Fire personnel assist at crash sites

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the last few weeks, the New Madrid Fire Department has been busy with rescue calls related to vehicle crashes.

In the early morning hours of April 6, the fire department was paged to a single-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 61 just north of Kewanee. A car traveling south on 61 struck a deer, then ran off the east side of the road, hydroplaned across a ditch full of water, and landed in a group of trees about 20 yards off the road.

Personnel from New Madrid and Matthews Fire Departments made their way across the water, then used rescue tools to cut the roof off the car for the driver to be removed. The driver sustained moderate injuries and was transported by helicopter to the hospital.

Just before noon on April 9, the fire department responded to State Route P (levee road) near Sugar Tree for a single vehicle traffic crash. The driver had run off the side of the levee in a pickup and it rolled several times before coming to rest against a tree at the bottom of the levee.

The driver was seriously injured and was carried up the levee on a backboard to an ambulance. An Air Evac helicopter was landed on top of the levee and the driver was transported to a Memphis hospital.