Woman hospitalized following rollover accident

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

NEWKIRK — A woman was hospitalized at Alliance Health Ponce City following a rollover accident west of Kildare Oct. 7.

The Newkirk Fire Department (NFD) was called to the scene of a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and State Highway 11 about 4:30 p.m. She was hit by a truck as she attempted to cross the highway.

“She thought it was a four-way stop, and she pulled out in front of a truck and rolled over,” said NFD Chief Adam Longcrier.

She was wearing her seatbelt, and pinned in the vehicle until the NFD was able to extricate her, and was transported to the hospital, where she was admitted in stable condition. The truck driver was also transported to the hospital, with no series injuries, Longcrier said.

“She was pretty lucky, because she was wearing her seatbelt,” he said.
The Kildare and Ponca City fire departments also assisted in the call.

The NFD received a mutual aid call from the Blackwell Fire Department Oct. 11 for a wind turbine fire at the Frontier Wind Power wind farm east of Blackwell. The turbine was located on ’S’ Street just south of Brake Road.

The NFD was doing an educational program at Kildare Public School when the call came in at 11 a.m.

The fire was at the top of the turbine, and was electrical in nature.

“There was an electrical surge in the wind turbine that started the fire,” Longcrier said. “They were going to climb up to find out what was wrong, and that is when they noticed the smoke, so they came back down and called the fire department.”
The fire suppression system was activated, which extinguished the fire, preventing any firefighters from entering the turbine. No injuries were reported.

Duke Energy Renewables began repairs on the turbine once the air had been cleared.

“The fire suppression system removes all the oxygen, so they waited to completely air it out before attempting to make entry for repairs,” Longcrier said.