Toronto, Ontario, Canada – A female cyclist is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after she was struck by a truck and became pinned under the float trailer it was hauling Wednesday morning, Toronto police say.
In a co-ordinated rescue, firefighters used jacks and cribbing to raise the trailer so that they and paramedics could crawl underneath it to reach the woman, who is in her early 20s, and bring her out on a backboard.
A witness told CP24 the woman was struck and knocked off her bike as she cycled in Spadina Avenue’s northbound lanes, just south of Dundas Street West at about 7:15 a.m. There is a sharrow lane for cyclists, with shared lane markings, along the curb.
The northbound truck came to a stop while the woman was under the trailer, which was being used to haul machinery.
Despite her injuries, she was able to respond to emergency personnel at the scene, said Toronto Fire Services district chief Colin Giffin.
After the woman was freed, she was rushed to hospital with serious injuries to her legs and pelvis, a Toronto EMS spokesperson told CP24.
Police are investigating the cause of the collision.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
