A two-car accident on Flanders Road near the Valero gas station resulted in a downed utility pole that was left leaning on electrical wires Monday morning in Riverside. READ
Tag: Flanders Northampton Ambulance Corps
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Three people were hospitalized Wednesday morning after a crash at the corner of Northville Turnpike and Oliver Street.
Update: A Riverhead man has been charged with unlicensed driving after Wednesday morning’s car crash that sent a sedan through the foundation of a Northville Turnpike home, police said.
Robert Russo, 23, was arrested after he was treated for minor injuries and charged with aggravated unlicensed driving, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned in Riverhead Town Justice Court Wednesday afternoon and released on his own recognizance.
Original story: Three people were hospitalized after a car careened off Northville Turnpike Wednesday morning, going airborne after hitting a berm and crashing into the side of a home.
A Volkswagon Jetta driving south on Northville Turnpike shortly before 10 a.m. flew off the road and into the side of the home, cracking the foundation and shattering windows in the process.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Riverhead Fire Marshal David Andruskiewicz said the building didn’t sustain major structural damage.
“It sounded like a big truck, like a Mack truck, flipped over in the yard,” said one witness who asked not to be named. “I looked out and saw a big cloud of smoke.”
Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps chief Joey Oliver said two men in the car — the driver and passenger — were hospitalized and one more woman sitting inside the home suffered minor injuries after the “force of the impact threw her.”
One of the men in the car suffered head lacerations, according to police.
Both RVAC and Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Company responded to the scene. Police said they are investigating the cause of the crash.
Riverhead Fire Marshal David Andruskiewicz said the building suffered damage to the crawlspace wall, but no major structural damage.
COURTESY PHOTO | Volunteers with the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Company practice loading up a patient Monday evening.
A terrible scene unfolded on the grass near the Friendship Baptist Church parking lot in Flanders Monday night. Victims of a car accident lay moaning in pain as volunteers quickly treated their injuries, fitting them with neck braces and carrying them to waiting ambulances.
One of the victims died on the scene. Then she came back to life.
The gruesome incident wasn’t actually real. It was all a drill designed to test new volunteers and seasoned veterans of the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Company.
The company trains once a month, usually by taking classes or seminars. Every few months, the volunteers meet up to practice in the field, said second assistant chief Joseph Jasinski.
Some of the volunteers are “victims” and use fake injuries and stage makeup to simulate horrible injuries. The other volunteers then practice saving their lives.
For more information on the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Company, including how to join, call (631) 727-6930.
CLAIRE LEADEN PHOTO | The driver of this Nissan Versa, along with two others in a second vehicle, were hospitalized after a car accident Tuesday afternoon.
Three people were injured — including a 17-year-old girl who was more seriously hurt — in a two-car accident in Riverhead Tuesday afternoon, Riverhead Town police and emergency officials said.
The crash occurred near the Saf-T-Swim shopping center about 4 p.m. when a red Nissan Versa driving north on Kroemer Avenue collided with a green Mercury Mystique sedan making a left turn out of the parking lot, police at the scene said.
The teenaged passenger of the Mercury was “pretty seriously” hurt, said Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps chief Joseph Oliver. She was going in and out of consciousness after the crash and was rushed to Peconic Bay Medical Center by Riverhead ambulance volunteers, police said.
The two drivers of the Mercury and the Nissan were also taken to PBMC by volunteers with the Riverhead and Flanders Northampton Ambulance Corps, respectively, police said.
An update on the victim’s conditions was not immediately available. Police said the driver of the Mercury was issued a summons for driving out of class, but no arrests were made.
BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO
The Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps is in need of volunteers, especially ambulance drivers.
Wayne Ehlers, the ambulance chief, and Joe Colao, an EMT, made that appeal to the Flanders Riverside and Northampton Community Association meeting Monday night.
“Anybody that can put some time in,” Mr. Ehlers said. “We need drivers during day, weekends, and evenings. We train everybody to drive the ambulance, you don’t need a special license. You can go as far as you want, as far as training goes. You can be a EMT, or if you’re not so much into the blood and guts, you can just drive.”
The corps also has a youth squad of young people under the age of 16 whom members train slowly and allow to ride along on certain ambulance calls, he added.
“There’s no better feeling than when you help somebody and you get back, it’s a great feeling,” Mr. Ehlers said. “I’ve been doing it for 20 something years.”
“Our job is very simple, all we do is take care of people,” Mr. Colao said. “Right after the first responders, and hopefully at the same time, the ambulance arrives, and the ambulance is really an emergency room on wheels.”
Mr. Colao said he volunteers both with Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps and with an ambulance crew in Florida in the winter.
He said drivers are the biggest need.
The ambulance corps provides all the training needed, he said, and people can pick whatever hours they are available for.
“The pay is great…it’s zero,” he joked. “But it’s so rewarding.”
The corps’ non-emergency number is 727-6930.
