Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident

Soldiers Respond to Dangerous Truck Accident
Blackanthem Military News
By Capt. Jimmy Kow, 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment, 158th Infantry Brigade
Mar 27, 2014

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – Three Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 348th Regiment were among the first to respond to an overturned 18-wheeled tractor-trailer carrying flammable material on Interstate-59 in Hattiesburg, Miss. March 11.

The truck, carrying liquid acrylonitrile, an explosive compound, skidded off the road and crashed into the embankment.

“I was just doing my job as a Soldier,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Christy, a combat medic was the first Soldier to arrive at the scene.

Christy explained he parked his vehicle in the distance and ran up to the truck within a minute after the crash. When he arrived, a civilian was trying to kick in the windshield to free the driver. Christy said he immediately took control of the situation and directed the driver to free himself and climb out from the door.

As the driver was climbing out of the vehicle Capt. Amanda McDonald, a chemical officer and a nurse by trade, arrived to provide assistance.

The truck was leaking diesel and hazardous fumes from its cargo. McDonald and Christy escorted the driver away from the fumes before McDonald further evaluated the driver.
read more here