Elwood Firefighters Honored For Response In Fatal Pike Crash

Elwood firefighters were honored for response in fatal crash on the White Horse Pike on July 16, 2007. Click read more for the newspaper article.

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From Egg Harbor City News:

Anthony Tomasco called it the worst accident scene he had ever scene in his 27 years as a firefighter.

Three vehicles collided, two of them head-on, on a late Saturday afternoon last month. A total of 16 people were injured, two of them were fatal.

Recently, the chief of the Elwood Volunteer Fire Company recalled the actions of his volunteer squad and recognized members’ efforts with plaques and certificates, which were presented before an appreciative Mullica Township Committee and some three dozen members of the public.

“We were at another accident at the scene at the time. Our response time to this accident was about a minute,” Tomasco said of how his units first heard of the June 16 crash at the intersection of the White Horse Pike and Snow Hill Road. “As I was coming in on the scene, I saw some smoke coming from a car. By the time I put my vehicle in park and opened my door, I had a fire in the engine compartment and a lady coming up to me and saying the driver in the vehicle was trapped and they couldn’t open the doors,”

Tomasco’s next unit was about a minute out from the scene and set priorities on the burning vehicle with the driver entrapped.

Captain Jerry Critelli Jr., Jerry Titherington, Chuck Brining and his son, Nathan, 18, soon arrived on the scene.

“Jerry was the first off the truck and went over to the vehicle and found the doors jammed but was able to unjam them. He got in the car and found that the lady driver’s feet were entangled in the brakes. He untangled her feet and with the words,”Lady, this is really going to hurt,” yanked her out of the car,” Tomasco said.

Titherington and Nathan Brining then began using attack hose lines on the vehicle’s fire, Tomasco said. “They were able to knock that fire,” the chief said. The incident almost literally turned out to be a baptism by fire for Nathan Brining, an 18-year-old probationary firefighter.

“Junior firefighters (and probationary firefighters) are allowed to ride on the truck but they are not allowed to be in what we call the ‘hot zone.’ The hot zone is fire, working with tools or driving trucks. Nathan had to make a big decision that day – whether to do nothing so he wouldn’t be reprimanded or save someone’s life. He decided to save someone’s life. I’m going to tell him a job well done this time,” Tomasco said.

Chuck Brining was the pump operator the day of the accident. His job was to make sure the attack lines had water and the truck was running properly. “About two minutes onto the scene, a lady came up to Chuck holding a baby. She said to him, ‘Could you help my baby?’” Tomasco said. A trained emergency medical technician, Chuck Brining noticed the baby was in distress. “He immediately began rescue breaths and CPR.”

Brining enlisted the assistance of the first medic vehicle on the scene to help the baby, Tomasco said.

“They worked on that baby for about 30 minutes before they were able to get the baby on the helicopter,” Tomasco said. The baby, a 9-month-old boy, was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Unfortunately, the child died shortly after 6:30 p.m. that night. A 13-year-old girl also was killed in the accident.

Also honored were Matt Naylor and Dave Wise, who arrived on a second vehicle and went to work on the extrication of an accident victim from another vehicle, Tomasco said.

“I believe there are two more people alive today because of all these gentlemen,” Tomasco said. “It was a job well done.”

Tomasco took the opportunity to publicly thank the Mullica Police and the Egg Harbor City Police, which assisted at the scene, as well as the numerous rescue squads and fire departments from throughout Atlantic County which help transport the numerous injured to area hospitals.

“The scene was chaotic and it was getting ugly. There were a lot of people screaming and yelling at each other. They came in and calmed everybody down. They are definitely a credit to their uniforms,” Tomasco said.

Tomasco also expressed his gratitude for the efforts of his firemen in dealing with a difficult and dangerous situation.

“For about 12 minutes these guys went through hell. They had extrication, they had fire, people lying on the ground, walking wounded,” Tomasco said. “I can tell you training and experience was the factor we got through this accident. In my 27 years (with the department), I’ve never seen anything else worse.”