The Chevrolet, at left, and the Dodge were mangled beyond repair in the crash.
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Neither driver’s name has been released, but a first responder said both are lucky to be alive after a Sunday afternoon violent, head-on collision near Nokomis.
The collision happened between 2:30 and 3 p.m. and involved a Chevrolet pickup and a Dodge pickup, both of which were effectively destroyed. Volunteer firefighters had to cut the door off the other truck to remove the driver, who was then flown by MedStar air ambulance to an area trauma center with serious injuries.
The other driver had reportedly already escaped from his mangled vehicle when emergency personnel arrived at the crash site, near the point where the federal highway widens to three lanes.
“We had to cut the truck door open to get the Chevrolet’s driver out,” said Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Jerry Gehman, who said Nokomis volunteers respond to “a number of head-on crashes” at the site of Sunday’s, where the highway is widest. “The impact bent the steering wheel on his truck, so you know it went into his chest. I don’t know how in the world that can happen there, but it happens.”
Gehman said the department’s chief happened upon the wreck and reported it.
“Our chief, Tommy Pickern, called and said he had driven up on a head-on collision with entrapment and was going to the station to get the truck,” Gehman said. “Everybody responded, and when we rolled up, we saw that one driver was entrapped. The other one was already out of his truck.”
The impact drove the seriously injured man’s truck’s motor back through its firewall, the volunteer fireman said.
“There was serious mechanical damage,” Gehman said. “Fortunately, both lived, there was no fire, and all the other things on the checklist. The outcome could not have been better, given the circumstances.”
An Atmore Fire Department unit was dispatched to establish a landing zone for the medical evacuation helicopter, which set down in the middle of the highway. Alabama State Troopers arrived to take command of the scene, to which an Atmore Police Department unit, a county sheriff’s deputy and a MedStar ambulance each also responded.
Traffic was diverted around the wreck site for more than an hour as emergency medical personnel and state troopers performed their tasks.