A man was airlifted to Edmonton after a serious collision that resulted in a pickup truck bursting into flames last Wednesday.
At around 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 22, two pickup trucks collided at the intersection of Township Road 610 and Range Road 23.
According to a Barrhead RCMP media release, an eastbound pickup failed to obey a yield sign and hit the passenger side of a southbound pickup. The force of the collision was enough to send the eastbound truck into the field to the southeast of the intersection, where it burst into flames.
The lone occupant of the southbound vehicle, a 62-year-old Westlock man, needed to be extracted from his vehicle. Once freed, he was airlifted via STARS to the University of Alberta hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, said Barrhead fire chief John Whittaker.
The two occupants of the eastbound truck were able to escape the vehicle with only minor injuries, and were treated on scene by Barrhead EMS, Whittaker said.
The occupants – an 18-year-old male driver from Westlock and an unidentified passenger – were not taken to hospital, he added.
The flaming vehicle “was stubborn to extinguish due to the location of the fire being right around where the gas tank was,” Whittaker explained.
Barrhead firefighters worked closely with Westlock town and county firefighters for more than half an hour to eventually put out the fire, he said.
The collision drew both the Westlock and Barrhead fire departments mainly due to the site being right on the county line, said Westlock town fire chief Stuart Koflick.
“The location was kind of in the border area, so we weren’t quite sure based on the caller’s information whether it was Westlock County or Barrhead County,” he said.
In that part of the countryside, the north side of Twp 610 is Westlock County, while the south side is Barrhead County. As it turned out, the two vehicles came to rest on the south side of the road.
Koflick also explained that because it was the Barrhead department that arrived on scene first, they were the ones to take control of the scene, with the Westlock departments playing a support role.
“Basically what Westlock did was just assist with the extrication (of the 62-year-old driver),” he said.
According to a Barrhead RCMP press release, the 18-year-old driver of the eastbound pickup could face charges for failing to yield.
