Emergency responders handled two crashes in 3 hours on I-95 Thursday
East Lyme — The Flanders Fire Department is particularly prepared to respond to car crashes on I-95 in the summer.
"It's just kind of a fact of life," said Flanders Second Assistant Chief Patrick Morris. "Luckily we tend to wear it well."
But two crashes, just a couple miles apart and on opposite sides of the highway within three hours, is unusual.
"Having two big accidents on one day is pretty uncommon," Morris said.
At about noon on Thursday, a car flipped over and a pickup crashed against the center median on I-95 north near Exit 74 in East Lyme.
Police closed the highway and emergency responders extricated one person from the truck before transporting them to Hartford Hospital by Life Star helicopter.
On its side, the truck had a logo of Independent Materials Testing Laboratories, a Plainville-based company.
At least one other person was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Hours later and about two miles away, the driver of a tractor-trailer drove off the road and knocked down a tree on the southbound side of I-95, according to the state Department of Transportation.
DOT officials estimated it would take up to four hours to clean up.
No further information about either crash was available from state police, who said they were still completing reports on both incidents Thursday night.
Two crashes so close together on the highway may be unusual, Morris said, but it's not something the department can't handle.
Because I-95 crosses through their jurisdiction, Flanders firefighters train exensively for highway crashes.
"There's a lot of departments that specialize in things that are ... pertinent to their area," Morris said.
Crashes on I-95 just happen to be the specialty of the Flanders department, one of two East Lyme fire departments.
"We have a very modern, very well-equipped ... rescue truck," he said.
The department also has multiple sizes and shapes of metal cutters for rescuing people from destroyed vehicles, airbags designed to move heavy objects and extensive medical supplies.
With assistance from departments in surrounding towns, "we can provide aid to numerous people at once," Morris said.
And, he added, all the crashes on I-95 mean the department's members get a lot of practice responding to calls like the ones that came in Thursday.
"Just because of the sheer call volume on the highway, we get a lot of experience," he said. "For the most part everyone is pretty well equipped."
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