A dump truck driver was pulled to safety from the Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, home he crashed into May 20, thanks to the swift, skilled response of specially trained IAFF members.
The truck’s dashcam footage shows the driver losing control of the vehicle after what later reports identified as a seizure. The truck then tore through a utility pole, hopped a curb, and crashed into a home – with the homeowner still inside.
Only a handful of search and rescue teams in South Jersey are trained in the technical skills needed to respond to perform complex rescue operations. The Camden County Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team – made up of IAFF members from Camden Local 788, Camden Officers Local 2578, Camden County Local 3249, Cherry Hill Local 2663, Cherry Hill Officers Local 3198 – was the closest team available.
“The homeowner had already gotten out of the home when we arrived. But the truck driver was still trapped inside, surrounded by furniture and debris,” said Sean Carlin, a responding member of Local 3198. “The crash had also caused a gas leak, so our first priority was to stabilize the situation.”
The utility company was called to turn off the gas while the USAR team used mechanical struts to keep the house from falling in even further. Then, the team had to cut the side of the home away and carry out furniture and debris to gain access to the truck door.
“The team rarely sees an emergency of this magnitude, but we regularly train together in the event that we do,” said Local 3249 Member Dave Schlessinger, who also responded to the incident. “Because we train together, there is not a lot of guesswork. We all just concentrate on our tasks and getting anyone who is trapped out to safety.”
The team rarely sees an emergency of this magnitude, but we regularly train together in the event that we do. Because we train together, there is not a lot of guesswork. We all just concentrate on our tasks and getting anyone who is trapped out to safety.
Local 3249 Member Dave Schlessinger
Even with the struts in place and the furniture and debris removed, the USAR team still needed to take great care in getting the driver out to safety.
“Getting that positive outcome really does come down to training,” Carlin said. “Since we wanted to add as little weight as possible, we took extra care to make a chute system with wooden planks so that we could slide him out in a basket. We were all relieved to get him out safely.”
Both the homeowner and the truck driver were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. Injuries were considered non-life-threatening.
