SWATARA TOWNSHIP, Pa. ― A Pine Grove Area Community Ambulance caught fire while transporting a patient Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 81.
The volunteer crew was transporting a woman, who was in stable condition, to Hershey Medical Center when suddenly, there was smoke in the ambulance, reported WNEP.
“Never in all my career did I ever envision something like this happening and that’s been 32 years. Never,” said David Lukasewicz, president of the ambulance company, who was driving at the time.
Lukasewicz and his partner, Katie Kurtz, who was in the patient care compartment with the patient, pulled over, removed the patient and called for help.
“We had our patient at least 100 feet away, a safe distance from the ambulance, and my first thought is my husband and my children and thanking God I got out of there OK,” said Kurtz.
The patient, unharmed by the fire, was transported by another ambulance.
The ambulance and all of its equipment, except for the litter, were destroyed by the flames.
Pine Grove Area Community Ambulance has one other ambulance and a neighboring ambulance company has offered to loan an ambulance until a replacement is put into service.
A Pine Grove Community Ambulance caught fire along Interstate 81 in Lebanon County. https://t.co/XrTQUDDQsk
— WNEP (@WNEP) May 31, 2016
Talk about a terrifying ambulance ride! Story tonight @WNEP pic.twitter.com/1tRK5nvOdG
— Sarah Buynovsky WNEP (@SarahBuynovsky) May 31, 2016