Two volunteer departments worked together to get a trapped crash victim out of a wrecked vehicle and off to hospital.
According to Fort George Highway Rescue Department (FGHRD) chief Keith Laboucan, they and members of the Bear Lake Fire/Rescue Department co-operated in the extrication of the victim.
The late-night incident happened just before 3 a.m. on Highway 97 near Crooked River Provincial Park. The collision site was about two kilometres south of the Bear Lake town site, or approximately 70 kilometres north of Prince George.
"FGHRD responded with Rescue 12 [emergency vehicle] and four members," Laboucan said. "Upon arriving on scene, FGHRD found a single pickup on its side having left the highway and landed in a heavily wooded area down a 15-foot embankment, with the occupant still trapped."
The incident was within the Bear Lake department's response footprint, so they too dispatched personnel. Together they extricated the male occupant from the crashed pickup. He was alive but his medical condition required BC Ambulance Service to take him to hospital in Prince George.
No other details were available about his state of health.
Police confirmed the victim, and sole occupant of the one vehicle involved, was a 25-year-old resident of Hudson's Hope who was not licensed to drive. Alcohol does not appear to be a factor, said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass, but an investigation is proceeding as to why the crash happened.
"This is a perfect example of two departments working very well together and I am proud of the work we did with Bear Lake Fire/Rescue," Laboucan said. "Also our hats go off to dispatch for the service they provide and their co-ordination between ourselves and Bear Lake Fire/Rescue prior to FGHRD arriving on scene."
The highway rescue department is frequently dispatched to vehicle crashes all over the region. They are specialists in getting trapped patients out of vehicles, so many of the area's volunteer fire departments call them in to help in those situations. It is often in the region's most remote locations that these services are needed.
In this case, the driver was removed after the roof of the pickup was surgically removed by the FGHRD's specialist tools and trained volunteer personnel.
