Lumber truck crash site cleared after a series of mishaps

It was not a good morning for medlight, or for the patient they were supposed to be transporting to the hospital overnight. At around 1:30 a.m., a tractor-trailer carrying lumber overturned on Highway 67 near the I-65 exit. Priceville volunteer firefighters say the truck's load shifted as the driver exited I-65.

They had to cut the driver out of the wreckage. Here's what made the accident especially difficult for medflight and the truck driver. First of all, medflight was using a borrowed helicopter because theirs was in the shop for routine maintenance. Now, the chopper they had borrowed is undergoing maintenence also. That's because when they started to take off to transport the driver to Huntsville Hospital, the inside of the chopper filled with smoke.

Emergency crews ended up having to transport the driver to the hospital in an ambulance.

The helicopter was in the middle of Highway 67 for hours overnight while crews waited for a mechanic to come fix it.Source