By Philip A. Holmes
The Sun Gazette
TROUT RUN, Pa. — Area emergency responders are mourning the loss of one of their own today.
Trout Run Volunteer Fire Co. firefighter Richard L. Springman, 20, of Cogan Station, was on his way to a fatal two-vehicle collision on Route 15 Wednesday afternoon when he lost control of his pickup truck and crashed.
He was nearing the first crash scene at Powys Curve in Lewis Township when his wreck occurred, state police said.
The firefighter was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck and was approaching the wreckage in the southbound lane about 3:45 p.m. when his vehicle swerved and struck a guardrail along the west berm of the highway, Trooper James Doane said.
It appeared that after hitting the guardrail, Springman oversteered, causing his truck to travel sideways across both southbound lanes and up onto a guardrail along the east berm, Doane said.
“After sliding on the guardrail, the truck rolled once and maybe twice” before landing upright in the middle of the southbound lanes, about 300 yards north of the crash he was responding to, Doane said.
Springman, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the truck, landing about 15 feet from his vehicle, Doane said.
It is the first line-of-duty death for the fire company.
“It’s a sad situation. Here he’s a first responder trying to help people and he has an accident as he approaches the scene,” Doane said.
Both southbound lanes were strewn with debris from the wreckage, including the truck’s two tires that came off.
The initial crash, about three miles south of here, involved a Nissan Altima that was driven by Shannon Lynn McKenzie, 25, of Williamsport, who lost control of the car as she was traveling north on the four-lane highway, police said.
The car went across the grassy median and slammed into a southbound Sunbury Motor Co. Ford van, killing the woman instantly, police said.
The driver of the van, John Walter Beaver, 52, of Milton, was taken by ambulance to Williamsport Regional Medical Center for moderate injuries and still was being treated Wednesday night, police said.
Hepburn Township and Trout Run firefighters were dispatched to the scene. However, within minutes after the second crash, all Trout Run firefighters were taken off the assignment and directed to go to their firehouse on Route 14. Other emergency responders were called to assist at the scenes.
Volunteer fire police shut down all southbound traffic from Trout Run to Hepburnville as state troopers took measurements and photographs of the crash sites. The northbound lanes eventually were closed, too.
Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr., along with a deputy coroner, responded.
As troopers worked at the two scenes, Trout Run firefighters were meeting privately at their fire station, grieving the loss of one of their own.
“This is something none of us should have to deal with,” Trout Run Fire Chief Robert Whitford said at the crash scene as he wrestled with his emotions. He quickly left to notify the firefighter’s family of the tragedy.
“The fire company is really like a second family for us,” said Marlin “Doc” Remick, a veteran Trout Run firefighter and the company’s chaplain.
“It’s a brotherhood, a sisterhood. We train together, we respond together in the worst of times and in the best of times,” Remick said.
“When we lose someone, it’s like losing someone in your family because a lot of fire company members spend pretty much as much time at the firehouse, and in some cases more time, than they do with their families,” Remick said.
A United Methodist minister along with other counselors were offering assistance to the fire company, Remick said.
“We’re having tears of loss. The firefighter had been in the company since he was kid. He started as a junior firefighter. His mom and dad are both active members,” Remick said.
Kiessling, a volunteer firefighter for Old Lycoming Township Fire Co. for 30 years, said such calls are especially difficult for emergency responders. “We all work together. He was responding, trying to help someone, unfortunately he died in the process,” he said.
The northbound lanes of Route 15 reopened just after 6 p.m., and the southbound lanes were opened about an hour later.
Republished with permission from the Sun Gazette.