2 ambulances damaged carrying the same patient from Waynesboro

By ROSCOE BARNES III Staff writer

The president of the Mont Alto Ambulance Squad remains bewildered over two accidents that occurred early Wednesday morning, one of which involved an ambulance driver who collapsed at the wheel and died.

The accidents occurred while transporting a patient from Waynesboro to Harrisburg.

The second accident involved an ambulance from Silver Spring Township in Cumberland County, which had been called to assist Mont Alto with a patient transport. The Silver Spring ambulance crashed shortly after 2 a.m. on Interstate 81 near Hampden Township after the driver lost consciousness and died, according to Michele Parsons, spokesperson for the Cumberland County Department of Safety.

The driver was Barry Nagle, 66, Mechanicsburg, Parsons said. No autopsy report has been released.

"He suffered a medical emergency that rendered him unconscious and he died," she said. "The other personnel tried to resuscitate him but he never revived."

Two nurses on board were not hurt. An emergency medical technician was injured and is being treated at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, she said. No one else was reported injured.

"I don't know what to think about it. Something happened to our ambulance and then to their ambulance," said Charles Baker, president of the Mont Alto Ambulance Squad and the Mont Alto Fire Company.

"We were going up Interstate 81, transporting the patient from Waynesboro Hospital to one in Harrisburg and something flew up and hit the windshield. We stopped and called for an ambulance (to aid the patient in the Mont Alto ambulance)."

The item that flew through the windshield was a piece of wood, 4 inches by 4 inches. It

penetrated the glass. No one was injured.

"We called for an ambulance and Silver Spring came and loaded the patient up and rushed to a hospital in Harrisburg," Baker said. "The last time I checked on the patient, everything was doing fine."

The Mont Alto vehicle is at a garage. Pennsylvania State Police said it was a non-reportable accident, Baker said.