Several officers are safe after an Irving Fire Department blocker truck saved them from an accident Sunday morning.
According to Irving police, at about 3:50 a.m. on Sunday, officers responded to a rollover wreck involving a drunk driver on 183 WB and Loop 12.
The driver, identified as 32-year-old Raymundo Saucedo, was taken into custody for drunk driving and unlawfully carrying a weapon.
While police were out investigating the scene, they set up flares to divert traffic off to WB 114 and a blocker was implemented to keep them safe in case another wreck occurred.
At about 6 a.m., a woman driving a Chrysler sedan was traveling westbound on 183 and bypassed all of the emergency flares and crashed into the blocker fire truck.
The sedan was pinned underneath the blocker and the driver was unconscious. Officers who were at the scene had to use a squad car to push the patient’s car enough for them to reach into the passenger side and get her out. According to Irving police, they got her out just in time before the car became engulfed in flames.
She was transported to a local hospital with a serious head injury.
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According to police, the blocker truck and the driver’s car were totaled.
Irving Fire stated the blocker program is unique and is now a standard procedure when officers or firefighters respond to an accident on the highway. After three firefighters almost lost their lives working a wreck while on the highway a couple of years ago, it was decided they needed a way to keep their guys safe while working out in the field.
That’s where the blocker program came in. Blockers are trucks used by fire departments during wrecks on highways as a buffer between any oncoming traffic and first responders at the scene to avoid any of them getting hit while out at an active scene.
Irving fire posted on Facebook that “Irving Fire Blocker 8 did its job this A.M. on a highway accident scene.” According to Chief Jack Taylor with Irving Fire, this blocker will now be retired and a new one will be used on active highway accident calls.
