Fire officials said training, ingenuity and experience came into play Sunday night as Chattanooga firefighters conducted a complex extrication in Hixson.
At 5:28 p.m., Blue Shift companies responded to a single-car motor vehicle accident with entrapment in the 6600 block of Sandswitch Road. According to officials on the scene, it appeared that someone cut a large tree and it fell on a car that was traveling down the road at that exact moment, crushing the car and trapping the driver in her mangled vehicle.
Firefighters had to build cribbing, which is a temporary wooden structure used to support heavy objects during operations like vehicle extrications and other rescue operations. They also used airbags to lift the huge tree in order to remove the doors of the car to get the driver out.
Officials said it was an extended, challenging operation that took focus, patience and skill. The driver was pinned under the weight of the tree, the windshield and the dashboard. She was removed from the wreckage and transported to the hospital with injuries to her lower extremities.
Law enforcement is investigating the accident.
Engine 22, Squad 7, Squad 19, Squad 1, Battalion 2 and Battalion 3 responded, along with CPD and HCEMS.
There was a child in the car who was unharmed and pulled out by bystanders prior to CFD’s arrival.