KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Four first responders were injured Monday night after they were reportedly struck by a vehicle while responding to crashes on Interstate 26 in Kingsport.
According to the Kingsport Fire Department (KFD), its members were on I-26 westbound near Exit 6 at around 10 p.m. Monday, working a crash when a secondary crash took place behind the first incident.
The KFD said its members, along with personnel from Sullivan County EMS, immediately went to the second crash to provide first aid.
“While emergency personnel were loading a patient into an ambulance, a vehicle traveling westbound struck three Kingsport firefighters and one Sullivan County EMS EMT, injuring all four emergency responders,” a news release from the KFD states.
The department said all four first responders were taken to a hospital for treatment, and two have since been released. The other two remained hospitalized as of Tuesday morning with what the fire department called non-life-threatening injuries.
“We are extremely thankful that the injuries sustained by our firefighters and our partner from Sullivan County EMS were not more serious,” the KFD states. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with all four responders, their families, and everyone involved in this incident as they recover.”
“This incident is also a sobering reminder of the dangers firefighters, EMS personnel, law enforcement officers, tow operators, and highway workers face while operating along our roadways,” the release states. “We ask every driver to slow down, move over, remain alert, and give emergency personnel the space they need to safely perform their duties.”
Kingsport Fire Department Chief Jerry DeBerry further urged drivers to be vigilant and cautious, especially around crash scenes.
“That section of interstate at nighttime is kind of in a curvy section of the roadway,” DeBerry said. “Not a lot of lighting in that area. And, again, the crews are already on scene working a previous accident at that location. So just, the apparatus were at the initial accident, so they were not back at the secondary crash. It was just personnel in their vest and the ambulance that was there.”
“This is happening way too often, and it has been happening for several years. There’s too many distracted drivers out there not paying attention to emergency workers. There’s a move over law that exists in Tennessee, just like many other states. So, my message is really very clear: slow down and move over. If you can’t slow down and move over, stop until you can get in a position to where you can safely pass our emergency workers while they’re out there working.”
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) stated that the interstate was opened within 20 minutes of the initial crash but closed again after the later crashes that resulted in the first responder injuries. According to TDOT, all lanes had reopened by 2 a.m.
Mark Nagi, a TDOT spokesperson, said Tennessee’s ‘Move Over Law’ is there to help protect emergency personnel.
“They do their job so close to oncoming traffic quite often, and people don’t think it’s that big of a deal if you’re going 40, 50 miles an hour,” Nagi said. “Well, it is a big deal when you’re driving around a vehicle that weighs a couple thousand pounds. So, we ask that motorists use extreme caution each and every time that they’re traveling through a work zone.