One patient was taken to the hospital with serious injuries after a crash on Route 31 on Friday morning.
Temple-Greenville police and Greenville Fire Department responded to a morning crash on Route 31 in Greenville on Friday morning, just beyond the Dunkin’ Donuts and Country Mile, for a report of a vehicle that had left the roadway, gone over the guard rail, and rolled onto its roof, according to Greenville Fire Chief Charles Buttrick.
The vehicle had three occupants, two of whom had gotten out of the vehicle under their own power when crews arrived, Buttrick said. The driver was not entrapped in the vehicle, which had landed on its roof, but had injuries that made it impossible for him to extricate himself.
Buttrick said the fire department made the decision to use its hydraulic equipment to remove the doors of the driver’s side, to aid in extracting the driver and reduce jostling him as much as possible. Buttrick said the driver had “serious, but not life-threatening” injuries.
“He wasn’t trapped, but because of his injury, he couldn’t get out on his own. We used the Jaws to cut the driver’s door to allow us to get him on the backboard. It would have been possible to just pull him out, but he would have been in excruciating pain,” Buttrick said.
The vehicle was over the guard rail and fire crews used “Yankee ingenuity” to secure it before removing the driver, Buttrick said.
The driver was taken by Souhegan Valley Ambulance to the hospital for treatment, and the two passengers declined treatment at the scene.
Route 31 was closed for about an hour while crews cleared the crash. Greenville emergency responders were assisted on the scene by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Souhegan Valley Ambulance, Ashby Fire Department, the Peterborough Ambulance, Wilton Ambulance, Ashby Police Department and the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation.