Four wrecks, small fires keep volunteer firefighters on run

Two wrecks with entrapments occurred before the sun rose Sunday morning, one near the intersection of Blue Creek Road and Kentucky and another in the 1700 block of Divide.

On Blue Creek Road, firefighters found a one-vehicle crash with a passenger trapped in a pickup around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. “ECVFD used hydraulic rescue tools to remove the passenger to EMS ambulance,” Fire Chief Jimmy George Jr. said.

A low hanging power line prompted concerns around 3:10 a.m. Sunday when firefighters arrived at the Divide Street crash. “There was a car on its top with the driver in the vehicle and power line hanging very low which took some time to make sure the power line was not electrically energized,” George said.

Firefighters cut the driver’s door free from the vehicle and then helped EMS with transporting the man.

Another minor wreck took place Saturday morning on East West near the North Washington intersection and a fourth involving two vehicles on U.S. 59 near the Ricebelt bridge around 8 p.m. Sunday night.

There firefighters were tasked only with traffic control.

“This was a very busy weekend, all firefighters, EC EMS, ECPD (El Campo Police Department) and WCSO (Wharton County Sheriff’s Office) did an outstanding job on all of these incidents,” George said. On most calls, slightly less than 20 firefighters responded.

Fire Calls

A kitchen fire near the intersection of South Mechanic and West Alfred had firefighters running about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

“Firefighters removed the stove from the apartment and found a kitchen towel on the oven’s heating elements causing the smoke,” George said, adding smoke was then cleared from the apartment with very little damage discovered.

Alarms sounded for a second fire call around 2:45 p.m. Sunday when an 18-wheeler caught fire in on CR 408 near the Hwy. 71 South intersection.

The truck, owned by Colby Yackel, was a total loss. “The cause of the fire was electrical short in the engine compartment,” George said.