Vehicle Accident closes Route 340 for over 9 hours

At 6:14 AM on the foggy morning of September 30, Ambulance 4-9, Engine 4-9-1, and Ephrata Hospital’s Medic 9 were dispatched to the 5800 block of Old Philadelphia Pike (Route 340) for a vehicle accident.\
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Responding units were advised by Lancaster County 911 of a single vehicle into the utility pole with a single occupant. Fire Police 4-9-10 (M. Blank) arrived on the scene and confirmed a sheared pole blocking Route 340 with a power outage in the area. Engine 4-9-1 arrived on the scene and assumed the command, and controlled scene hazards. Ambulance 4-9 arrived on the scene and evaluated the vehicle’s occupant whom fortunately was not seriously injured. Medic 9 was then canceled, as the patient did not require Advanced Life Support. Ambulance 4-9 transported the patient to a local hospital for an evaluation.\
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Additional Fire Police were requested to assist with closing Route 340 and setting up a detour route around the scene. \
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A wrecker from Baldwin’s Garage arrived on the scene to remove the damaged vehicle. After the vehicle was removed, Engine 4-9-1 cleared the scene.\
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The utility companies were notified and arrived to disentangle the wires and broken pole, and set a new pole and reattach the wires. This process would take several hours, forcing the detour route to be kept in place for most of the day. After the morning rush hour was finished, and the utility companies arrived with flaggers, the assisting Fire Police were released, and the assignment was reduced to just the Fire Police from Station 4-9, and the flaggers from the utility companies.\
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When Route 340 was able to be reopened shortly after 3PM, the utility companies took over traffic control duties at the scene, and the Fire Police discontinued the detour route and opened Route 340.\
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The final Station 4-9 Fire Police cleared the scene at 3:33PM\
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