Ross fire chief: Semi driver lucky to be alive after extraction from crash scene including hanging wires

Ross Twp. fire chief said semi truck driver is lucky to be alive after tipping off U.S. 27 into a deep ditch Wednesday evening and splitting a utility pole in half.

Ross Twp. fire chief said semi truck driver is lucky to be alive after tipping off U.S. 27 into a deep ditch Wednesday evening and splitting a utility pole in half.

The Ross Twp. fire chief says a truck driver is lucky to be alive after he crashed into a utility pole on U.S. 27 Wednesday evening.

Fire Chief Steve Miller said the semi driver was traveling north on U.S. 27 at around 5 p.m. when his load veered off the side of the road, causing the truck to spill into a deep ditch and finally crash into a utility pole.

When crews got on the scene, 168,000-volt wires were hanging on the truck from the snapped-off pole.

“There’s a lot of things we just couldn’t do with those wires, the top wire on that pole is 168,000 volts and the wires below that are 72,000 volts,” Miller said. “We couldn’t do anything until we could make that scene safe.”

Miller said the truck driver was flown by medical helicopter to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center but his injuries didn’t appear to be life threatening.

“The cab was pretty crushed around his whole body, so his legs were pinned under the dash and steering column,” Miller said. “It was a very long extrication.”

Miller said it took Duke Energy about 40 minutes to reach the scene near Kirchling Road and another 40 minutes for crews to free the driver.

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