By HEATHER RUPPE
A Florida truck driver was injured in a high-speed car crash on Interstate 95 near Walterboro last week when his vehicle’s tire blew out, sending him into a wooded media.
According to local officials, the man was traveling in the southbound lane of I-95 on Tuesday when the front tire of his vehicle blew, sending the semi-truck into the wooded media.
“The truck struck several trees and burst into flames,” said Barry McRoy, chief of Colleton County Fire-Rescue. “The vehicle received heavy damage and the driver suffered multiple injuries including injuries to his legs, preventing him from walking or climbing out of the truck.”
Initial reports made to the Colleton County 911 emergency dispatch center told officials that the driver was trapped in the damaged cab. McRoy said bystanders “worked feverishly” until they were able to remove the driver from the burning cab and carried him a safe distance from the truck.
“A column of black smoke could be seen several miles from the scene,” he said.
“Firefighter-Paramedics began treating the injured man, while other crew members deployed multiple hand lines to extinguish the fire,” said McRoy.
Firefighters used a chainsaw to cut a path into the wooded median, while other crews used hand tools to break into the trailer of the vehicle.
“No medical helicopters were immediately available, so the Fire-Rescue Medic 19 transported the truck driver emergent to the Trauma Center at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston,” he said.
According to McRoy, traffic on I-95 was pushed into one lane for several hours, creating a back-up that was several miles long.
The S.C. Highway Patrol and the State Transport Police are investigating the accident.
