UPDATE: Single-car accident inflames early morning blaze at Joplin RV business, News
UPDATE: Single-car accident kindles early morning blaze at Joplin RV business
- From staff reports [email protected]
- Jul 6, 2017
A fire early this morning left one woman injured and ruined several recreational vehicles and a car at Wheelen RV, four thousand three hundred one S. Range Line Road.
- Globe | Jordan Larimore
A fire early this morning left one woman injured and ruined several recreational vehicles and a car at Wheelen RV, four thousand three hundred one S. Range Line Road.
- Globe | Jordan Larimore
Even with smoke still drifting up from three charred RVs and Joplin firefighters continuing to soak a ruptured propane tank, Sheri Wheelen’s thoughts were with the woman whose car crash embarked the fire.
“I just hope that the little old lady’s OK,” the co-owner of Wheelen RV Center on Range Line Road said, less than two hours after a woman ran off Silver Creek Road, narrowly missed an electrical pole, struck a propane packing station on the business’ parking lot and ignited an early-morning blaze.
The Joplin Police Department later identified the driver as 69-year-old Rayma Crawford, of Joplin. Crawford was taken to Grace Hospital’s Burn Center in Springfield with serious injuries.
Joplin fire Chief Jim Furgerson said the fire department responded to a call about a single-car accident around 7:40 a.m. Thursday. The fire ruined four RVs and the woman’s car, but was contained and did not cause harm to any surrounding buildings.
“She had some burns on her, so it sounds like when she hit (the tank) it embarked the fire,” Furgerson said.
The woman drove westbound on Silver Creek, entered the RV center’s lot and hit the propane tank, then exited the vehicle, Duncan said. Harm to the tank caused an explosion instantaneously after the woman exited the vehicle, he said.
Duncan said officers at the scene of the accident had investigated Crawford’s “behavior at the time leading up to the accident,” but had not come to any definitive conclusions regarding the car’s speed or path.
The intersection of Silver Creek and Range Line was closed because of the accident, but had been reopened to traffic by the afternoon, Duncan said.
Noah Hensley, who works for nearby Joplin Tarp Co. on Silver Creek Road and witnessed the incident, estimated the woman was in her 50s. Hensley said she seemed to be in control of her vehicle.
“I was walking out, it was like 7:30 and I hear squealing of tires and she’s on the wrong side of the road and veers right into that and, like, on influence it just (ignited),” he said, mimicking the sound of the crash. “And I guess she crawled out and they took her to the hospital. I don’t think she was asleep; she was sitting upright and all that.”
Wheelen said the propane tank that was struck in the crash was packed with eight hundred gallons the day before.
“The motor homes had gas and diesel and propane in them, too,” she said. “The motor homes are all made of foam, fiberglass. I mean, it’s going to burn rapid.”
Wheelen said insurance will take care of the business’ loss, and she praised the various fire and police departments, including those of Joplin and Redings Mill, that responded to the incident, the 2nd fire on the property in less than a month.
On June 11, a man driving an RV discovered it had caught fire and pulled off of Interstate forty four and into Wheelen’s parking lot. Sheri and her hubby, Marty, happened to be in the area at the time and called 911. Joplin Deputy Chief Andy Nimmo and others responded and contained the fire to the one vehicle. The man was unharmed, but his vehicle was ruined.
Wheelen called Thursday’s response “tremendous,” even fighting back tears of apparent appreciation.
Morgan Cummings, a veterinary technician at nearby Cornerstone Animal Hospital, said she was out walking a dog when the crash happened. She said she eyed the car go airborne when it swerved off the road and ducked into the veterinarian’s office, anticipating a dangerous situation.
UPDATE: Single-car accident inflames early morning blaze at Joplin RV business, News
UPDATE: Single-car accident kindles early morning blaze at Joplin RV business
- From staff reports [email protected]
- Jul 6, 2017
A fire early this morning left one woman injured and demolished several recreational vehicles and a car at Wheelen RV, four thousand three hundred one S. Range Line Road.
- Globe | Jordan Larimore
A fire early this morning left one woman injured and ruined several recreational vehicles and a car at Wheelen RV, four thousand three hundred one S. Range Line Road.
- Globe | Jordan Larimore
Even with smoke still drifting up from three charred RVs and Joplin firefighters continuing to soak a ruptured propane tank, Sheri Wheelen’s thoughts were with the woman whose car crash began the fire.
“I just hope that the little old lady’s OK,” the co-owner of Wheelen RV Center on Range Line Road said, less than two hours after a woman ran off Silver Creek Road, narrowly missed an electrical pole, struck a propane packing station on the business’ parking lot and ignited an early-morning blaze.
The Joplin Police Department later identified the driver as 69-year-old Rayma Crawford, of Joplin. Crawford was taken to Grace Hospital’s Burn Center in Springfield with serious injuries.
Joplin fire Chief Jim Furgerson said the fire department responded to a call about a single-car accident around 7:40 a.m. Thursday. The fire ruined four RVs and the woman’s car, but was contained and did not cause harm to any surrounding buildings.
“She had some burns on her, so it sounds like when she hit (the tank) it commenced the fire,” Furgerson said.
The woman drove westbound on Silver Creek, entered the RV center’s lot and hit the propane tank, then exited the vehicle, Duncan said. Harm to the tank caused an explosion instantaneously after the woman exited the vehicle, he said.
Duncan said officers at the scene of the accident had investigated Crawford’s “behavior at the time leading up to the accident,” but had not come to any definitive conclusions regarding the car’s speed or path.
The intersection of Silver Creek and Range Line was closed because of the accident, but had been reopened to traffic by the afternoon, Duncan said.
Noah Hensley, who works for nearby Joplin Tarp Co. on Silver Creek Road and witnessed the incident, estimated the woman was in her 50s. Hensley said she seemed to be in control of her vehicle.
“I was walking out, it was like 7:30 and I hear squealing of tires and she’s on the wrong side of the road and veers right into that and, like, on influence it just (ignited),” he said, mimicking the sound of the crash. “And I guess she crawled out and they took her to the hospital. I don’t think she was asleep; she was sitting upright and all that.”
Wheelen said the propane tank that was struck in the crash was packed with eight hundred gallons the day before.
“The motor homes had gas and diesel and propane in them, too,” she said. “The motor homes are all made of foam, fiberglass. I mean, it’s going to burn quick.”
Wheelen said insurance will take care of the business’ loss, and she praised the various fire and police departments, including those of Joplin and Redings Mill, that responded to the incident, the 2nd fire on the property in less than a month.
On June 11, a man driving an RV discovered it had caught fire and pulled off of Interstate forty four and into Wheelen’s parking lot. Sheri and her spouse, Marty, happened to be in the area at the time and called 911. Joplin Deputy Chief Andy Nimmo and others responded and contained the fire to the one vehicle. The man was unharmed, but his vehicle was ruined.
Wheelen called Thursday’s response “tremendous,” even fighting back tears of apparent appreciation.
Morgan Cummings, a veterinary technician at nearby Cornerstone Animal Hospital, said she was out walking a dog when the crash happened. She said she spotted the car go airborne when it swerved off the road and ducked into the veterinarian’s office, anticipating a dangerous situation.