Oak Ridge Today

Edgemoor Road closed, Lifestar lands as rescuers work to save woman

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Oak Ridge Police Department Logo

Edgemoor Road was briefly closed and a University of Tennessee Lifestar medical helicopter landed at a boat launch after police and fire units responded to a reported shooting at Centennial Village Apartments in east Oak Ridge on Friday evening.

It wasn’t immediately clear to emergency workers whether the shooting was self-inflicted or whether there was a shooter involved, and they didn’t have information on where the weapon was located. But they were able to determine that the area was clear, and patrol officers concluded that it was an attempted suicide, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said Saturday.

Police recovered a firearm at the scene, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release on Monday.

The shooting was reported around 7:42 p.m. Friday behind a building on Waterview Drive, and a Lifestar helicopter landed at a boat launch across from the apartment complex a little after 8 p.m. [Read more…]

Three taken to hospital after two-vehicle crash on Turnpike

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Oak Ridge Turnpike Crash on Science.Gov Way on July 19, 2015

Three people were taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike at Athens Road on Sunday afternoon, July 19, 2015, authorities said.

 

Three people were taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike at Athens Road on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

Two of the three were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and the other was taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, authorities said.

The crash, which briefly closed the eastbound lanes of the Turnpike, was reported in east Oak Ridge at about 4:09 p.m. Sunday. It occurred on the stretch of the Turnpike that runs between Milt Dickens Park on the north side of the four-lane roadway and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information on the south. [Read more…]

ORFD, AC EMS, UT Lifestar honored for helping to save cyclist

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Oak Ridge Fire Department at Star of Life 2015

Members of the Oak Ridge Fire Department at the 2015 Star of Life Awards in Nashville in May. Among those honored from Region 2 were Oak Ridge firefighters (starting at second from left) Marty Griffith, Eric Mocsari, Steven London, Duane Chase, and Thomas Giles. (Submitted photo)

 

NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge Fire Department, Anderson County Emergency Medical Services, and University of Tennessee Lifestar have been honored for helping to save a cyclist after a medical emergency on Bethel Valley Road in March 2014.

Thomas Berg experienced a sudden medical emergency while on a bicycle ride on March 30, 2014, causing him to crash in the middle of Bethel Valley Road, a press release said.

David Smallwood was riding with Berg, and Smallwood called 911 and began CPR as soon as he saw the crash. Emergency crews from the Oak Ridge Fire Department and Anderson County EMS responded, and they found Berg in cardiac arrest, the release said.

Berg was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by UT Lifestar.

“Today, Mr. Berg has made a full recovery and is once again enjoying cycling,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Seven emergency workers honored for baby deliveries, fire rescue

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Stork Pin Billy Sharp, Chris Bice, Stephanie Fox, and Gage Whitman

From left wearing blue shirts are Critical Care Paramedic or CCEMTP Billy Sharp, Paramedic Student Chris Bice, AEMT Stephanie Fox, and Paramedic Gage Whitman. They were awarded the Stork pin when the Anderson County Commission met on Tuesday morning. The Stork pin is traditionally given to a field provider for helping to deliver a baby. Also pictured at far left is Nathan Sweet, director of Anderson County Emergency Medical Services. (Photos courtesy Anderson County Emergency Medical Services)

 

Four emergency medical workers in Anderson County were honored Tuesday for helping with baby deliveries, and three rescuers were recognized for their courage in pulling a woman from a burning home in November.

Those who helped deliver the babies received a Stork pin, said Nathan Sweet, director of Anderson County Emergency Medical Services. The four were honored during a Tuesday meeting of the Anderson County Commission. They are Critical Care Paramedic or CCEMTP Billy Sharp, Paramedic Student Chris Bice, AEMT Stephanie Fox, and Paramedic Gage Whitman.

They helped with baby deliveries in October, November, and December. [Read more…]

Driver stable with minor injuries after car rolls, hits tree

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Oliver Springs Highway Crash

The male driver of this Ford Taurus was stable with minor injuries after going off Oliver Springs Highway, rolling down a drop-off, and hitting a large tree, authorities said. The driver had to be extricated and was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge. (Photos by Tom Scott)

 

Rescuers had to extricate the male driver of a car that rolled down a drop-off alongside Oliver Springs Highway and hit a large tree Tuesday morning, and the man was in stable condition with minor injuries, authorities said.

The single-vehicle crash was reported at about 6:50 a.m. Tuesday on Oliver Springs Highway near Bill Key Lane.

The Ford Taurus was headed toward Oliver Springs when it rolled a few times down a 10- to 15-foot drop-off alongside the highway, said Stephanie Fox, assistant chief of the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department. The car stopped when it hit a large tree, she said. [Read more…]

Woman, dog escape, but house burns in Thursday fire

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Holbrook Lane House Fire

A woman and her dog escaped with no injuries from this house fire on Holbrook Lane between Oak Ridge and Clinton on Wednesday evening, but the home was heavily damaged and possibly destroyed. (Photos by Tom Scott)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:50 p.m. Nov. 21 with a possible cause of the fire.

A woman and her dog escaped a raging house fire on Holbrook Lane on Thursday evening, but the home was heavily damaged and possibly destroyed. It was the third house fire between Oak Ridge and Clinton in less than two weeks, and the second in two days.

Flames were shooting through the roof of the hilltop home at 309 Holbrook Lane when firefighters arrived, said Stephanie Fox, assistant chief of the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department. Thick smoke billowed high into the air, and a dark plume could be seen as far away as Oak Ridge. Firefighters battled the blaze using what is known as a defensive attack, meaning they didn’t go inside.

Fox said the homeowner, whose identity wasn’t immediately available, was downstairs when the fire started. She heard glass break and went upstairs and saw flames, Fox said. The woman, estimated to be in her 50s, went back downstairs to get her dog and exited the house through the door of the walk-out basement. She was not taken to the hospital and was going to stay with relatives overnight, Fox said. [Read more…]

Rescuers pull woman from house fire after she tries to save pets

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Ridge Lane Home Fire

Two Anderson County deputies and a Marlow firefighter pulled a seriously injured woman out of this home, which was on fire on Ridge Lane on Wednesday afternoon. The woman had reportedly tried to rescue her pets from the fire. At right is Steve Newby, deputy chief of the Claxton Volunteer Fire Department, and at left is Marlow Volunteer Fire Department Captain Zach Pressnell, who helped pull the homeowner from the burning home.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:25 p.m. Nov. 20.

Two Anderson County deputies and a Marlow firefighter rescued a woman who was seriously injured trying to rescue her pets from a house fire on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge and then flown by Lifestar helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. Her condition and age weren’t immediately available.

The woman was pulled out of the burning home at 131 Ridge Lane by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Wiley Maloney, Reserve Deputy Gene Rose, and Marlow Volunteer Fire Department Captain Zach Pressnell. Pressnell said the woman was conscious but lay on the floor about five feet inside the single-story home, with fire rolling out of the front door and heavy smoke inside. [Read more…]

No one injured in fire at vacant home in Tacora Hills

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Tacora Hills Fire

No one was injured in a fire that destroyed this vacant one-story brick house on Elm View Drive in Tacora Hills on November 9. (Photos by Tom Scott)

 

No one was injured in a fire that destroyed a vacant one-story brick house in Anderson County last week, authorities said.

The fire was reported at about 3:50 a.m. Sunday, November 9, at 302 Elm View Drive in Tacora Hills. That’s between Oak Ridge and Clinton just south of State Route 61, and just west of the Mariner Point subdivision.

The fire was through the roof when the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department arrived. The home and its contents were destroyed, said Stephanie Fox, assistant fire chief for the department. [Read more…]

Boy flown to Children’s Hospital after near-drowning at Clark Center Park

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After family members and emergency responders started CPR, a boy who had gone missing while swimming at Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday afternoon was flown by medical helicopter to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, authorities said.

On Sunday afternoon, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said he didn’t know the current condition of the boy, who might be about eight years old.

The boy had been moved to Intensive Care at Children’s Hospital, Kerley said.

“That’s all we know at the moment,” he said.

The chief said the family had been swimming about 150 feet away from the beach at a picnic area at Clark Center Park when relatives noticed the boy was gone. They started CPR when they found him and called 911. The Oak Ridge police and fire departments responded and continued CPR. Anderson County Emergency Medical Services transported the boy to the Lifestar medical helicopter, which picked up the child at a softball field at the park. [Read more…]

Since Saturday, three crashes in Oliver Springs area required Lifestar response

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Oliver Springs Crash Tri County Boulevard

An Oneida woman driving the car above was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville after a collision with a truck on Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Monday afternoon. (Photo by Oliver Springs Police Department/Kenneth Morgan)

For the third time since about noon Saturday, a Lifestar medical helicopter on Monday afternoon picked up a patient injured in a car crash in Oliver Springs.

The 1 p.m. Monday crash involved an Old Dominion truck driven by Steven Mayfield and a car driven by Lyndsay Phillips of Oneida. The truck was turning from eastbound Tri County Boulevard onto Knoxville Highway, or State Highway 62, headed toward Morgan County, Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said. He said the car was traveling west toward Harriman on the Boulevard.

Phillips was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by Lifestar, Morgan said. [Read more…]

Andersonville man dies in head-on collision with tractor-trailer

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Edgemoor Road Fatal Crash Truck Cleanup

Workers clean up and the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigates after a fatal two-vehicle crash between a pickup truck and tractor-trailer rig, pictured above on Edgemoor Road in Claxton on Wednesday morning.

CLAXTON—A 39-year-old Andersonville man died on Wednesday morning when the westbound pickup truck he was driving collided head-on with an eastbound tractor-trailer rig on Edgemoor Road in Claxton.

Michael T. Utley was headed west in a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup at about 6:11 a.m. Wednesday when he crossed the center line into the eastbound lane and hit a 2000 Freightliner semi pulling a trailer loaded with heavy steel coils, according to preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The driver of the semi, Edmund E. Wood, 57, of Madisonville, was not injured, the THP said. [Read more…]

A Hero’s Welcome: Community thanks soldier returning from Afghanistan

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Welcome Home Sgt. Neal Martin

An estimated 150 people welcome home U.S. Army Sgt. Neal Martin, who served 10 months in Afghanistan.

It might have been the first organized welcome-home ceremony for a veteran returning home from overseas in more than two decades. Organizers hope it won’t be the last.

An impromptu, grassroots ceremony on Monday morning welcomed home U.S. Army Sgt. Neal Martin, who returned to Oak Ridge after serving for 10 months in Afghanistan.

Val Emery, a friend of Martin’s wife Julie Martin, was the chief organizer.

“Every soldier deserves a hero’s welcome,” said Emery, who described herself as a “military brat” whose grandfather was killed in Laos in 1966 and has his name inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. [Read more…]