An elderly Toronto man has been airlifted to hospital after he was trapped for hours in his vehicle, under a transport truck, in North York.
The collision happened at around 10 a.m. near Fenmar Drive and Steeles Avenue. Although the man’s car was trapped under a transport truck, Toronto police say the senior received only minor injuries.
Toronto Police Const. Clint Stibbe said the car had “cocooned” around the man in his 80s, likely saving his life.
Though emergency officials first said the man was unconscious when they arrived at the scene, he was said to be speaking to paramedics by the time crews managed to extricate him from the wreckage.
The car had to be cut apart, piece by piece, in what Stibbe described as the longest rescue he’s ever seen.
“The car was basically wrapped around him, with a very large, heavy transport truck on top of him,” Toronto Fire District Chief Mike Ancio said. “You have to dig away slowly. You have to make sure the truck is shored up and supported.”
“Otherwise, the truck (could have) come right down on him, as well as come down on us,” Ancio said.
The trapped man was finally freed and taken to hospital by air ambulance at around 1 p.m., about three hours after the collision happened.
While Traffic Services usually only investigates collisions resulting in death or serious injury, they have chosen to investigate the incident because of the injured man’s age. They will be looking at the speed of the truck, the colour of the lights and witness statements.
The driver of the transport truck is being treated for minor injuries.
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.
