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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife man is lucky to be alive following a vehicle collision on Highway 7.

On Monday afternoon a minivan containing a male driver and a female passenger from Yellowknife on their way to the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse collided with the back of a tractor trailer at kilometre 147 on Highway 7, approximately three kilometres from Blackstone Territorial Park.

The identity of the two occupants wasn't available as of press time.

The transport truck was turning into a gravel pit when the accident occurred, said Pat Rowe, the fire chief of the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department.

The collision left the driver pinned inside the van with non-life threatening injuries while the passenger was able to get out of the vehicle. The accident was unfortunate but the situation surrounding it was amazing, Rowe said.

Rowe's Construction had a camp set up at the gravel pit and staff brought a generator from the camp to run a heater that kept the driver warm in the approximately -23 C degree weather, said Rowe. The staff also put the passenger in a truck to keep her warm and contacted the Fort Liard RCMP who in turn contacted the fire department because an extraction was required.

The department received the call at approximately 3 p.m. and contacted Great Slave Helicopters Ltd. to secure a helicopter to fly them to the site of the accident. The department has a protocol to use helicopters to reach any accidents that happen on the other side of the Liard River from Fort Simpson, said Rowe.

Four members of the department and a nurse along with the necessary equipment flew to the scene while a fifth member of the department drove the ambulance to the site. At the scene of the accident the firefighters used a heavy hydraulic cutter and spreader to cut the roof off the van's doorposts and peel it back.

The firefighters then cut off the post for the van's sliding door so they could reach the driver. During the whole procedure, which was over by 5:40 p.m., a medic stayed inside the van with the driver who was conscious, Rowe said.

The driver was then removed from the van and flown to the Fort Simpson Health Centre where he was later medivaced in stable condition, Rowe said.

"He was very fortunate," said Rowe.

If the staff at the camp hadn't been on hand to provide heat and call for emergency services the outcome could have been very different, he said.

The female passenger was driven to the health centre where she was later released. The driver of the transport truck didn't ask for medical services and wasn't seen by the department, said Rowe.

Although the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department trains for and responds to a number of vehicle accidents in Fort Simpson and the surrounding area each year, including six in 2011, where a patient has to be taken out of a vehicle, extrications requiring the so-called Jaws of Life are uncommon.

"This was the first time we really required heavy hydraulics in quite awhile," he said.

Rowe thanked the staff with Rowe's Construction and Great Slave Helicopters for assisting with the rescue as well as the members of the Fort Liard RCMP and Fort Liard Health Centre who came to the scene.

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