Firefighters, Police and Medical personnel had to take swift action to extricate an unconscious motorist who was trapped in a vehicle that went off the road and into the Farmington River. It hadn't even been snowing an hour when the tone went out at aproximately 1:30 PM. Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services volunteers from Riverton, Pleasant Valley, Winsted, Colebrook and New Hartford responded to the scene at 448 West River Road in Barkhamsted.
At the scene, a silver 4 door sedan was off the road and into the river. The vehicle sustained heavy damage. Temperatures were in the low teens and it was snowing steadily..Frigid water temperatures forced responders to work quickly as hypothermia will set in extremely fast in weather conditions like those today and put the patient and emergency responders in even more danger.
Lifestar was requested and was going to land at the Fairgrounds but shortly after Lifestar was requested to the scene, they had to cancel due to unsafe flying conditions. Department of Transportation plows were used to sand and clear an area for the helicopter to land minutes before the cancellation
West River Road was blocked by emergency vehicles but no traffic congestion was caused. Drivers were detoured to East River Road or back to old route 8 and to Route 44. Several other area fire departments were on standby. Canton FD was called to stand by in New Hartford. For the most part, road conditions seemed to be safe and there was less than 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground at the time of the dispatch. At this time it is not know what caused the vehicle to end up in the river. Patient condition and information is not known.Questions, concerns, comments can be left in the comment box.
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