Serious Accident on Route 24 injures 4 (6/12/98)

A car traveling east bound on Route 24 in Summit early Wednesday morning spun out of control and struck 3 other vehicles, including 1 head-on, before coming to rest in the opposite lane. The drivers of all 4 vehicles involved were injured. At about 2:45 A.M. both the Millburn and Summit Police began receiving calls. Police and Fire units from both towns responded. Upon finding several serious injuries, Police requested the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad and Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad to respond. While still enroute to the scene, the Summit ambulance crew was notified via radio of at least 3 injuries and requested another ambulance. After arriving on the scene, a fourth injured person was discovered. The Summit and Millburn squads each sent 2 ambulances. Two Overlook Hospital paramedic units; 1 based in Summit and 1 from Mountainside, also responded to assist with treatment of the 2 more serious patients. A med-evac helicopter was requested for 1 patient, but was unavailable.

2 patients had to be extricated from their cars. 1 vehicle had been involved in a fire and another appeared to have rolled several times. The Summit and Millburn Fire department crews each handled 1 car. The Summit Fire Department also called in it’s volunteer and off-duty members to cover it’s headquarters during the operation.

Lt. John Staunton of the Summit First Aid Squad supervised the EMS operations at the scene and complimented the members of all the local agencies involved for working together very well. Volunteer Emergency Medical technicians from Summit worked along side firefighters from Millburn to remove and treat 1 trapped driver while Millburn and Summit EMTs worked with Summit Firefighters on another. The integration worked so well that 1 Summit member accompanied the Millburn duty crew transporting the first patient and a Millburn member rode with Summit’s 2nd ambulance transporting patient #4.

All 4 injured drivers were transported by the 2 first aid squads to hospitals; 1 to the trauma center at University Hospital in Newark, 2 to Morristown Memorial Hospital’s trauma center and 1 to Overlook Hospital in Summit. "Serious trauma can stretch the resources of the hospital emergency department as well as the emergency responders in the field. That’s why we try not to send too many serious patients at one time to the same hospital", said Staunton.

June is National Safety Month. The members of the Summit First Aid Squad encourage all to take this opportunity to learn more about safety, health and accident prevention.

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