Fire chief spots occupant trapped in overturned car en route from another collision

It was a lucky day for the driver of an unruly collision when Ottawa Fire Services Sector Chief Lalonde spotted the vehicle overturned on his way back from responding to another motor vehicle collision.

It was shortly before 12:30 a.m. when Chief Lalonde spotted the vehicle on its roof on the shoulder of the road in the 1700 block of Old Montreal Road. According to a statement from OFS, the exhaust of the vehicle was smoking, and a hydro pole was sheared off and blocking the eastbound lane.

Upon arrival at the scene, Lalonde notified OFS Communications who dispatched additional resources to the scene.

Before backup arrived, the statement reads that Chief Lalonde could hear someone yelling for help inside the vehicle. He broke the passenger rear window of the vehicle and removed the airbags to find a single occupant trapped inside. He placed the airbags over the broken glass to safely extricate the occupant from the vehicle.

Once OFS arrived at the scene, the occupant was placed in the back of one of the trucks to await the arrival of paramedics.

Firefighters also removed the pole from the middle of the road so traffic could resume normally.

Despite springtime, the freezing rain and snow are causing dangerous driving conditions, and authorities are cautioning people to travel only when absolutely necessary.