News Comes Calling

     My wife Deb and I arrived home late Saturday afternoon after a week's vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina along with our family. It didn't take long for duty as a Mercury photographer to begin again. The incident was a vehicle crash a block away from our West Pottsgrove Township home.
     We had finished unpacking our bags, straightened up all the beach gear and settled in to watch the night college football game when I heard a loud crash and immediately the FIOS went out. The power remained on but the television feed was gone.
      Grabbing my camera, I looked over at Deb and said someone smashed into a utility pole and headed out the door. Walking down the street I could see neighbors looking out windows and others heading over to a yard where a compact car was sitting. The front end was crumpled where it had struck the pole and the injured driver was still inside.  Light smoke rose from the engine compartment and wires were laying across the vehicle.
      The utility pole that the driver hit was in pieces with part still attached to low hanging wires. The transformer fell from the pole and was in the street.  It was a dangerous situation and those trying to help moved cautiously around the scene not to contact any of the electrified lines.

      I walked carefully around the scene also, as it was very dark without street lights to illuminate the area. I snapped photos and recorded video of the wrecked vehicle, then sent the files along with calling in details to get the story on the web.
     The injured driver was trapped inside the car for close to an hour until all power was shut down to electrical lines. Once the power was off rescue crews safely moved the driver to a waiting ambulance and transported him to the hospital.
     When I got back home the power was off so we decided to call it a night. That wasn't how I thought our first evening home from the beach would go. But on this day news came calling close to home.