GREENE – Three men pulled a trapped dump truck driver from a burning wreck along State Highway 206 in the Town of Greene Wednesday after the ten-wheeler rolled down a steep embankment, landed on its cabin roof and burst into flames.
New York State Police reported at around 3:32 p.m. Wednesday, an Oxford man was traveling along 206 in the Town of Greene near the intersection of Quinn Road when he served to avoid an animal in the roadway and lost control of his dump truck.
The driver is not being identified by police, pending their investigation into the incident.
He was extracted from his burning vehicle by passing motorists and taken to Wilson Regional Medical Center in Binghamton before being transported to SUNY Upstate Medical University at Syracuse for burn treatments.
His condition was unknown Thursday morning, but emergency crews at the scene said he was speaking to responders and walking before being taken away by ambulance. He suffered burns and other injuries during the incident.
State Police reported the vehicle struck a guardrail and was sent tumbling end over end down a 45-degree embankment before coming to a rest on its roof, about 40 feet from the roadway.
Jonathan Tokos was in the oncoming lane when the accident occurred right in front of him.
Tokos was heading home in his Tri Cities Temperature Control van when he saw the dump truck swerve onto his side of the road.
“The dump truck came into my lane after he lost control. I slammed on my brakes and skidded over to side of the road. He over-corrected and went end over end down the embankment. He hit the guard rail and he went straight down the hill,” said Tokos.
Tokos got out of his vehicle and attempted to call 911 from his cell phone, but struggled to find service and was forced to pace up along the road to make the call.
“I got a hold of 911 and was trying to tell them where the accident was when someone else came running out of a house nearby screaming ‘It’s on fire it’s on fire.’ I had to tell the operator I needed to go and I hung up and went to get the fire extinguisher from my van,” he said.
