A man died while being transported by ambulance from one hospital to another Thursday, but it wasn't due to his medical emergency.
The death occurred after a van driver collided with the ambulance while it rushed through Hixon towards Prince George.
The crash also left several others injured, including medical staff assisting the patient, who had been in critical condition.
The collision occurred in the Highway 97 straight-away through the village of Hixon, halfway between Quesnel and Prince George, at about 6 p.m. on Thursday.
"Our ambulance was travelling code three, that is with lights and sirens activated and going above the speed limit," said BC Ambulance Service spokeswoman Kristy Anderson.
She could not disclose the nature of the patient's original medical distress, and said an investigation is underway to determine what further damage to the patient the collision caused.
The physician, nurse and two paramedics also in the ambulance sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were discharged within hours from examinations back at G.R. Baker Hospital in Quesnel while the five occupants of the van were transported to Prince George for their examinations. They, too, were all discharged later that night with minor injuries.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass said a detailed analysis of the crash scene would be conducted, as part of a coroner-led investigation.
Emergency responders had several unusual factors working against them. Hixon Volunteer Fire Department chief Nils Nielson was the incident commander and said the first thing to contend with was the sheer number of patients, 10, and the severity of the injuries to the one already in dire medical condition.
The second major factor was high-voltage lines draped across the ambulance caused by the vehicle's impact with a utility pole.
"The pole broke in three places," Nielson said. "The lines were still attached. It was a 25,000-volt power line and even though the crash tripped the power relay, the relays are timed to come back on every 15 minutes so we weren't sure if we were suddenly going to have a surge of electricity."
Four feet below the surface of the pavement was another hazard: Fortis lines carrying natural gas.
"There was a funny smell, and it reminded me of a propane vehicle idling, it was gas of some kind, everyone could smell it," said Nielson. "Everyone backed off and an evacuation zone was drawn up."
Two houses, a business, and two mobile home parks were hurriedly depopulated. Everyone was taken at least 500 metres away from the collision site.
"There was a scare, but there was no gas leak," Nielson said.
But the safeguards still had to be taken until an off-duty Fortis worker, coincidentally passing through at the time, worked by phone and email to determine the location of a possible rupture and call in the appropriate Fortis team.
Several hours after the initial crash, it was confirmed natural gas was not the source of the smell, which still remains a mystery.
The miles of backed-up vehicles halted on either side of Hixon were finally able to move again more than five hours after the crash.
Attending a serious collision involving emergency responders is always unnerving for those who are also members of the profession, according to one of the responders.
"It was quite disheartening because I know quite a few ambulance attendants in town, but you have to put that out of your mind and deal with the matters at hand," said Keith Laboucan, chief of the Fort George Highway Rescue Society. "I still don't know who was involved or what their injuries were. We just focused on the job, but it is definitely part of what you think about afterwards."
On top of the HVFD's initial responders, the site was also attended by (with all their respective vehicles and tools) BC Ambulance Service personnel, RCMP, Fort George Highway Rescue, Fortis BC, Telus and BC Hydro. A central set of protocols was followed by all, under Nielson's command, so each could do their job on behalf of the victims.
