By Josh LaBella
New Haven Register
DANBURY, Conn. — City firefighters used thermal-imaging devices to locate a driver who had been thrown 700 feet from a vehicle in a crash Sunday morning on Wooster Heights Road, fire officials say.
In a post on Facebook, the Danbury Fire Department said firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to Wooster Heights Road near Lee Farms just before 5 a.m. for a report of a crash.
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First responders found a severely damaged vehicle that had struck a tree, but there was no operator or victims nearby, the post said. Based on the severity of the crash, fire and police command deemed it was likely whoever was in the car would be injured and possibly fled on foot, according to the post.
Firefighters fanned out in a “line search” with thermal-imaging cameras to search the expansive Lee Farms hillside while police units searched the surrounding roads, the post said.
Within 10 minutes, fire Capt. Bart McCleary was able to find the injured driver using his thermal-imaging camera about 700 feet from the wreckage in a line of brush and trees, according to the post. McCleary noticed a 95-degree temperature in the 33-degree environment, “no doubt” saving the driver’s life, the department’s post said.
The person was transported to a hospital, the post said, for treatment of undisclosed injuries.
“Without the rapid intervention of our emergency services personnel, the outcome may have been less favorable,” the post said, noting police are investigating the cause of the accident.
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