AUSTINTOWN, Ohio — A massive crash involving a fire truck and other vehicles left one woman dead and two firefighters injured Wednesday.
WKBN.com reported that the Canfield Fire Department rig and an Ohio Turnpike employee responded to an unrelated crash on the turnpike.
An SUV driven by Karen Zorn, 27, was stopped behind the fire truck when it was rear-ended by a pickup truck driven by a man from Indiana, according to the report. The force of the rear-end collision killed Zorn and caused her car to catch fire.
“This was a very serious crash, obviously, a fatality is involved,” Lt. Chad Bass of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s turnpike barracks said.
The force of the pickup truck’s collision with Zorn’s car forced the fire truck to side-swipe the Ohio Turnpike truck, injuring the driver, Michael Earnest, according to the report.
The pickup was also towing a car hauler, which overturned into the left-hand lane, striking two passenger vehicles as they were passing the scene. That accident injured one driver.
“We have personnel on the scene here to handle different aspects of the job with reconstruction. Our commercial units are going to be looking at different factors,” Lt. Bass said.
Two firefighters, 33-year-old Brian Blevins who was driving the fire truck and his passenger, 40-year-old Troy Kolar, were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The pickup driver was flown to the hospital with what troopers described as non-incapacitating injuries.
The crash and investigation shut down the turnpike for several hours, causing backups for miles, according to the report.
Police at the scene said criminal charges could be filed.