Sumter County firefighters and paramedics are being praised for their work at a recent massive crash involving semi-trucks on the Florida Turnpike.
Crews from Sumter County Fire & EMS and American Medical Response were called to the crash this past Friday involving the head-on collision of two semi-trucks and a passenger vehicle. The incident at Mike Marker 307 took place at 9:20 a.m. when the front left tire blew out on a northbound 2000 Freightliner semi-truck pulling a flatbed trailer.
The semi’s driver, 30-year-old Eric V. Curtis, of Gainesville, lost control of his vehicle, which entered the center median, smashed through the guardrail and slammed into a 2020 Freightliner semi driven by 28-year-old Robert A. Sanes, of Orlando. Sanes’ semi overturned and landed across the guardrail on the shoulder of the busy southbound lanes of the roadway.
In addition, a 2011 four-door Chevrolet passenger car, driven by 36-year-old Alexander L. Almena, of Kissimmee, was struck by flying debris from the head-on crash.
When rescue crews arrived, they found a complex situation that required simultaneous operations, including the extrication of Curtis using the Jaws of Life, pre-hospital emergency trauma care, landing zone operations for an Orlando Health Air Care helicopter and hazardous materials mitigation of nearly 100 gallons of spilled diesel fuel.
The flight paramedic on the Air Care helicopter, Steve McKinney, offered high praise for those who involved in the rescue operation, which forced the closure of the southbound lanes for several hours.
The Sumter fire crew on scene did an outstanding job providing excellent patient care in the middle of a difficult extrication,” he said. “There are many times when crews can get tunnel vision with an extrication that in-depth and patient care becomes secondary. That was not the case here.”
McKinney said the transition care of the patient was seamless.
“There is no doubt in my mind the patient outcome will be improved based on the care provided by this crew,” he said.
Sumter County Fire & EMS Chief Rob Hanson agreed.
“This was an instance where our training and equipment capabilities using our fire suppression, EMS, technical rescue, and hazardous materials programs came together on one call to provide a positive outcome,” he said.
Curtis was seriously injured in the crash and was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center. Almena suffered minor injuries and was taken to Leesburg Regional Medical Center and Sanes wasn’t injured, a Florida Highway Patrol report states.
About an hour after that crash, FHP troopers were called to a five-vehicle pileup in the heavily congested northbound lanes of the turnpike. That incident, which took place near Mile Marker 307, claimed the life of 52-year-old Teresita Noriega, of Miami, and left four others injured. It also forced the closure of the northbound lanes for several hours, with traffic being diverted off the turnpike at the Leesburg exit.
