One man had to be removed from the wreckage Tuesday morning after five semi-trucks were involved in a collision on icy Interstate 80 near Evanston.
Uinta County Fire and Ambulance Chief Administrative Officer Eric Quinney told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that it took about two hours to extricate the co-driver from one of the semis, as he had been asleep in the “sleeper” portion of the truck when the crash happened.
“They had to stabilize the truck, since it was the only one that overturned, with specialty equipment and make the proper cuts to get the co-driver out,” Quinney said. “Once we got him out, besides being cold, he was relatively unscathed. It was pretty miraculous.”
Quinney added that firefighters were talking with the man as they worked to extricate him, and he told them during the process that he was wedged in fairly tightly in the sleeper, but was unharmed.
None of the other drivers involved in the collision were harmed.
Once he was extricated, medical professionals checked the man for injuries. He declined transport to a hospital and instead stayed on scene to talk with the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
The truck the co-driver was trapped in was hauling products like almond milk. The other trucks involved included an Amazon Prime semi-truck, an RC Willey home furnishings truck and a Ryder truck, all of which were headed westbound at the time of the crash.
Quinney was unsure which of the trucks was the first in the pile-up, but noted that the accident occurred on a stretch of the interstate that turns into a hill, which can be dangerous in snowy and icy weather.
“I would imagine the accident was a chain reaction type of thing,” he said. “But it was awesome that our firefighters worked hard and put all of their training to the test, and it all worked out in the end.”
