Cecil chief credits passersby with saving lives in fiery crash
The Cecil Township police chief said if it were not for the actions of two men, a fiery, two-vehicle crash Sunday night easily could have ended with the loss of life.
A Jeep Wrangler driven by Heather Barlow, 31, of Bulger, and a Chevrolet Malibu driven by Jason Tennant, 37, of Canonsburg, collided at Route 980 and Ohare Road just after 8 p.m.
The Jeep flipped onto the driver’s side and caught fire, and the fire spread to Tennant’s car.
Chief Shawn Bukovinsky said Joseph Horvath of McDonald and Jason Hughes of Bridgeville came upon the scene and were able to rip open the soft-top roof of the Jeep to get Barlow and three children out of the burning vehicle. Both men were burned on their hands. Horvath was taken to Canonsburg Hospital for treatment.
“The original call came in that they were entrapped in the vehicle,” Bukovinsky said. “They wouldn’t have survived if they didn’t get them out.”
Barlow was taken to West Penn Hospital, while Tennant went to UPMC-Mercy hospital. The children, 5-year-old and 9-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy, were taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Southbridge Ambulance transported the patients. Cecil Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 of Muse extinguished the fire. Updates on the conditions of the patients were not available Monday.
Bukovinsky said Monday morning police are still not sure how the crash occurred because there were no witnesses and they have not been able to speak to the drivers.
“When we got to the scene, the Jeep was on its side facing north in the northbound lane of Route 980 and the Chevrolet was facing south in the northbound lane in contact with the Jeep,” Bukovinsky said. “We are still determining what happened, as well as trying to piece the puzzle together.”
The intersection has been the scene of many accidents over the years, some serious. Bukovinsky said the state Department of Transportation has done several studies, but the intersection does not meet the criteria to put in any traffic-control devices. He said PennDOT is aware of Sunday’s crash and contacted the department for a copy of the crash report when it is completed.
“We will definitely be addressing this again,” Bukovinsky said.
The intersection of Route 980, Ohare and Chartiers Run Road was closed for about an hour and 45 minutes for the investigation and to remove the wreckage.