Editor’s note: This story reminds me that all of us are human. I think that all of us would want to go to a loved one’s side if we knew something was seriously going wrong. However, the rush of the emotion cannot overtake common sense, and place the public at risk. Taking the ambulance out of district and operating it in the high-risk emergency response mode, places the people living in the entire service area at risk as well as the driving public. Would you do the same thing, under similar circumstances?
Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor
By Phaedra Laird
NBC 40
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — When a fatal fire and a car crash involving an emergency vehicle happened within minutes of each other in Cape May county, it had rescue crews rushing to attend to the victims of both. Police say the incidents are connected and now under investigation.
Two devastating incidents in two different Cape May county communities, directly connected, in what was a tragic chain of events.
It all started around 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, when a kitchen fire broke out at a Breakwater Road home in the Erma section of Lower Township, killing 85 year-old Joseph Sims who was trapped inside. “Great guy, he was a P.O.W.,” said next-door neighbor, Ray Haight.
Minutes later, an ambulance driven by the victim’s son, Joseph Sims, Jr., a part-time EMT with the Middle Township Ambulance Corp, collided with an SUV while driving to his parents home. “He was responding to the fire down there, it was not in his official capacity of a Middle Township EMS operator,” said Middle Township Police Chief, Christopher Leusner.
The driver of the SUV was seriously hurt in the crash and is listed tonight in stable condition. There were no patients in the ambulance at the time of the accident, and neither Sims nor the other EMT in the vehicle was seriously injured. Police believe the emergency vehicle’s light and sirens were on at the time of the accident. “If you’re not responding to an emergency within the township in your official capacity, you shouldn’t have your lights and sirens on,” said Leusner, “we’re gonna conduct a full and complete investigation and at the end of that investigation, we will determine if any action needs to be taken with the prosecutor’s office.”
In another sad twist, the Lower Township Public Safety Complex is located directly across the street from the Sims’ home. While officers did arrive within two minutes of the 9-1-1 call and risked their lives by going inside, and were able to save the family pet, the were not able to get to the elderly man trapped in the kitchen. “Very, very sad,” said Haight.
“Our sympathies go out to everyone involved,” said Leusner.
Authorities say charges could be filed in the crash depending on the outcome of the investigation. There’s no exact cause yet of the fire, although officials say it does not appear to be suspicious.
Reprinted with permission from NBC40.