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One-car rollover with entrapment reported on Main Road, Corfu

By Billie Owens

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A one-car rollover accident with entrapment is reported at 591 Main Road, Corfu. Unknown unjuries. Prior to the accident, dispatch had received calls that the vehicle was unable to maintain its lane. Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding.

UPDATE 3:42 p.m.: There is "heavy entrapment" of one occupant. East Pembroke fire is called to provide mutual aid. Mercy Flight #5 is called to the East Pembroke Fire Hall.

UPDATE 3:47 p.m.: The roadway will be shut down and is expected to be closed for a long time. The driver is a man in his late 60s or early 70s who is said to be semi-conscious. There are live wires in the road. The pole they are hanging from is not broken, but does have a transformer on it. National Grid and the phone and cable companies are being contacted about the lines.

UPDATE 3:54 p.m.: Mercy Flight is ariborne and headed to the scene, about three to four minutes away.

UPDATE 4 p.m.: The patient has been extricated. Mercy Flight is on the ground.

UPDATE 4:05 p.m.: Command requests Alden Fire Police to shut down Crittenden Road at Route 5. "There isn't going to be any traffic through here for awhile."

UPDATE 4:19 p.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne. Destination not provided.

UPDATE 4:39 p.m.: Pembroke Fire Chief Jamie Waff said one vehicle went off the road, broke a utility pole, rolled over and landed on its roof. "It was a lengthy extrication process and it usually is when the vehicle is on its roof because everything is basically backwards from what we're used to in everyday life." Waff said the driver was semi-conscious but talking and able to assist firefigthers in his extrication. He was transported to ECMC, primarily for evaluation. Waff said due to the fact that a transfomer was involved, along with six to eight different kinds of power lines, the roadway will remain closed for probably at least another two hours, and it will take up to six hours or more for everything to be restrung and put back together. National Grid is on scene. The accident is under investigation. A witness said the driver passed two cars on the right just prior to the accident.

UPDATE 7:27 p.m. (by Howard): The road remains closed. Volunteer firefighters have had their hands full with people trying to circumvent the roadblocks. One resident who lives between the roadblocks went back and forth between roadblocks trying to get to his house and when a chief was notified, he was allowed to proceed. A person on scene told a chief that he's "in shock and awe" at how long repairs are taking. He's asked that dispatchers contact National Grid about the length of time the repairs are taking. 

UPDATE 8:04 p.m. (by Howard): The entire hamlet of Pembroke is without power. This is apparently the cause of power outages as well at Brickhouse Corners and the Thruway interchange. Earlier we heard there was confusion about getting the proper National Grid on scene in a timely manner because the crew was not informed it was a 9-1-1 call and that a pole was down.

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