A driver was seriously injured and trapped inside a mangled vehicle early Tuesday after a single-car crash on Route 9G near Miller Road in Rhinebeck, triggering a complex rescue operation and a road closure that remained in effect as of 11 a.m., at least seven hours and 46 minutes after the reported crash time. Emergency crews converged on the scene around 3:14 a.m. to find the driver heavily entrapped, according to fire officials, and had to work to free the person before they could even be readied for transport.
The Rhinebeck Fire Department detailed the extrication in a Facebook post, saying firefighters and EMS crews had to cut the driver out of the vehicle before preparing them for transport. According to Daily Voice, the driver was initially taken to Northern Dutchess Hospital, where Dutchess County EMS provided advanced life support care, and a medical helicopter was requested to carry the patient to a higher level of trauma care. Fire officials have not released an update on the driver's current condition.
A Fairground Helipad Becomes a Lifeline
Northern Dutchess Hospital is an 84-bed community hospital with a primary stroke center and emergency department, according to the hospital's listing on NYS Health Profiles. The driver was flown to a higher level of care. Rather than fly directly from the hospital, LifeNet of New York landed at a helipad set up at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, the same fairgrounds that hosted an unrelated emergency response involving off-duty Rhinebeck firefighters last month, according to Daily Voice. A Rhinebeck ambulance then helped shuttle the flight crew and the patient between the hospital and the landing zone before the driver was flown out.
Pulling off that transfer took coordination beyond Rhinebeck's own crews. The sheriff's office is continuing to investigate what caused the crash, as reported by Daily Voice.
Why Route 9G Stayed Shut For Hours
The crash also knocked out a utility pole, as noted by Daily Voice. Daily Voice reported Route 9G remained closed as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, though Rhinebeck Fire Department crews had cleared the immediate scene by around 6:30 a.m>.
Tuesday's crash is far from the first serious wreck on this stretch of Route 9G. Just in January, a 19-year-old Kingston driver was killed and the two occupants of a Subaru were taken to MidHudson Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries in a head-on collision near the Route 308 interchange after a northbound vehicle crossed the center line, according to NewsRadio 1450/1370 WKIP.
The cause of Tuesday's crash remains under investigation by the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, and the driver's identity and condition have not been released.
