Emergency responders in Stevens County responded to a serious crash, March 5th, on Highway 292. According to the Stevens County Fire District No.1 Facebook page, “A suspected medical event caused the driver to crash directly into a guardrail at highway speed. Approximately 6-8 feet of the guardrail ended up in the passenger compartment, trapping the lone victim”. Life Flight was called and transported the driver with critical, but non-life threatening injuries to Sacred Heart Hospital after almost an hour of extracting the metal guardrail. Teamwork included Deer Park Ambulance, Stevens County Sheriff, Spokane Tribal Police, Lifeflight, Washington State Patrol, and Washington State DOT.

In addition to the work required, one impatient driver impeded life saving efforts. The fire district states in their Facebook post, “One vehicle went around the roadblock and slightly delayed the landing of the helicopter–please, NEVER go around fire or police units parked across the roadways unless directed to do so.”