MVA on Ohio Turnpike

[MATT3045]

On 12/13/10 Valley Fire District, Summit County OH, was dispatched to a single car MVA on the Ohio Turnpike near the 178 milemarker around 0915 hours. Valley med unit 2811 went enroute with 2 medics and arrived on scene around 0930 hours (snow storm). While on scene, behind the med unit a big MVA happened right behind them. 3 semi's and a passenger van were involved. Units radioed in that first call was a sign off, second MVA had 2 people trapped with more injured. First semi (black) stopped to avoid accident, second semi (red/maroon) rear ended first semi, third semi (white) rear ended second causing its load to go everywhere. Second semi was hauling steal beams, several went through cab of truck


Valley Engine 2814 (rescue-engine) went enroute with 2, and our second squad 2812 went enroute with 3. Mutual aid was requested from Boston Hts for rescue engine, Macedonia for med unit. Valley units & mut aid units arrived after a delay due to traffic and weather. Prior to arrival Valley Chief requested mut. aid from Richfield Fire for rescue engine to come in from opposite direction east in westbound lanes (road was closed down) for extrication assist. Boston Hts requested mut. aid from Bath Fire for a med unit, we will not go into details about that.


A crane was requested about 10 minutes after second MVA and also for State Patrol to shut down the turnpike before the accident. They did shut down the Pike, well nobody cold go anywhere becausse of MVA. They did not call a crane, just called for a heavy wrecker.


Driver of second semi was trapped in his vehicle for 1 hour and 59 minutes with multiple trauma injuries. He was transported by Bath Fire. Valley fire transported driver of third semi and 2 people in van. All units were finally back in service and clear from scene just after 1230 hours.

 

[DT_Fire]

WOW! That's all I got to say on this.

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

That looks like a huge cluster.


I would be ticked if I asked for a crane and someone else took it upon themself to call something else instead. It is one thing if it is not possible to get what you are asking for or it is going to take too long and something else has to be called in.

 

[RMBROWN]

Man thats one hell of a mva hopefuly everybody turns out ok.....

 

[MATT3045]

That looks like a huge cluster.

I would be ticked if I asked for a crane and someone else took it upon themself to call something else instead. It is one thing if it is not possible to get what you are asking for or it is going to take too long and something else has to be called in.

That is the turnpike, they are technically a private road in Ohio, so they think they can do whatever they want. Worst part is we were told to have them contact a crane company instead of us doing it ourselves. They never even called a crane company, just the towing company they use and told they needed one of their big trucks.

 

[rwo978]

That is the turnpike, they are technically a private road in Ohio, so they think they can do whatever they want. Worst part is we were told to have them contact a crane company instead of us doing it ourselves. They never even called a crane company, just the towing company they use and told they needed one of their big trucks.

Are they running the show at an MVA or is the incident commanrd? Does a private road owner/maintainer have the knowledge to run an emergency scene? Next time, just have the IC call the crane and deal with the flack later.

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

Are they running the show at an MVA or is the incident commanrd? Does a private road owner/maintainer have the knowledge to run an emergency scene? Next time, just have the IC call the crane and deal with the flack later.

+1


I know that some of that may have been out of your personal control.


If I am on scene, it is my scene not the owners, period. So if I want a crane and they won't call one, I will. They can direct all complaints to the Emergency Services Unit 1 (who in our case would probably have been called because it is a "commercial" accident and he has a much larger checkbook than out department does.) Still, it's my departments scene if we are called to it in our area. If someone doesn't like what we are doing or have to do to get everything taken care of...sorry. Plus we are volunteer. We are not paid for what we do and we certainly will not sit out in the cold (or listen to someone whine) waiting for someone to screw around doing something because the owner wants it that way.


On the note of two-trucks we do have a company locally that has a huge tow-truck and it might as well be a crane. The thing's boom can swing 360* and it can move the length of the rear of the truck. It is pretty nifty and has come in handy several times.

 

[Chasselber1]

Maybe the guy that was calling thought you meant heavy-duty wrecker... I know in some parts the PD will call a tow truck a crane. Some of the HD wrecker/rotaters are capable of lifting 75-80 tons...

 

[MATT3045]

I personally was not at the scene, I made the call to the OSP post and specifically asked for a crane. They knew what we wanted. We have battled with the turnpike for years on many different calls. They NEVER want the road closed. We have had to use our trucks to block the roads to force the closer of a scene on several occasions. The chief was the one who decided to have them call for the crane, I disagree with it, but it was not my call. I was up in dispatch that day, not on shift at the FD. Our dispatch does service for Richfield (PD, FD, Service, and Admin), Peninsula PD, Valley Fire (covers Peninsula & Boston Twp), and possibly soon up to 3 more PDs and FDs. So I was at my fulltime job when it occured.


Like I said, we have had tons of issues with the turnpike throughout the years. They are a private road, but also a state entity. It is a cluster to do anything with them. Then you throw a neighboring FD into the mix who is responsible for fire and extrication up there, wow can things just spiral down hill. They are not called automatically, only if we call them. However if they hear us go out, or sometimes the pike does call them, will try to get to the scene and their officers take command. This is a big no no, they do not do ems, only fire and first responder. Yesterday for example. Our squad had been on scene for 15-20 minutes prior to them arriving, next thing I know their chief is on our radio system trying to give us a status update. I advised him that we are aware of what is going on, our squad has been there for awhile now and witnessed the MVA happen. He said that he did not see our people there, I had to stop myself from saying "you do not see the big white ambulance with all the flashing lights on it, or the guys dressed up as firemen trying to check on the patients in semi". Needless to say, our chief advised him that he was on scene and he would be in charge.


Personally, I would give up responding up there in a heart beat. Only problem is, I do not get to make that decision.

 

[ParkPiggy]

I heard the frustration in your voice, when one of the mutual aid depts (which will remain nameless to protect the stupid), was on a main band, because they couldn't figure out how to get to the Mutual Aid Channels on their radio!!

 

[MATT3045]

I heard the frustration in your voice, when one of the mutual aid depts (which will remain nameless to protect the stupid), was on a main band, because they couldn't figure out how to get to the Mutual Aid Channels on their radio!!

He is lucky a certain supervisor of mine was nearby, because that is only reason I was stopped from saying what I wanted to say. You should have heard what was said not over the radio. He is the one who called Bath for a squad, before they were even on scene. Brecksville should have been called before Bath, not that Bath wasn't wanted, but Brecksville is about 10 miles closer. He also had their dispatch call us and request Richfield mut. aid for extrication, again all before he was on scene. He wanted RFD to stay in the E/B lanes and just pass stuff over the wall, pretty sure it is about a 8-10ft difference in height. 2800 had already had RFD responding, but had them coming opposite traffic lanes, because VFD and BHFD were having trouble getting to the scene.


As for the radio, he was using one of our radios, from one of our guys who is also on up there. Maybe he should have had that person show him how to turn to the MAC channels.

 

[FireEMSPolice]

I personally was not at the scene, I made the call to the OSP post and specifically asked for a crane. They knew what we wanted. We have battled with the turnpike for years on many different calls. They NEVER want the road closed.

Thats what happens when you put money over safety.


My former teacher retired from OSP as a Captain. He told me one of his assignments was on the Turnpike and how they hated to close the road. He told me on several occasions he did close the road against the Pike's wishes and detoured traffic and how he caught hell for it each time, but it served its purpose.

 

[MATT3045]

1 million dollars lost every half hour is what they lose on average when it closes, but what is a human life worth? Change that, what is several human lives worth? Because it takes several people to handle an accident.


Turnpike was (and hearing rumors it is again or has never stopped being) where they send troopers who are the "bad" boys, the ones who do not play well with others.

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

1 million dollars lost every half hour is what they lose on average when it closes, but what is a human life worth? Change that, what is several human lives worth? Because it takes several people to handle an accident.
Turnpike was (and hearing rumors it is again or has never stopped being) where they send troopers who are the "bad" boys, the ones who do not play well with others.

I don't know how much they loose in WV when they shut down the turnpike, but I can tell you the WV State Police will shut that SOB down in a heardbeat if they need to. When bad weather hits and they can't keep it clear and drivable to what they feel are safe conditions the Turnpike Authority shuts it down. Also, if there is a wreck and a FD wants it shut down...guess what boys, it's shut down. I haven't had personal experience working on our turnpike, but I know there is no BS when it comes to safety.

 

[FireEMSPolice]

I try to avoid the Turnpike like the plague.