Newport News, VA Technical Rescue Apr 8, 2013

[raybrag]

Multiple fire and police units From Newport News and Suffolk responded to an accident on the Montor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel at about 8:45 a.m. when a truck lost control and struck the southbound bridge. The truck caught fire and was hanging over the side of the bridge with the female driver trapped in the cab. Two Coast Guard vessels established a 1,000 yard safety zone in the water surrounding the Monitor-Merrimac while crews worked to free the driver from the from the tractor-trailer. The driver was removed by a firefighter from Newport News' Rescue 1 operating while suspended from the platform of Newport News Tower 1.

The driver has been charged with reckless driving. The tractor-trailer lost over 150 gallons of diesel fuel, which caused a hazmat situation.

Newport News units responding:

Engine 3
Engine 7
Tower 1
Rescue 1
Rescue 2
Technical Rescue 10
Marine Incident Response Team
Marine 1
HazMat 1
Medic 1
Medic 3

Suffolk units:  1 Engine, 1 Tower Ladder

Photos (courtesy Virginia State Police and WAVY-TV10):

 

[R1SmokeEater]

Nice job!

 

[ladder197]

Great job! With the bridge closed how far did the HRBT back up? When I was down there last week I saw an 8 mile back up on a Saturday!

 

[raybrag]

The backups were not epic at the HRBT . . . only 3-4 miles (that's normal on a summer weekend, so we're used to it).  They didn't reopen the southbound lanes until almost 3:30 PM . . . more than six hours.  But there were worse than usual backups at the James River Bridge . . . which is an alternate route to the MM if you're headed for Suffolk or Portsmouth.  They did manage to get it open before the shipyard let out.