, Utility 22-1 handling the Bypass, and Engine 22-1, 22-3, Utility 22-3 on the Baltimore Pike incident, and Engine 22-2 and Ladder 22 handling the odor investigation.
 
Mutual Aid: PA State Police, PennDOT