Emergency crews rush to stabilize house in Buffalo Township after car crash
BUFFALO TWP — Emergency crews from across Butler County rushed to save a house near Lernerville Speedway from structural collapse after a vehicle crashed into it on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 1.
The incident was first reported shortly before 3 p.m. when a silver Dodge Durango crashed into a home on North Pike Road, located next door to the Lernerville Speedway office. According to Ricky Heasley, assistant fire chief of the Buffalo Township Fire Department, the driver, who was unharmed, was the only occupant of the vehicle.
“I don’t know if he was distracted, or what happened,” Heasley said.
However, the vehicle remained lodged in the structure, as emergency crews tried to prevent the small one-story home from collapsing.
No one was home at the time of the crash.
“Part of the house is resting on top of the SUV,” Heasley said.
The Southern Butler County Technical Rescue Team, a specialist unit consisting of volunteer firefighters from multiple fire departments, was called in to help stabilize the building.
“It’s a collaborative group between Saxonburg, Middlesex and Penn Township. They make up what we call the Technical Rescue Team,” Heasley said. “They specialize in technical rescues, trench rescues, confined space rescues, anything like that.”
Heasley estimates the Technical Rescue Team is called into action about 15 to 20 times per year.
“Right now they’re using lots of cribbing to shore up the building,” Heasley said. “They’re shoring it up so it doesn’t collapse.”
As a result of the crash, traffic on North Pike Road was reduced to one lane, with only southbound traffic allowed to pass by the crash. Northbound traffic was directed to detour through the Lernerville Speedway parking lot.
Heasley, late Wednesday afternoon, estimated it would be two to three hours before the rescue team finished its work.
Volunteer fire departments from Buffalo Township, Sarver, Saxonburg, Penn Township, and Middlesex Township all responded to the scene of the accident, along with the Buffalo Township Police Department.
This story was updated at 9:15 a.m. on Aug. 2 to reflect no one was home at the time of the crash. A previous version of this story incorrectly said residents had been tending the lawn when the crash happened.
